University of Toronto at Mississauga

Department of Historical Studies

HIS101H5: Introduction to Historical Studies

Tuesday, 10:00-12:00

Mohamad Tavakoli < Rima Berns-McGown <>

Office: 121 North Building Office: 261B North Building

Office Hours: Tuesday, 8:00-10:00 a.m. Office Hours: Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00 and 1:00-3:00

Teaching Assistants

Matthew Doyle <>

Stuart Rutten <

Lori A. Woods <>

Lisa Chen <>

I. Course Description and Goals

This writing-intensive course introduces students to historical thinking and writing in the humanities and social sciences and explores the emergence of Classics, History, and Religion as fields of academic inquiry.

Writing is an integral component of critical historical thinking skills. Both historical description and historical explanation involve the interrelated tasks of learning to write and writing to learn. Critical evaluation of historical writing is likewise intimately related to the ability to write critically and historically, skills that could be acquired only in a writing intensive course. By learning to reason and to write historically in Introduction to Historical Studies, students will acquire the foundational skills that are essential for their educational success in higher level courses in the Classical Civilizations, History of Religions, Women’s/Gender Studies, and History programs.

To enhance the utility of Introduction to Historical Studies as a writing intensive course each class session will be organized around fundamental issues as: “what is history and historicity,” “what is time and time-distancing,” “what is historical reasoning,” “what is historical evidence,” “what is historical description and explanation,” and “how does one write historically?” Additionally students will learn about the significance of gender as a historical category and the importance of the “historical turn” in various disciplines in the humanities. By learning the significance of historical reasoning in other disciplines, students in this course will acquire skills that can be easily applied to courses in other disciplines.

In this writing-intensive course, prior to each class session students will be required to write a micro-essay of approximately 500 words on the central question of the week. These micro-essays will be critical summaries/reflections on the assigned readings, which will introduce students to the works of prominent historiographers and philosophers. For instance, the assigned readings on “what is history” will include passages from Immanuel Kant, Georg W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Edward Carr, and R. G. Collingwood. Through such assignments students will learn about both the diversity of perspectives on the explored questions and the significance of their prominent authors. Students will be required to post their micro-essays on the course website at least 48 hours prior to the class meeting. These postings will be accessible to other students and to the writing associate for responses and feedback.

To create a collaborative learning environment, students in this course will be divided into online writing communities of approximately 7 individuals. In addition to writing a micro-essay on the critical question of the week, each student will be required to write a brief 100-word critical reflection on micro-essays written by other students in their writing community. In this assignment students are asked to treat their peers as scholars and to ascertain how their perspectives relate to the views of the authors of the assigned readings. These critical comments will be also posted online and will be available to all students and to the writing associate for the course.

To contribute to the development of an active intellectual community on campus, students in this course will be also required to attend at least 4 out-of-classroom lectures and/or conferences. They will be asked to write a brief summary of no more than 100 words describing the fundamental argument of each speaker. In addition to engagement in campus-wide intellectual activities, this assignment will enable students to learn how to summarize elaborate arguments, skills that are essential to historical writing.

At the end of the semester each student is required to write a coherent final essay of approximately 5000 words addressing all the questions that were explored during the semester. In this assignment each student will be able to revisit her/his own weekly postings and to rewrite them into a coherent historigraphical essay embodying the scholarly tools of historical objectivity and evidentiary support. For their final grade, students will be asked to compile all of their written assignments into electronic portfolios.

II. Requirements

1. Biweekly summaries/analyses for a total of 6 one-page papers (approx. 500 words each). These analyses should be made available to other students via the Internet at least 24 hours prior to each class meeting.

2. Biweekly critiques of your peers' position papers for a total of 6 one-page papers (approx. 100 words each). Your critiques should be made available to other students via our discussion list.

3. Small groups will lead online discussions on assigned readings. All students are expected to participate regularly and actively in these discussions. Failure to do so will have a detrimental effect on your grade!

4. Students registered for this course are also required to participate in at least 4 sessions of university-wide seminars and/or public lectures related to Historical Studies. A short report (approx. 400-500 words) of these sessions should be sent to the Teaching Assistant assigned to your group.

5. A final take home essay exam (approximately 2500 words) on key Historiographical concepts, due 6 December 2005.

6. A weblog consisting of your weekly summaries, critiques, lecture reports, and the final take-home exam.

III. Grades

Students will be evaluated by attendance, quality participation in the course, and by the quality of their written works. Percentages will be assigned on this following basis:

1. Biweekly summaries/analyses, 20%

2. Biweekly critiques, 20%

3. Online group discussions and discussions with TAs and or instructors: 10%

4. Participation in university-wide seminars and public lectures: 10%

5. Substantive revision of writing assignments, 5%

6. Final take-home exam: 25%

7. Writing portfolio/weblog, 10%

Preliminary Schedule and Readings

Week I: Introduction to Historical Studies

Tuesday, September 13