York Country Day School
Senior History Seminar
Honors European History
Syllabus
Mr. Gyenes
Room: 41
Email: sgyenes@ycds.org
Phone: (717) 815-6736
Course Description
The structure of the course will be very similar to a college reading seminar course. You will learn the major topics a history major and professional historian would learn in college and graduate school. Seminar courses revolve around a general historic period with emphasis placed upon a specific theme within which the student will investigate and create a thesis. This year the YCD History Seminar will focus on “Revolutions and Change in early Modern Europe: The Search for “Truth.” During this year-long course you will be introduced to key issues in European history from about 1400 to 1800, commonly referred to as “early modern Europe” by historians, which led Europeans on their, often radical and revolutionary, quest for “truth.”
Early modern Europe served as a kind of crucible for modern life. In the post-medieval world Europeans began to challenge their world in all areas: social, political, religious, geographical and economic. We will study in detail topics such as the Renaissance, Reformation, and age of exploration, absolutism and constitutionalism, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolutionary period, to illustrate the monumental changes made by Europeans during this brief period. You will also be instructed in the proper research, writing, and methodological techniques professional historians utilize in the preparation and presentation for a final research thesis. The major geographical focus will be on Western Europe (especially England, France, the Low Countries, and Germany) with some attention to the Mediterranean world and less emphasis on northern and Eastern Europe and Russia.
There will be no tests or quizzes in this course. Grades will consist primarily from your preparation, writing assignments, and class participation. You will be expected to complete all necessary primary and secondary reading assignments outside of class and be prepared for class discussion. The culmination of the course and 50% of the course grade will be the research, writing, and presentation of a final research thesis. In preparation for your research thesis I will instruct you in the proper techniques, process, and skills historians utilize when creating a formal historical monograph. Upon completion the thesis will be submitted to the Concord Review for possible publication. The Concord Review publishes exceptional history research papers written by high school students from around the world. The Review has earned endorsements from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and numerous other colleges and universities.
Techniques to be used in this course to achieve Course Goals:
1. Students’ analytical and interpretive abilities, as well as acquisition of content knowledge, will be assessed via writing assignments, either produced in class or as take home assignments. Specific forms of assignments will include in research papers, essays, DBQs, and primary and secondary source evaluations, class discussion, and journal writing.
2. Students will develop communication skills through class discussions, during which students will be provided with the opportunity to analyze and interpret assigned course materials.
3. Students will be assigned a range of materials used by historians to understand the past, including primary and secondary materials, which may be available in print; as video, art and/or music; or Web-based information resources. Students will be expected to work with this material to develop the analytical skill necessary to construct interpretations and offer arguments backed by evidence drawn from the material.
Statement on Writing Standards: Students enrolled in this course are expected to use literate and effective English in their speech and writing. All papers and test submitted must be well-written; grades on written work (including examinations) will be based on expression well as on content. Students may be required to rewrite papers which are marred by errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, or organization.
Textbooks and Readings:
Ø Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization. Volume II (7th edition)
Ø Dennis Sherman, Western Civilization: Sources, Images, and Interpretation (7th edition)
Ø Handouts/photocopies from various selections with major reading being taken from:
o Wood Gray, Historians Handbook: A Key to the Study and Writing of History
o Jules Benjamin, A Student’s Guide to History
Ø Variety of Internet sites will be used during the year (specific address given on weekly schedule)
Ø The course readings are major aspects of the course. I am here to teach you, not read to you. The majority of the lectures and class discussions will be supplemented with in-class and outside reading. Therefore, to get more complete picture of the periods under study you must read the assigned pages/articles/documents, etc. and participate in class discussions and projects.
Late Policy: In order to receive credit for all work, it must be submitted when it is due. I will not accept any late assignments. If you are late you will receive a zero for that assignment. I have the right to allow for concessions in extraordinary circumstances so you are strongly encouraged to meet with me, at any time, about any circumstance.
Assessments:
Course Grade Criteria: The course grade will be commutated as follows:
Class Participation/Journals: 25%
Essay/writing assignments= 25%
Final Research Project = 50%
There will be a number essays and one final research paper scheduled throughout the year. All papers are to be typed, doubles-spaced, twelve-point size in Times New Roman. All margins are to be one inch. All quotations and research are to be cited in the text, according to MLA standards. A proper bibliography page is to be added when necessary for any resources from outside of the assigned readings. Formal Free-Response Essays and Document Based Question Essays are typically 3-5 pages in length while the research paper is to be 15-20 pages in length. The specific guidelines for each major essay will be given in class. However the major formats will include: Primary Document analyses; modern scholarship critical analyses; historiographical studies; in addition to the daily free-responses to homework essay questions.
Tentative Course Schedule
Fall Semester (September-December)
I. The Subject of History and How to Use It
II. Why Study History
III. The Reformation
IV. Counter Reformation
V. Age of Exploration
VI. Witchcraft/Inquisition
VII. English Civil War
VIII. Absolutism
IX. Constitutional Monarchy
X. Scientific Revolution
XI. The Enlightenment
XII. French Revolution
XIII. Ideologies of Change: The “isms” of Europe
Spring Semester (January-May)
I. The formal research process: Selecting a Topic
II. The formal research process: Researching a Topic
III. The formal research process: Writing a Research paper process
IV. The formal research process: Publication and Formal presentation