ASSESSMENT: 70% coursework, 30% examination

• Tutorial Participation

10%

• Tutorial Paper

1000 words

Due: 6 September

15%

• Essay

3000 words

Due: 11 October

45%

• Take Home Examination

2000 words

Due: 18 November

30%

Important Note: The Department of History requires satisfactory class attendance as part of participation in a unit of study. Attendance below 80% of the tutorials without written evidence of illness or misadventure will be penalized with loss of marks; attendance at less than 50% of the tutorials will result in the student being deemed not to have participated in the unit of study

 

Late Penalty: If illness or a family emergency prevents you from handing in an assignment, you must 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.

TUTORIAL PARTICIPATION:

The assignment of a grade for tutorial participation reflects the central place of tutorials in this unit of study. Tutorial participation begins, obviously, with attendance, but it requires more than attendance. You need to come to tutorials prepared to exchange ideas about the documents or texts assigned for that meeting and the topics they raise, to raise questions and to speculate. You grade for this part of the unit of study does not depend on providing the 'right answers' in tutorials; 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.

TUTORIAL PAPER:

This paper requires you to assess an interpretation offered by an historian using a limited set of primary sources. It is designed to help you develop the analysis linking evidence and arguments that you will be expected to produce in your essay, and to give you some feedback before you complete that larger assignment. You need to pay attention to the details of the sources, and then explain how you think they fit with the historians' argument, providing examples and interpreting those examples.

Question:

Do the letters that mothers' wrote to the Children's Bureau support Jay Mechling's argument that child-rearing advice is less important than identification and imitation in the way that adults learn to raise children?

• This question refers to the sources discussed in the tutorial for week 4.
• The historical interpretation referred to in the question, Jay Mechling, "Advice to Historians on Advice to Mothers," Journal of Social History, 9 (Fall 1975): 44-63, can be found in the course reader.

ESSAY:

You can answer any one of the ten questions I have provided, or write a question of your own. To write a question, you will need to locate primary and secondary sources related to your topic, and have your question approved by the course co-ordinator by the end of WEEK SIX

The secondary sources provided with each question represent the most important texts on each topic; they are available on Special Reserve. One way to approach the questions is to first read the secondary sources, and then use the primary sources to help you evaluate the arguments in the secondary sources, and to develop your own conclusions. In your essay you must provide evidence to support its arguments.

Note: All essays must be accompanied by a bibliography and be properly documented with footnotes. The correct ordering and punctuation is a technical matter that requires careful attention. Refer to the History Department's Short Guide to the Writing and Presentation of Papers and Essays for the correct format

TAKE HOME EXAM

Duration: Friday, November 15, 9.30 a.m to Monday, November 18, 12 noon

You will be required to write two 1,000 word essays, and answer one question from each of two sections. The first section will include a question on each of the essay topics &endash; not the same question as the essay, but one that deals with a different aspect or approach to the topic. The second section will deal with topics and issues discussed in lectures and tutorials.

• The questions on the essay topics are intended to allow you to develop a depth of knowledge about a particular topic, to continue thinking about and researching that topic, and to reflect on and respond to the feedback you received on your essay.
• The questions on the lectures and tutorials are intended to encourage a breadth of knowledge about childhood and youth in modern America. The outlines of each lecture and suggested readings on that topic that will be posted to the unit of study website each week provide a place to begin preparation for this section of the exam.

 

Note: As this is an exam, not an assignment, it must be handed by the deadline. No extensions can be granted. Late exams will not be accepted.