HIST 101: The Evolution of Western Ideas and Institutions to the Seventeenth Century
Semester II, 2000/2001
Section 001
MWF  9:30 AM – 10:20 AM
Mundelein Skyscraper (SKY) 502

Office Information:
Instructor: Mr. J. Derek Halvorson
Office: Crown Center 506 (Lake Shore Campus)
Office Hours: Monday, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
 Wednesday, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
 … or by appointment.
Office Phone: 773/508.2235
E-mail: jhalvor@luc.edu
URL: http://homepages.luc.edu/~jhalvor/

Required Texts:
L. Hunt, T.R. Martin, B.H. Rosenwein, R. Po-chia Hsia, and B.G. Smith, The Making of the West: Peoples and  Cultures, vol. 1, To    1740 (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001).
M.A. Kishlansky, ed., Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, vol. 1, From the Beginning to 1715, 3rd ed.  (New York: Longman, 1998).
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates, trans. H. Tredennick and H. Tarrant, intr. H. Tarrant (London: Penguin,  1954; rept. 1993).
Peter Abelard, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, trans. and intr. B. Radice (London: Penguin, 1974).

Course Objective:
The aim of this course is fourfold:
- to introduce students to some of the ideas and institutions that have played a central role in the development of western civilization, as well as to the variety of factors—social, political, cultural, economic, and religious—that impact human experience.
- to challenge students to become more critical listeners and readers and more skilled speakers and writers.
- to expose students to the historian’s craft, and in so doing to aid them in analyzing historical texts.
- to encourage students to participate in the great conversation.

Evaluation:
Your final grade in this course will be based on the following:
 

1. Classroom Participation:  Your participation grade is based on attendance, a journal, and group discussions.

• Attendance:  An attendance sheet will be passed around at the beginning of each class session.  It is your responsibility to make sure that you have signed it.  Missing more than three classes will lower your participation grade by 1/3 of a grade (e.g., an A would become a B+).
• Journal:  Your journal consists of the notes that you take on readings in Kishlansky, along with the annotations that you make on those notes during class discussions.  By Friday of each week, you should have analyzed the primary sources assigned to you in Kishlansky by answering the Level One, Level Two, and Level Three questions prescribed by Kishlansky in “How to Read a Document”, pp. xiii-xxii.  Your analysis may be handwritten, and may be composed in outline form.  You should limit your responses to about 1 page per assigned text, and you should leave wide margins.  In class on Fridays you will be divided into small groups to compare your analyses.  During these sessions, you should note in your margins how the discussion may have changed your understanding of the texts.  Your analyses will not be collected every week, but they will be collected randomly throughout the semester.  At the end of the semester the entire journal will be collected and assigned a final grade.  The main factors contributing to your grade will be evidence that you have read the primary text (and not just Kishlansky’s intro to the text) and indicators that you paid attention to the group discussions.

2. Quizzes:  There will be occasional short quizzes (either multiple choice or short identification) on chapters from the textbook (Hunt).  These will cover the chapters before we have discussed them in class.  The quizzes will be announced in the prior class.  The lowest of your quiz grades will be dropped.

3. Book Reviews:  Both book reviews will be based on the critical reading of a primary source, in this case Plato’s Last Days of Socrates and Abelard’s Historia calamitatum (The History of My Calamities).  Individual assignment sheets will be handed out for each review.  The papers should be about 4-5 pages long, typed and double-spaced.

4. Examinations:  The two examinations will consist of short identification questions and essay questions, drawing on lectures and on readings.  Potential questions will be discussed prior to the examinations, and you will have a choice from among several essay questions.

Late papers and missed examinations:
Late papers will be subjected to a penalty of a third of a letter grade for every weekday of lateness without exception.  Late work will not be accepted after the date of the final examination.  Any requests for alternate mid-term examination dates should be made in writing well before the scheduled date of examination.  Such requests will be honored only if based upon serious illness or some other reason deemed sufficient by the instructor.  All students must take the final examination as scheduled.

Academic Dishonesty:
The penalty for academic dishonesty of any kind (including plagiarism) will be a grade of zero on the examination or written assignment on which the cheating occurred.  The zero will be averaged with the other grades in calculating the final grade.

‘Plagiarism’ is defined as the copying or close paraphrasing of another person’s work, whether living or dead, published or unpublished, without crediting that person in a citation or footnote.  In other words, it is using another person’s words or ideas—whether they are living or dead—as if they were your own, without giving your source due credit