Syllabus: HSTY2656

Announcements:
Check Here Often!

1. Assessment Schedule
2. First Assignment
3. Second Assignment
4. Essay Questions
   

ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE

BACK TO TOP

FIRST ASSIGNMENT

Essay plan and annotated bibliography, 500 words (10%)

Before you do anything:

• Take a look at the course website under “Further Reading” to get a sense of the number of books available on different topics; or go to Fisher Library and browse the shelves around call number 973.7... [thousands of books relating to the Civil War are shelved in these several aisles; and there is no better way to develop an interest in a new topic than by spending an hour or two foraging, picking out titles of interest and dipping into them.]
• Similarly, check the course website under “Web Links.” (the web address is on the front page of this syllabus) I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more primary sources available online for Civil War topics than for any other topic in history. If you like dealing with primary sources, look at what’s available before you settle on a project.
• When you’ve found something that interests you, select a question from the essay list below.
• Alternatively, you're welcome to create your own question. If you choose this option, however, you should send your proposed question to me in order to get approval (first making sure that adequate material is available in Fisher library that will allow you to answer your question). If you’re creating your own topic, please don’t hand in your essay plan without first speaking with me about it.

Once you’re chosen a topic, you’re ready to start developing a plan and creating an annotated bibliography.

Your essay plan should include:

• The question you intend to answer; [n.b. make sure that you analyse the question and understand what it means. If you are unsure, choose a different question, or ask for help.]
• A brief statement (1-2 paragraph) regarding the method you will use to answer this question (i.e. describe the primary and secondary sources you will use; identify what you will use these sources to prove; specify the elements or sections that your paper might contain, etc.
• Provide a brief analysis (1-2 paragraph) of the existing secondary literature relating to the topic you have chosen. Your aim should be to do more than describe the focus of the existing scholarship (as in: scholar x looks at slavery); rather, take the time to skim this secondary work so that you can identify major debates in the field; points of agreement and contention among scholars; differences in approach and method.
• Your citations to secondary and primary sources are not included in the word limit; the word limit includes only your annotated comments on these sources, and your plan itself.

Your plan should be followed by an annotated bibliography:

• Divide your bibliography into primary and secondary sources.
• Follow the history department citation guidelines, available at: http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/history/undergrad/resources.shtml
• List the sources you intend to use to answer your question. For secondary sources, you should specify the book’s central theme (i.e. what does it deal with); and identify the way/s in which this source is useful for your project. You might also include a further sentence comparing this work to others you have cited, or highlighting the author’s main argument.
• For your primary sources, it may not be necessary for you to list every source separately, particularly if you’re using, say, several dozen letters. Instead, you might list them in groups
  • For example: Letters from Northern enlisted men to various family members, contained on “Civil War Letters” website, then specify how you intend to use these sources.
  • Or Newspaper articles from New York Times, 1861 to 1865 relating to x.
• Note: not every source available on-line or in Fisher library will be appropriate for use in your academic writing. For example, unless you’re analysing current representations of the war on the internet, do not rely on Wikipedia. Similarly, cite only reputable scholarly sources (i.e. those published by university presses or academic journals, which have been peer-reviewed).

BACK TO TOP

SECOND ASSIGNMENT

Research Essay, 2,000 words (40%)

• You should consult and incorporate at least six secondary works into your paper [note: six secondary works means six books: you can consider two articles equivalent to a book].
• This is your major research paper. If you have done minimal research on your topic then your grade will be reduced accordingly. [note: merely listing books on your bibliography does not count toward adequate research. You must also incorporate this material into your argument]. 
• You can consult as many books or articles as you need to.  And you can draw in primary sources if they will help to make your argument.
• You should start your research early if you want to find adequate material. I have only placed about a third of the books listed on the further reading section of the course website on special reserve.

BACK TO TOP

LIST OF ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Account for pro-secession sentiment among non-slaveholding white men.
2. Were Union and Confederate soldiers motivated by fundamentally different value systems?
3. Define the basis of Confederate nationalism.
4. How did the nature of technological change during the Civil War affect common soldiers’ experiences? [n.b.: technological change is a broad term so you can choose to focus on some specific aspect of technology, such as medical treatment, or weaponry and military tactics, etc.].
5. Why did foreign powers fail to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy?
6. In what ways did evangelical Protestantism shape the course of the Civil War? OR In what way did evangelical Protestantism shape the coming of the Civil War?
7. Compare and contrast wartime mobilization in the American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification.
8. In what ways did disagreements over states’ rights affect policy making in the Confederacy?
9. Assess Abraham Lincoln’s role as a wartime president.
10. How did popular sentiment in the Confederacy shape the war’s outcome?
11. Lee Ann Whites claims that the Civil War constituted a ‘crisis in gender.’ What does she mean? And do you agree?
12. How did gender figure in Civil War popular culture?
13. Compare the exercise of political power by the Union and Confederate governments during the war.
14. How did the actions of freedmen and women influence the course and nature of the Civil War?
15. How did party conflict in the Civil War North shape the Lincoln administration’s wartime policies?
16. In what ways did the Civil War signal a radical break from past traditions?
17. Evaluate available evidence on the war’s overall effects on Northern men’s respect for law and order and traditional morality.
18. How did the Civil War affect white Northern women’s gender identities? OR How did the Civil War differently affect white Northern and Southern women’s gender identities.
19. What difference does it make to place the Civil War in an international context?
20. How did black aspirations shape the post-war South?
21. Why did Northerners acquiesce in the demise of Reconstruction?
22. Discuss the way new meanings have been invested in the Civil War by analysing at least three twentieth-century depictions of the war. (n.b.: you can use novels, films, memoirs, etc. You might also choose to focus on a particular theme – say, violence, race, combat experience, the coming of the war, the war’s aftermath, etc.)

BACK TO TOP