History 111

UNITED STATES HISTORY I

Dr. Sharon Roger Hepburn

Spring 2005

Office and Office Hours

Cook IE Building 219

831-5287

Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00-12:00

Tuesday & Thursday 1:00-2:00

Or by Appointment

E-mail: shepburn@radford.edu

If you cannot come during the above hours, please feel free to make an appointment at a more convenient time as I often work in my office outside of posted office hours. Email is a good way to reach me and set up an appointment or to ask any questions that you may have as I regularly check my email and will answer you as soon as possible after receiving the message. I strongly encourage all students to visit me or contact me with any questions that you have concerning the class, material covered in lectures, study approaches or anything else that you may need assistance with. I find that those students who seek out advice regarding my classes as soon as possible tend to improve their grades.

Course Web Site:

            http://www.runet.edu:8800/~shepburn/hist111.htm

          This web site provides study terms, lecture outlines and other useful study material. No other study guides will be provided so please take advantage of what is available at this web site.

            Your textbook also offers a website that contains useful study material so feel free to utilize that on your own.

Honor Code:

“By accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception. Violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated. This class will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. Refer to your Student Handbook for details.”

Unless otherwise specifically and clearly stated, all work in this class is expected to be undertaken on an individual not collective basis. Plagiarism and collective work on written assignments will be dealt with through judicial proceedings. Any and all cases of cheating on quizzes or examinations will be referred to a judicial hearing.

Disabilities Statement:

If you are seeking classroom accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you are required to register with the Disability Resource Office (DRO). The DRO is located in Rm. 32, Tyler Hall. Phone is 831-6350. To receive academic accommodations for this class, please obtain the proper DRO forms and meet with assigned DRO staff at the beginning of the semester.

Course Description:

This introductory course in American history will survey the history of the United States from the settlement of the first colonies through the American Civil War. In tracing the social, political, intellectual, and economic development of the country, we will review major themes and issues in the American past rather than attempting to cover every aspect of the period. Topics to be encompassed include: the founding and development of British North America, colonial American culture, the causes and consequences of the American Revolution, the development of the U.S. Constitution, the Early National Period, the Jacksonian Era, slavery and race relations, the coming of the Civil War, and the war and Reconstruction.

Class format:

Due to the nature of the US survey, this class is primarily in the traditional lecture format, but I will ask questions and try to elicit discussions in class. Participation in class is strongly encouraged—the more you talk, the less I will have to. Videos and other multimedia presentations will be utilized when appropriate and will be significant for test purposes when used. Use of the world wide web will also be included as time and content allows. Any questions you may have are welcomed. It is vital for grading purposes, and to the flow of the class that the assigned material be read prior to the class in which they will be discussed.

In order to succeed in this class you need to read the book, study hard, take copious notes, and most importantly, come to class each day. I can not stress enough how much information you will lose for each day of class you miss. This course is extremely laden with content—information, detail—some of which you may already know, most of which you will not. My lectures are not summaries of the textbook and there is a great deal of information in my lectures that is not covered in the textbook. Therefore it is essential that you both read the textbook and take notes from my lectures. Lectures notes are vital to your success in this class—do not merely write down what I put on the board or what shows up on the computer screen and expect to get a good grade in this class. Lecture notes are where I get the test questions from and if you are not in class to hear the lectures; do not take the lecture down in detail; or do not study hard from those notes you will not do well in my class.

Suggestions for doing well in this class:

1)      Attend Class!

2)      Take good notes

3)      Study (and not just the night before the test) The general rule of thumb is two hours of study time outside of class for every hour spent in class. Thus, since we spend three hours in class each week you should be spending at least (and  more if you wish to do well in the class) six hours (yes, six hours) per week outside of class—reading your textbook, rewriting or reorganizing your notes, reviewing the material, and then studying for any quizzes or tests.

4)      Attend Class and take good notes!

Required Book:

Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, Volume I: To 1865, 1^st edition. This is your textbook. It will provide you with guidance through the topics we discuss in class. It contains the factual information from which we will build our class discussions on. It will be also used for quizzes and examination purposes as well as writing assignments. I will not teach specifically from the textbook—meaning that my lectures will not be merely taken from the text. Nor will I try to cover everything in the textbook. The purpose is to, between lecture and the text, provide you with a well rounded outlook of US history. It is therefore critical that you both read the text (before class) and take good notes in class.

Attendance Policy:

Attendance is a requirement and an essential part of the course. Formal attendance will be taken. You are expected to be in class for every class meeting. I cannot stress enough how vital good attendance is to your success in this course. Since the examinations are based largely on lecture material you need to be in class in order to acquire that information.

That having been said, good attendance will result in the following rewards:

·         Students who miss 0 to 2 classes will have 2 “bonus” points added to their final course grade.

·         Students who miss 3-5 classes will have 1 “bonus” point added to their final course grade.

Please note that there are no excused absences other than for university functions (sports, theatre, dance, etc.) or for extended absences from the university due to serious illness or a death in the family. Any such excused absences can only be processed with written documentation. Any other absences, whatever the reason may be, will automatically count as an absence. Also note that calling or emailing me explaining the absence does NOT excuse the absence. Unless you have documentation attesting to one of the above excused absence do not ask to have your absence excused. Nor do you need to inform me of the reasons for your absences—unless they are excusable ones.

No absences of any nature will relieve the student from responsibility for the material covered in class.

Finally, any student who misses ten or more classes will automatically receive an F as a final course grade. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Evaluation Policy:

Your final grade for this class will be determined according to the following evaluation policy. Note that all quizzes, examinations, and the final course grade will be based on the following scale.  There is no curve nor rounding of grades.

90-100 = A

80-89 = B

70-79 = C

60-69 = D

59 and below = F

Please note that students are responsible for retaining all graded assignments for their own records.

There is NO EXTRA CREDIT for this course. Your time is much better spent doing what is required in the course and doing it to the best of your ability.

Course Requirements:

Examinations:            20% each

There will be two in-class examinations. Each examination will consist of two parts. Half of the exam will be objective in nature (multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and matching). The second half will be written. Each of the two in-class exams will be worth 20% of your final grade.

No makeup examinations will be given without legal, documented excuses from the Dean of Students Office. Tests can not be made up unless the instructor is given prior notification of the student’s absence. Makeup exams will inevitably be more difficult.

Final Examination:   25%

            The final examination will be the same format as the in-class examinations. It will not be cumulative. The final exam schedule is set by the registrar’s office and is listed in the registrar’s schedule book. Changing of final exam times is not permissible.

Quizzes:                      20%

There will be a series of quizzes during the course of the semester. The quizzes will alternate between quizzes based on lecture and quizzes based on the assigned reading from the Foner textbook.

The format of the quizzes will be multiple choice. No make up quizzes will be given for any reason! I will, however, drop the lowest quiz grade. The rest of the quiz grades will then be averaged together and will count towards 20% of your final grade.

The lecture quizzes will be based solely on the lectures and the textbook quizzes will be based on reading material that we have NOT yet covered in class (I will announce what chapter the textbook quizzes will be on). The purpose of the reading quizzes is to ensure that students do the required reading prior to class discussion of topics. While this may not seem “fair” to some students, the reading quizzes in reality help your grade in that they may force you to do reading you otherwise would not do and thus help prepare you for the examinations which are worth significantly more in the final evaluation of your class performance.

Document Analysis:  15%

            Each student will complete three (3) writing assignments based on material in the textbook. Each assignment will be worth 5% of your final grade. Due Dates and guidelines for the writing assignments will be provided on a separate handout.

 Topics of Study and Reading Assignments:

Classroom Decorum

            I wish that this section was not necessary, but it is my experience that some guidelines are in order. I do not want to sound totalitarian about this, but there are certain behaviors that I wish to discourage.

·         Tardiness – Please be in the classroom and ready to work before the starting time of the class. I make every effort to be in class on time, and to start the process of instruction at the indicated time. I would appreciate the same consideration from you. It is disruptive and rude to both your fellow students and myself to interrupt class by walking in after lecture has started. To be sure, there are times when lateness is unavoidable, but chronic lateness will count against your attendance grade and may result in further action. If you are forced to arrive late or leave early on occasion, please sit near a door so as to disrupt others as little as possible.

·         Etiquette – Classroom behavior that interferes with either (a) the instructor’s ability to conduct the class or (b) the ability of students to benefit from the instruction is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. I reserve the right to evict students from the classroom for any behavior deemed an egregious breach of classroom decorum. Those evicted will receive a zero on any attendance, quiz, or exam grade that day. I hope that you will respect both your fellow students and myself by following some basic rules of common courtesy:

·         Talking is disruptive of other students around you, forces me to attempt to speak louder, and is just boorish behavior. Passing notes and/or giggling in class are equally unacceptable behavior.

·         The rustling of papers, bags and coats is disrespectful and distracting. Class begins and ends with me. Please have your material ready to start note-taking when lecture begins rather than waiting until I start to speak and then taking everything out. Furthermore, please do not begin rustling papers, books, coats, etc. before I dismiss class.

·         My class is not an opportunity to make up for missed sleep. Sleeping in class is insulting to the instructor, discourteous to students around you, and shows a lack of moral fortitude. If the lecture is worth that little to you, then at least have the courage to skip class and accept the consequences.

·         The use of beepers, cellular telephones, or other electronic devices is prohibited. In the event of a situation where a student legitimately needs to carry a beeper/cellular telephone to class, prior notice and approval of the instructor is required.

·         School policy prohibits all tobacco products and eating in the classrooms. I do allow students to bring drinks to class, however, eating/snacking in class is prohibited. Students tearing open food containers and snack bags, crunching chips and smacking lips are very distracting to the rest of class and such actions are simply rude. If you are trying to squeeze in a lunch or snack before class, make sure you have finished before lecture begins.

·         Engaging in activities other than note-taking, such as newspaper reading, completing other class assignments, reading your textbook before a quiz, etc. is not conducive to a learning environment and will not be tolerated.