PARTICIPATION

 

Seminar

The assignment of a grade for participation reflects the central place of discussion in this unit of study. Participation begins, obviously, with attendance, but it requires more than attendance. You need to come to the seminars prepared to exchange ideas about the texts or web sites assigned for that meeting and the topics they raise, to raise questions and to speculate. Your grade for this part of the unit of study does not depend on providing the 'right answers' in the seminars; it will reflect what you contribute to our discussions. That does not mean that you can get a good grade solely by having something to say in class, regardless of what you say. You will earn a good grade for this part of the unit of study by making thoughtful contributions that reflect careful reading and consideration of the questions raised by what you have read.

 

On-Line

Participation in the on-line discussion will be assessed in the same terms as seminar participation. You not only need to regularly post messages, but also to respond to postings by other members of the class.

OVERVIEW

 

  • You can focus on any area of American history in the assignments for this course; the only restriction is that it must be a topic that is present on the web. Do something that interests you!
  • The assignments are designed as a sequence, operating at two levels. They involve a narrowing focus, from the broad coverage of a topic, to specific web sites, and in second semester, to particular documents and sources. The intention is to allow you to keep working in a particular area of American history, so that each of your assignments build on your earlier work: the web review will help you identify sites to examine in your site analysis, and will provide a context for that analysis; and both this semester's assignments will help you to identify material to include in your project in semester two. The sequence of assignments is also designed to allow you to develop skills and experience creating HTML documents. The web review requires only text with links to the sites you identified. The site analysis requires text with integrated links to specific parts of a site. Having completed these assignments, you will be ready to move on to more advanced design issues, including the use of images, required for the project in semester two.

 

Late Penalty: If illness or a family emergency prevents you from handing in an assignment, you can contact me to arrange an extension, preferably before the assignment is due. Assignments handed in after the due date will incur a penalty of 10% for each week they are late.

WEB REVIEW

 

Question: Write a 2,000 word Web review that examines the coverage on the Web of a topic in American history of your own choosing. You need to identify what sites are out there and critically assess their content, relating it to the other historical literature on this topic. The completed review must be presented in the form of an HTML document consisting of text and links to the sites that you discuss.

This assignment requires both research on the web, and research in the library. On the web, this means using search engines, such as Google, and gateway sites, such as History Matters [See Places to Start On-Line Research]. The course web site points you to places to start on-line research. I can help you identify key works in the historical literature on the topic you choose, and you can expand on those texts using the library catalogue, and on-line databases.

We will use an HTML editor, Netscape Composer, to create HTML documents. An in-class workshop, and an on-line How-to-guide, will provide you with guidance on how to use Composer.

SITE ANALYSIS

 

Question: Write a 3,000 word Site Analysis that examines one (or a small number) of extensive web sites of your own choosing related to a single topic in American history. Your analysis should consider how the design, structure and the content of the web site(s) work together to shape meaning and construct a historical interpretation. The completed review must be presented in the form of an HTML document consisting of text and links to the features of the site(s) that you discuss.

This assignment requires you to analyse a site in light of theoretical writing about what is possible, and problematic, about hypertext and the world wide web as a medium. The tools for analysing web sites that we discuss in class should be helpful in thinking concretely about how to approach, and critically take apart, a web site. Examining the historical interpretation offered by, or implicit in, a site will also require reference to other historical literature on the topic.