The American Experience and Graduate Colloquium, 1607-1865

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

AMS 585/595

Course Description

The purpose of the graduate student colloquium series (AMS 595/6), one hour credit each, is two-fold. First, the course is required of all master's students enrolled in AMS 485/585--American Experience, 1607-1865 (Fall)--and AMS 486/586--American Experience, 1865-1960 (Spring)--in order to supplement and complement class activities and discussions undertaken in the American Experience sequence. Secondly, the colloquium is intended to provide an opportunity for the discussion of thesis preparation, comprehensive examinations, and broader, more theoretical topics such issues as pedagogy, methodology, the evolution of historical scholarship, and techniques of American cultural analysis.

For the Fall of 1994, AMS 585 and 595 will operate according to the following schedule. Graduate students are required to meet with the AMS 485 undergraduates each T/Th from 2-3:15. There will then be a 15 minute break after which the graduate students and instructor will reconvene. Tuesday discussions will confine themselves to content, and will be drawn not only from topics raised in undergraduate discussion but also from additional material assigned in Hollinger and Capper, The American Intellectual Tradition, 1630-1865, vol 1, 2d ed. and a xeoroxed packet of recent historiographical essays. You will need to see the instructor to obtain these. Thursdays will be given over wholely to research and methodology. For this you will need to obtain a copy of Barzun and Graf, The Modern Researcher, 5th ed.

Course Requirements/Evaluation—AMS 585

Americans have always been one journal-keeping bunch, a tradition we'll extend in the following manner. Everyone in AMS 585 is asked to keep a journal in whatever form you choose so long as it is legible. The journal is intended to be a record of the encounter between your mind and the content of this course: texts, primary sources, historiographical essays, class discussions, or anything else you feel germane and care to record. Use whatever and as many technique(s) of analysis, comparison, or evaluation you feel most comfortable with. The important thing is to develop what you are saying to the fullest. Say what you think about a given source/topic/idea and why you think so. Perhaps the reading has lead your mind out of the text toward some other related issue or event or concern or idea. Perhpas the reading will have drawn you into the text and issues of structure, evidence, and language. Ideally it should do a little of both, making the journal as exhaustive a record of the encounter between your mind and the material that you can make it. A rule of thumb: Each entry should thrive on the tension between mind and text, and should not merely summarize the material considered. Journals should not contain reading notes, class notes, or notes on critical readings or essays, though you are certainly encouraged to bring outside material to bear on your assessment of/reaction to the text at hand.

Now a few hints. Try to develop a consistent pattern/frequency of journal writing, i.e. don't let this crap pile up. At little bit each day is the doctor's recommended dose. Also, please date each entry, and please, no fudging. Don't be overly concerned with neatness--as in don't spend time recopying anything. I ask only for a clear enough hand to permit easy reading and a wide enough margin to permit comment.

Journals will be collected on the dates indicated below in the Course Outline and will be returned at the next class meeting so you will not fall behind.

At the end of the semester you will be required to turn in a "Heart of the Journal" essay of from 10-15 pages culled from your journal and organized into a clear and cohesive statement of what you have learned as a result of your encounter with the texts, ideas, issues, and other materials in this course. Both the journal and the "Heart of the Journal" essay will comprise the written portion of your evaluation in AMS 585.

Each graduate student will also be expected to lead the class discussion on one of the Tuesday Content Days. You will be responsible for drawing out the major points of the material and involving your graduate colleagues in a discussion of them.

Course grades for AMS 585 will be determined according to the following formula:

Class participation & discussion from Hollinger/packet...20%
Reading Journal..........................................20%
Midterm Exam.............................................20%
"Heart of the Journal" essay.............................20%
Final Examination........................................20%

Course Schedule—AMS 585

30 Aug: Murrin, "Beneficiaries of Catastrophe"
06 Sep: Kessler-Harris, "Social History"
13 Sep: Puritans-I: H/C, 3-39
20 Sep: Puritans-II: H/C, 40-88
27 Sep: Kerber, "The Revolutionary Generation"; Review article on the republicanism synthesis*
04 Oct: Republican Enlightenment-I: H/C, 91-133
11 Oct: Republican Enlightenment-II:H/C, 134-85
18 Oct: Wilentz, "Society, Politics, & the Market Revolution"; H/C, 189-269
25 Oct: Romanticism & Reform, H/C 273-357
01 Nov: Gordon, "U.S. Women's History"
18 Nov: Holt, "African-American History"
15 Nov: Review article, western history*
22 Nov; Foner, "Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction"
29 Nov: The Quest For Union-I: H/C, 361-98
06 Dec: The Quest For Union-II: H/C, 400-32

Course Requirements/Evaluation--AMS 595

As mentioned previously, the Colloquium will focus exclusively on research and methodology, and is designed in conjunction with AMS 596 in order to introduce the student to methods of scholarly research. To this end, AMS 595 will consist of discussions on various aspects of research techniques and practices, and will require the student to complete all the preliminary steps in proposing a semester- length writing project. AMS 596 will require the student to bring that proposal to fruition.

The sole text for Colloquium discussions will be Barzun & Graf, The Modern Researcher, the classic in its field and something of a researcher's Bible. The reading schedule appears below and, like AMS 585, will be apportioned among those enrolled who will take weekly turns presenting material to their colleagues and initiating discussion among them. In addition, according to guidelines established on a separate handout, students will spend the term completing the necessary steps in proposing a research project.

Evaluation of progress in AMS 595 will be according to the following formula:

Class discussion.......................25%
Research Proposal......................75%