Course Synopsis:  

This course introduces students to the basics of the historian's craft, including interpreting primary sources, locating and critically analyzing secondary sources, and writing for history.

Each offering of the course in a semester focuses on a specific topic: this seminar explores tourism and travel history, with a focus on Scotland.

Tours in Tartanland

What has drawn people over many years to particular sites and landscapes -- dramatic mountains, or glistening streams? How have people -- the tourist and the toured -- navigated these places? How have they narrated them? In this class we explore these questions through the prism of Scotland's rich tourism history, using the unparalleled resources of the university's renowned Scottish Studies collection, and drawing on the perspectives of scholars of travel, tourism, performance and literature. We may not squeeze in a field trip to Scotland, but these fascinating sources will transport us there in spirit, as we critically examine what it meant for people to tour, and be toured, in the past.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course, you will:

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

Methods of Evaluation and Weights:

Primary Source Activity    15%
Mid-Term Examination     20%
Research Assignment     30%
Seminar Participation     10%
Final Examination     25%

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.