History of Civilization I (to 1650) -description

History of Civilization I ( to 1650) Description Fall 2010

Instructor: Prof. Miriam Kahn Course: History 11050-008 CRN 20433 Time: MW 02:15 pm 03:30 pm Place: Bowman Hall 204 Office: Bowman Hall 305F Office Hours: M/W 12pm and by appointment E-Mail: mkahn1@kent.edu Phone number: 330-672-2882 (history dept) Class Description: This course covers world history and civilizations from prehistory to roughly 1650. As a group we will examine the origin of world civilizations and focus on the various cultures. Many of the cultures are familiar, while others are remote and unfamiliar to students. The goal of this course is to introduce students to world civilizations and gain an appreciation of other cultures. We will cover an enormous time span of history and a great volume of material. All questions are welcome and encouraged! This course may be used to satisfy a Kent Core requirement. The Kent Core as a whole is intended to broaden intellectual perspectives, foster ethical and humanitarian values, and prepare students for responsible citizenship and productive careers. This course may be used to satisfy the University Diversity requirement. Diversity courses provide opportunities for students to learn about such matters as the history, culture, values and notable achievements of people other than those of their own national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender, physical and mental ability, and social class. Diversity courses also provide opportunities to examine problems and issues that may arise from differences, and opportunities to learn how to deal constructively with them. There is no prerequisite for this course. Assignments and Grading: 25 % (250 pts): MidTerm Exam 25 % (250 pts): Final Exam 20 % (200 pts): Research Paper 10 % 100 pts): News article reviews (write at least four reviews) great fodder for classroom discussion 10 % (100 pts): Chapter Quizzes in MyHistoryLabs (10 best scores) 10 % (100 pts): Attendance 1000 pts (Total) FINAL EXAM is Tues. Dec. 14 from 12:45 3:00 p.m. in our regular classroom Grading scale: The grading scale for this course is compatible with KSU grading scales.. 1000-940=A, 939-890=A, 889-860=B+, 859-840=B, 839-810=B, 809-790=C+, 789-770=C, 769-750=C, 749-730=D+, 739-720=D, below 719= F

Attendance: (10%) 100 points Attendance: Students must attend class. Attendance will be taken every day. Most of the material for this course comes from lecture and discussion. If you miss rely on another student for help. I will subtract points from your overall grade for missing class. After 5 missed classes students will drop a letter grade. You are in charge of your own attendance so make it count. If you must miss please contact me. I do not supply students with copies of notes or readings.
Exams: (2 Exams for 25% or 250 points each) Each Exam will consist of two sections. Section I (100 pts): will be a map section and ask you to place important locations/events/ideas in geographical context. Section II: (150 pts) will consist of several short essay questions. You will be asked to speak to specific themes or ideals. You will be expected to incorporate lecture notes, primary documents, and secondary readings as specific evidence into your answers. NOTE: You will be given the Essay Questions at least one week prior to the test and you will need to use authors or titles in your answer but you do not need page references. DO NOT MISS exams. Make ups are given ONLY with a valid excuse. The instructor determines validity of an excuse. Exams normally take the entire class period. We will have a review session prior to each scheduled exam
Chapter Quizzes in MyHistoryLab (10% or 100 points) Students must take the chapter quiz each week by noon on Monday. The 10 best scores will be figured into your total grade for the semester. I suggest you take the pretest and posttest for each chapter prior to taking the Chapter Quiz, which is graded. These quizzes will help you keep up with the readings and will spark discussion in class each week.
Paper: (200 points): There is one research paper due at the end of the semester. The paper assignment is listed on a separate sheet. Papers are based on a related WORLD CIV I topic. Papers must be documented (using appropriate sources) NO WIKIPEDIA! (it is not scholarly) 3-4 pages in length, grammatically correct, and turned in on time. We will discuss the content throughout the course. I do NOT ACCEPT late papers. PAPERS MUST BE TURNED IN DIRECTLY TO ME on the due date. DETAILS
FOUR News Article Reviews (100 points total): Throughout the semester pay attention to reports and articles about the ancient and medieval world (to 1650) in national newspapers and news magazines, on TV and radio programs such as NPR. These should be reports and articles about cultural events, the art world, politics, history, and the economy of the ancient, medieval, and early modern period. You are required to write at least 4 news article reviews during the semester. Your reviews will be collected four times during the semester, so do not wait until the last week. I will give you 5 articles. You must write about 2 of them, you may use all 4 or pick 2 of you own to write about. Date each review and include a copy of any article or report that is not on the list. DETAILS
Paper and News Article Reviews Requirements: You are expected to review, revise, edit, and proofread each review for content, readability, grammar, spelling and word use. Points will be deducted for written assignments that are not readable. If you are uncertain about how to revise and edit your written work, the Writing Commons on the 4^th floor of the library http://writingcommons.kent.edu/ will happily help you.
Extra Incentive to Engage in Discussion: Engaging primary documents and secondary academic narratives in discussion is an important part of this class. In a course with this many students, however, keeping track of individual discussion points and giving all students a chance to respond each class would be extremely difficult. Even without “individual discussion points” I expect good discussion of course readings as it will prepare you for your papers and for exams. If, during the semester, it becomes clear that the majority of students are not engaging the primary documents and secondary readings I will compensate with pop quizzes and by adding more lecture material to class thereby increasing exponentially the narrative material you must master for each exam!
Cheating, Plagiarism, and Other Violations: University policy 3342301.8 deals with the problem of academic dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism. None of these will be tolerated in this class. The sanctions provided in this policy will be used to deal with any violations. If you have any questions, please read the policy at http://www.kent.edu/policyreg/policydetails.cfm?customel_datapageid_1976529=2037779 and/or ask.

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