Course Description: 

This course will introduce students to the basics of the historian’s craft, including locating, analysing, and interpreting both primary and secondary sources. It will provide you with the skills that you need to be successful in your History major, minor, or area of concentration. 

Topic: 

Focusing on the years 1550-1680, this course will investigate the various roles of women in early modern society. Primary sources will include court records, poetry, pageant texts, letters, and guildhall records. In addition to general historical research skills students will learn to critically assess the ways that women’s experiences help us understand this period of history and to consider gender as a lens for examining the past. 

Methods of Evaluation and Weights:

Class Participation:  20%
Research skills assignment:  20%
Short Writing Assignment:  20%
Project/Essay Proposal:  10%
Research Project/Essay:  30%

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

1. You will learn how to manage your time in university for success.
2. You will learn how to distinguish between important information and unnecessary details.
3. You will learn how to distinguish between a scholarly and a non-scholarly source.
4. You will develop effective written and oral communications skills and enhance listening comprehension.
5. You will learn to analyse and interpret a variety of primary and secondary sources and construct a historical argument.
6. You will learn how to act with academic integrity.
7. You will learn how to cite sources appropriately in history classes.
8. You will learn that historical interpretations change over time and in response to evidence.
9. You will learn that history is a diverse enterprise which helps us to understand different cultures, regions, and states.

Texts and/or Resources Required:

• All readings are available online.

Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.