Form One: Students may choose to write a response to one or more of the questions about course themes and content that appear in the Schedule of Classes below. These questions are geared to the material covered in the textbook, America Past and Present, that will be covered in class that week.
Form Two: Students may choose to write an analysis of a primary source linked to this syllabus from a remote server. In writing such a report students should answer the following questions: (1) What is the reading about? (2) What is the author's main thesis or point? (3) How is this reading relevant to the material covered in the text for the week? (4) How does it relate to one or more of the course's main themes: freedom, diversity, and migration.
In evaluating the information and/or interpretation in a primary source, you should look for clues in the source itself that will help you answer some or all of the following questions: (1) When and where did the events described take place? (2) Who created the source and why? (3) Is the information reported in the source subject to corroboration by another source? You can use your text for corroboration but you are encouraged to seek out other sources of evidence. In some cases there are web sites linked to the online assignment that may be of help.
Each report should be about 200-250 words in length (the equivalent of one, double-spaced, typewritten page). Reports will be due each week on Tuesday, but the first report can be submitted on Thursday, January 20, 2000. By the end of the semester you must submit at least ten reports. You may submit more than ten reports to obtain extra credit, not to exceed the maximum credit for this part of the course (see grading policy). You may not do all your journal entries in the same form. At least four of your entries must be in one form or the other. In other words, you may not do more than six of your ten reports in any one form.