A research seminar on the history of National Socialism, including the Holocaust and World War II.
Prof. Mark Walker
Lippman Hall 216
Office hours: TBA
walkerm@union.edu
Goals
(1) Formulate a clear, focused and appropriate research question and thesis.
(2) Identify and locate evidence appropriate for examining your research question and thesis.
(3) Critically analyze evidence obtained for examination of your research question and thesis.
(4) Develop and organize a logical argument grounded in the analysis of evidence that supports or refutes your research question and thesis.
(5) Present a logical analytical argument supported by evidence in an appropriate written form without errors of grammar, usage, or spelling.
(6) Incorporate and cite evidence in a manner that meets the professional standards of the historical discipline.
Or in other words: Why do you know what you know? Unless you have to, why should you take someone else’s word for it? Do your own research, find your own evidence, and construct your own argument.
Reserve Materials
A selection of many primary and a few secondary sources will be placed on reserve in Shaffer Library. It is very important that you use primary as well as secondary sources for your paper. I am providing many pages of possible primary sources, and we will spend one class period working with them. Thereafter these sources will be available from the reserve shelves of Shaffer Library. You will not be able to take them out of the library, but you can work with them anytime the library is open. You will have to spend a considerable number of hours in the library working with these sources in order to do a good job on your research paper.
Internet Sources
You may only use certain internet sources, and only in certain ways. In particular, websites like wikipedia may be used only in order to find other sources, not for information, and certainly not for copying text. Although some webpages are valuable, articles and books found only on the internet may also be problematic. We have a class guide through the Shaffer Library website that includes a list of approved websites. Before you use a different website in any way in your research paper, you have to get my approval first. Articles acquired through one of the databases provided through Shaffer Library, for example, JSTOR, should be cited as they originally appeared, internet information should not be included.
Note-Taking
You should take notes as you read your sources, either handwritten or typed into your word processor. Highlighting is not effective. If you take notes, make sure to write down the complete citation of the source at the beginning of your notes, keep a running tally of the page numbers of what you write down, and be sure to distinguish between your paraphrase and direct quotations.
Citation of Sources
You must use footnotes, not references in the text. It is important that you understand that footnotes are not reserved for direct quotations. If you get significant information from a source, you have to cite it even if you do not take a direct quotation from it. If you have any questions about using footnotes, please see this part of the Shaffer Library website.
Phones, Smartphones, and Laptops
The use of phones, smartphones, tablets, or laptops for any purpose not directly related to the class is not allowed. All phones and smartphones must be shut off before class begins. Under no circumstances should you use your phone to receive or send a call or text message during class. If you really need to receive or send a call or text, do not come to class and instead wait elsewhere to receive or send it. If you want to use a laptop or tablet, then you will have to sit in the front row of the class, and be prepared to show me what you are doing with it.
Disability Accommodations
Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first be registered with Accommodative Services to verify the disability and to establish eligibility for acommodations. Students may call 518-388-8785 or visit their website to begin the process. Once registered, students should then schedule an appointment with the professor to make appropriate arrangements.
Honor Code
You are expected to abide by Union College’s Honor Code.
Plagiarism
Please go to the Union College statement on plagiarism for an explanation of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Assignments
All assignments must be sent to me as Microsoft Word or rtf word processing files via email. If you do not use Microsoft Word, then use the “save as” function in your word processor to save the file as a “rtf” file. Please do not give me paper and ink copies. I will return them with comments via email as well. Late assignments will receive lower grades. Assignments that do not fulfill the requirements (see below) will be returned without being looked at. You will be better off submitting a complete assignment late, than sending me an incomplete assignment on time.
Secondary Source Papers
This assignment should demonstrate: (i) that you know what a secondary source is; (ii) that you know how to find a relevant and acceptable secondary source (all or part of a book from Shaffer Library or Connect NY; a journal article accessed through Shaffer Library’s online collections, or its paper and ink collections, etc.); and (iii) that you know how to read, digest, and interpret a secondary source.
Your oral presentation should include these parts (ideally in this order).
(1) What is your tentative research topic? (It does not matter if you are unsure about this, just do the best you can.)
(2) What is this secondary source about? What are the research question, thesis, and argument of the author? In other words, what is the author trying to do? This is especially important, that you analyze not only what the author is saying, but also how he or she is saying it.
(3) After the in-class presentation, write this up as five-page, double-spaced essay, including the correct citation of the secondary source at the very top of the first page.
Research Paper Topic Proposal
Describe in a one-to-two page, double-spaced paper what you would like to choose for your research paper. Also explain why you are interested in this topic, and what if any knowledge you already have of it. Please note that your assignment is to find a topic for which sufficient secondary sources can be found through Shaffer Library, including its online resources, and for which sufficient primary sources can be found in the materials I have placed on reserve or from a different, acceptable source.
Primary Source Papers
First of all, understand the difference between secondary and primary sources for the discipline of history. Find a relevant and acceptable primary source or sources (these must be from the collections I have placed on reserve in Shaffer Library and must comprise at least four full printed pages). Read the source or sources. Present the source or sources in class, explaining what they are about, what the context is—that is, how it should be interpreted—and how they fit into your paper topic. Primary sources are put into context by means of secondary sources. After the in-class presentation, write this up as five-page, double-spaced essay, including the correct citation of the primary source at the very top of the first page. Please note that specific primary documents have to be cited in your research paper, not just the collection they were found in, and that documents taken from the Noakes and Pridham collections need extra work–see the example I have posted on Nexus. Finally, you have to cite what you actually read, not the original source mentioned in what you read.
Presentations
The individual presentations of secondary and primary sources will be no longer than fifteen minutes. The PowerPoint presentation during the last week of class will be ten minutes long and must fit these guidelines: Six slides, including one title slide; Your thesis must be stated at beginning of slide two, your conclusion at the end of slide six. The presentation should include at least one, but no more than four images per slide. The font size should not be too small—if necessary include less text.
First Draft of Research Paper
Your first draft of your research paper may be rough in many ways, but it must: (i) Be complete, that is, have a beginning, middle, and end, including thesis and argument; (ii) Be based on and cite correctly, as a minimum, the following number and types of sources:
Five books that I can find either in Shaffer Library or Connect NY; Five journal articles that I can find in the Shaffer Library databases; these may include book chapters from books I can find in in Shaffer Library or Connect NY; Ten primary sources from at least three collections that are included in the material I have placed on reserve. If you think that it is not feasible for you to find these types of sources, please contact me (well in advance of the deadline for submitting this assignment);
(iii) Contain all the footnotes (not endnotes or sources in the text), and the footnotes must be complete, including the specific page numbers you have read. Please note that specific primary documents have to be cited in your research paper, not just the collection they were found in, and that documents taken from the Noakes and Pridham collections need extra work–see the example I have posted on Nexus. Finally, you have to cite what you actually read, not the original source mentioned in what you read.
Please read through these directions carefully. If (i), (ii), & (iii) are not satisfied, I will return your draft to you without having read it.
Final Draft of Research Paper
Your final draft should take the comments I make on your first draft into account, benefit from additional research and writing, and be between twelve and eighteen double-spaced pages long. This final draft should be a significant improvement on the first draft, and will be judged according to a higher standard.
Grades
Primary Source Paper (10)
Secondary Source Paper (10)
Presentation (10)
Class Participation (10)
Research Paper First Draft (30)
Research Paper Final Draft (30)
Total (100)
Video
During the eighth and ninth weeks, when you will need to focus on writing the drafts of your research paper, we will watch and discuss a video series on the History of Auschwitz.
Weekly Schedule
Week 1:
Monday: Introduction; lecture
Wednesday: Look through the Chronology on Nexus; Lecture
Friday: Work with primary documents in class, read through “List of Primary and Secondary Sources on Reserve” available on Nexus and come to class with five primary documents you want to look at.
Week 2:
Monday: Research workshop in Shaffer Library.
Wednesday: Lecture.
Friday: Lecture.
Week 3:
Monday: Discussion of Kershaw reading available on Nexus.
Wednesday: Student group one presents their individual secondary sources.
Friday: Student group two presents their individual secondary sources.
Week 4:
Monday: Discussion of Gregor reading available on Nexus.
Secondary Source Papers from groups one and two due.
Wednesday: Student group three presents their individual secondary sources.
Friday: Student group four presents their individual secondary sources.
Week 5:
Meet individually with students sometime during the week.
Monday: Working with primary sources in class.
Secondary Source Papers from groups three and four due.
Wednesday: Working with primary sources in class.
Friday: Working with primary sources in class.
Week 6:
Monday: Working with primary sources in class.
Paper topic from all groups due.
Wednesday: Student group one presents their individual primary sources.
Friday: Student group two presents their individual primary sources.
Week 7:
Monday: Working with primary sources in class.
Primary Source Papers from groups one and two due.
Wednesday: Student group three presents their individual primary sources.
Friday: Student group four presents their individual primary sources.
Week 8:
Monday: Video Auschwitz 1;
Primary Source Papers from groups three and four due.
Wednesday: Video Auschwitz 2.
Friday: Video Auschwitz 3;
First complete draft from groups one and two due.
Week 9:
Meet individually with groups one and two sometime during the week.
Monday: Video Auschwitz 4.
Wednesday: Video Auschwitz 5.
Friday: Video Auschwitz 6;
First complete draft from groups three and four due.
Week 10:
Meet individually with groups three and four sometime during the week.
Monday: Student presentations in class.
Wednesday: Student presentations in class.
Friday: Student presentations in class.
End of Exam Week
Final Draft Due.