History 106-001
Western Civilization: 1648 to the present

Instructor: Dr. Paul Werth
10:30-11:20 CBC C218
office: WRI 126 phone: 895-3344
e-mail: werthp@nevada.edu
office hours: 12:30 - 2:00 M & W
http://www.scsv.nevada.edu/~werthp/


Course Goals
This course has a number of interrelated goals. The first is to provide students with a basic outline of western civilization and its historythe major ideas, processes, and concepts that have created the modern world in which we live and which increasingly influence other (non-Western) people throughout the world. Another goal is to develop a set of important skills that are needed wherever students' futures may take them: above all, critical thinking and clear expression, in both written and spoken form.

Requirements:
The course requires above all that you keep up on the readings, attend class promptly and regularly, and participate in discussions. Absences will be highly detrimental to your final grade.




Disabilities and Religious Holidays
If you have a documented disability that may condition your performance in this course, you should contact me as soon as possible to make special arrangements. Please do not assume that I am aware of any such condition or that I have automatically granted any special dispensation. You should also contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC), which is located in the Reynolds Student Services Complex room 137 (phone = 895-0866). As regards religious holidays, I am sympathetic to students' religious needs and will make every effort to accommodate them. Students MUST, however, inform me of such needs at the beginning of the term so that we can work our way around them judiciously.

Required Texts:


SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
(readings to be completed prior to class on the given date)


FINAL EXAMMONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2001. 10:10 AM


Preview of Final Exam



A Preview of Exam #1

The exam will review your knowledge based on both the lectures and the primary and secondary readings. Please be sure that you neglect neither lecture, nor textbook, nor sourcebook in preparing for your exam. There will be three parts to the exam: multiple choice, short answers, and "triads." For the first two parts, you may write directly on the exam; the third part should be written on a separate sheet of paper (which I expect you to supply).

PART ONE: Multiple Choice (8 Questions, 16 points). This part of the exam in effect tests your passive knowledge (since all possible answers are provided). Choose the best answer to each question. Please be sure to read each question on the exam VERY CAREFULLY!

Example: Who among the following was not a significant influence on the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution? PART TWO: Short answers (6 questions, 36 points). This part of the exam tests your knowledge in a more active sense, since you are required to come up with the answers.
Example: What is the significance of the Estates-general for the history of the French revolution?

PART THREE: Historical Connections (2 triads, 48 points). On the exam you will find six triads, all of which will come from among the first NINE triads at the end of your syllabus. You will be asked to write on two triads of your own choice (from the six presented). In each case, you will be expected to write a paragraph on the historical relationship among these three items. MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT YOUR RESPONSE ANALYZES THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE THREE ITEMS IN QUESTION, AS OPPOSED TO TREATING EACH ITEM IN ISOLATION!!!

EXTRA GUIDELINES ON ALL EXAMS Requirements for the exam:
1. Bring your own pen and paper for the exam. You will be able to write directly on part of the exam, but other portions will require extra paper.
2. Arrive at the exam on time. Late arrivals may or may not be given an exam.

Some pointers:
1. Looking at the list of items near the end of your syllabus, you should be familiar by the time of the exam with all of the items in the first group, "1648-1815."
2. The best answers will draw on the textbook, the Sources book, and the lectures (where applicable). If your exam exhibits familiarity only with one of these, I will know that your preparation was luke-warm.
3. The more you can interpret and analyze, the better. This doesn't mean coming up with your own historical theories, but you want to try to demonstrate some independent thought processes, rather than sheer regurgitation.
4. Focus on what you know, not what you don't. All of us could always use more information to fill in the blanks, and you may get frustrated by what you don't have a grasp on. But you probably know a lot more than you give yourself credit for (that is, assuming that you have been doing the reading) Mostly it is a question of organizing it in your own mind.

Things that doom an exam:
1. Bad handwriting. I have to read a lot of these exams, so try to make your text as legible as possible.
2. Vague statements. Make sure that what you assert says something definitive. It is insufficient to state that the Scientific Revolution "led to" the Enlightenment, unless you go on to articulate what exactly how this was the case.
3. Failure to provide evidence. You don't want to overwhelm me with details, but your answer must be grounded in the historical material. If you make some sort of claim, make sure that you provide evidence to support it.
4. Failure to consider important evidence. If, for example, you write about the Enlightenment and religion and you do not mention Voltaire, Paine, or d'Holbach, it will be rather difficult for me to take your answer seriously.




EXAM #2:
Details forthcoming

 FINAL EXAM:
Details forthcoming

 DETAILS ON CONSTITUTION PAPER ASSIGNMENT
In your paper, you should address the basic question: To what degree and in what specific ways is the US Constitution (including the first 10 Ammendments) an Enlightenment document? You may argue any position, but be absolutely certain that you use evidence to support your claims. In the intro, try to formulate your general answer to the question and then provide some basic idea about how your paper will proceed. You might then break up the paper into separate paragraphs, each of which will discuss a specific way in which the US Constitution does or does not reflect Enlightenment concerns. Try to establish direct connections where possible, but also try to address the more general ways in which the Constitution might intersect with or depart from the Enlightenment. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions, and be sure to follow my generic guidelines for paper submission: Gimme those guidelines.