1) They must be successfully uploaded to Blackboard by the deadline (2pm) to receive full points. Although they are “rough” drafts, that does not mean that you should submit sloppy work. They must include full sentences (no bullet points), accurate citations, a thesis statement, a conclusion, etc. In other words, the ideas can be rough, and the organization may need some work, but they should not look like unfinished papers.

2) Also, in order to participate in the peer critique, you must have your rough draft submitted on time. If your paper is late you will NOT receive an automatic 0, but I will give your partner a new paper to critique, and you will lose out on the critique points as well as feedback from a colleague. I will choose your partners for you in advance.

3) The peer critique assignment description is posted here under “Assignments,” and I will email your partner’s paper to you after I download it from Blackboard.

1.  Sign up for a meeting time and record it in your planner.

2.  Attend your meeting on time (missing the meeting will count as a class absence).

3.  Come prepared.  Bring any necessary materials with you, in addition to prepared questions, etc. that you want us to address.   You might want to bring some other homework because, while I try to stay on schedule, you might find yourself with some downtime.

Postcard of the CF & I Office building, which now houses the Bessemer archives. Photo courtesy of the Bessemer Historical Society.

Our extra credit trips to the Bessemer Historical Society archives are set for these dates (the tours will be the same, just on different days).  You may attend either tour:

November 2nd at 2:30pm (please arrive at 2:15pm)

November 3rd at 2:30pm (please arrive at 2:15pm)

The archives is located at 215 Canal Street, which is right off I-25.  If you are coming from the north, take the Central Avenue exit from I-25 and head south on Abriendo Avenue until you hit Canal Street and see the building on your left. When coming from the south, take the Indiana Avenue exit and drive north on Evans Avenue until you reach Canal Street and see the building on your right.

The tour will last for approximately one hour and you will have the chance to speak directly with archivists about their profession.  For more information on the archives, see their website.  The description of the response paper assignment, which is required for you to receive extra credit, is posted under “Assignments.”

Garrow, David J. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.

Garrow describes how the strategy of protest employed by Martin Luther King, Jr., and SCLC at Selma influenced the emergence of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He contends that the choice of Selma as a site for civil rights protests and the specific tactics that SCLC adopted in Selma were part of a plan to force the introduction and passage of national voting rights legislation. The foremost consideration in this campaign was the need to elicit “unprovoked white violence aimed at peaceful and unresisting civil rights demonstrators.” Garrow argues that at Selma “a strategy that bordered on nonviolent provocation supplanted the earlier belief in nonviolent persuasion.” SCLC correctly assumed that police violence would generate national media coverage and this, in turn, would stimulate reactions “throughout the country, and especially Washington,” leading to pressure for federal voting rights legislation.

In a lengthier annotation such as this, using very short quotations from the book is acceptable, but in shorter annotations you should stick to writing only in your own words.  Also, unlike this example, include the page number for each quotation in parentheses, like this: “unprovoked white violence” (8). If you have questions about the assignment, please come see me.

What Is an Argument?

An argument must possess three basic ingredients to be successful.  First, it must contain as much relevant information about the issue as possible.  Second, it must present convincing evidence that enables the audience to accept the writer’s or speaker’s claim.  The more controversial the claim, the more compelling the evidence must be.  Third, it must lay out a pattern of reasoning.  That is, it must logically progress from thesis to support of thesis to conclusion. (page 4 of 2002 edition)

And, here is a concise, one-sentence definition of the word “argument.”  Print this out and keep it with you as you read and write your paper.

An argument is a form of discourse in which the writer or speaker tries to persuade an audience to accept, reject, or think a certain way about a problem that cannot be solved by scientific or mathematical reasoning alone. (page 4 of 2002 edition)

1.  As you locate sources on your topic, remember that these sources should be a) monographs (not articles or compilations), b) scholarly products, and c) most should be written by historians.  Political scientists and other experts may have much to say on your subject, but the goal of this course is to teach you about historiography, not about the development of political science as a discipline.

2.  Read the monographs in the order they were published, if possible.  If that is not a feasible approach, as you progress from book to book remember the time period and context that have shaped that author’s interpretation.

3.  Take thorough notes on each book, clearly labeling the book’s goal, argument, main points, source material, methodology, and conclusions.  Put all the necessary bibliographic information at the top of the page.  Make sure that you are not merely summarizing the author’s ideas in your notes; it is okay to include relevant quotations, but make sure you include observations in your own words.

4.  Pay special attention to the introduction and conclusion, where each historian will likely give some sense of where they see themselves within the historiographical canon.  Don’t take these descriptions at face value, however, since it is difficult for scholars to be entirely objective about the importance of their own work.  If they name specific scholars in their historiography section, keep track of that in your notes.

5.  Research each scholar, looking for information on their previous publications, current interests, etc.  If the historian is teaching at a university, their faculty webpage will be useful (and it will often include their CV).

6.  Remember that you can include more than 10 books, so if you find additional books (or even journal articles) that are pertinent feel free to include them as well.