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The Windy City: Chicago in American History (History C-92-48 and C-92-68) Amanda I. Seligman Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois, USA Summer 1996 |
COURSE DESCRIPTIONThis course has two goals: to familiarize students with the broad outlines of Chicago's history and to consider the relevance of the "Second City" to the history of the United States. Assigned weekly readings provide a guide to some of the highlights of the city's past. No short list of readings for an eight-week class, however, can provide complete coverage. A long list might do somewhat better, but Chicago's prominence has encouraged a wealth of academic and popular commentary. Students will complement their survey of Chicago by researching and writing term papers on a single topic. Throughout the discussion of readings and term papers, the course will ask whether Chicago is a typical or exceptional city, and how its history illuminates the rest of the nation's. This class is structured as a seminar. Each week, half of the class time will be devoted to a discussion by the entire class of the assigned readings. The other half of each meeting will vary. For the first part of the term, we will work with a variety of primary documents and consult with a librarian about resources for the term papers. In the second part of the term, students will make presentations about their projects. The success of a seminar depends in part on the willingness of participants to come prepared to share their ideas and questions with one another. Seminar participants are expected to put their own ideas on the table and listen carefully to those of their colleagues. Intellectual disagreements, handled with civility and respect, can offer the class substantial opportunities for clarification and understanding. In order to give everyone a chance to participate, we will begin most substantive discussions with the "Pass the Watch" procedure. Each participant--including the instructor--will have the floor for a specified amount of time (initially 30 seconds). The person next to the speaker will monitor the passage of time and at the end of the designated period hand the watch to the speaker, who becomes the watch-holder for the next participant. Listeners may not interrupt the speaker, and the speaker must stop when handed the watch. The watch will pass around the class until everyone has had a turn, after which time participants may address each other's comments. GRADES AND GRADING POLICYCourse grades will be based on evaluations of two papers, a presentation, participation, and several short assignments related to the term paper. Due dates for the written assignments are noted in the course schedule, and we will agree in class on the dates of individual presentations.Final grades will be calculated according the following scale:
The four assignments related to the term paper (statement of topic, bibliography, journal entry, and presentation) are meant to keep you on track and give me a chance to give you feedback more than they are meant to be a way for you to lose points. I will be evaluating them for thoroughness and content, but not by the more exacting criteria reserved for formal prose. The two written assignments, the short paper and the term paper, should be in your best historical prose style. Every history paper should 1) have a clear and concise thesis statement that analyzes an idea; 2) develop its argument logically; and 3) use appropriate historical evidence to support its argument. Everything that you include in the paper should support the thesis. If it does not, then save it for a more appropriate occasion. There are several sources available to you for extended discussion of how to write a history paper. First, please feel free to discuss this with me--in person, by email, or on the phone. In addition, the recommended book, A Short Guide to Writing about History, has many suggestions by a historian who is an instructor of expository writing at Harvard. Finally, remember that the assigned readings in this course are all (for better or for worse), models of historical writing. As you read them, note how they make their arguments as well as what they have to say about Chicago. Late papers will be penalized at the rate of one-third a letter grade per day (from A to A-, B+ to B, etc.). Note that in summer session it behooves you to turn papers in on time because the class meeting is the only convenient meeting time. Students should familiarize themselves with the University policy on academic honesty and document ideas drawn from other people with footnotes (not parenthetical citations). If you are unfamiliar with the proper style for footnotes, see Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. A Short Guide to Writing About History also includes a brief section on footnotes and bibliographies, and a discussion of why historians prefer footnotes to the parenthetical citations that make acceptable references in the social sciences. A letter grade will be assigned to each student's overall participation in the seminar. As with evaluation of written work, the grade derives from the quality rather than the absolute quantity of participation. Signs of excellent participation include listening and responding to others' ideas, preparing for class by completing and contemplating the assignments, and taking a leading role in sharing both insights and questions. Signs of good participation include coming prepared to class and participating in the discussion generated by others. Poor participation includes failure to prepare for class and refusal to join in discussion with other seminar participants. If you must miss class, please let me know about it ahead of time. Excessive or unexplained absences will be reflected by zero credit for the participation grade. ACCESS TO INSTRUCTORIt is important for students and the instructor to be able to reach each other outside of class time. There are several ways to get in touch with me:
TEXTSThere are 6 required books and 2 recommended books. Required readings from:
I have endeavored to keep the reading assignments under 250 pages per week. Some of the assignments include the instruction to read selected pages, or to skim a section. Please do not feel that the formal assignment precludes you from reading the rest of the book. I have chosen these books because they are among the best and most accessible books on Chicago's history, and together they cover many of the major political, social, and economic developments of its past; it is only with great difficulty that I was able to pare the reading down. Please let me know if I need to change my selection criteria or re-examine my judgments. For those of you who want more to read, I have recommended chapters from Mayer and Wade's Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis, which is an unparalleled visual history of the city's spatial and architectural growth.
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COURSE SCHEDULE |
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
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TERM PAPER INSTRUCTIONS |
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The term paper assigned in this class is intended to give you an
opportunity to study in depth any topic related to Chicago's history
that interests you. During the term, you will write a paper on the
topic and make a presentation to your classmates about what you have
learned.
Your paper may be on any topic in Chicago history. Your final paper, however, must address not only the "what happened" question, but also the "why should we care" question. Historians study the past not only to uncover unknown facts, but also to expand our horizons of understanding and analysis. Your paper should demonstrate attention to the significance of your topic: what does it tell us about Chicago as a city, or about the place of the city in the nation? The journal entry due in week 6 is an opportunity to reflect on and get feedback about your approach to this requirement. For the second and third weeks of class, you have brief written assignments due. For the first, you need to tell me what you want to do your paper on (and give me a chance to evaluate its feasibility); for the second, you need to show me that there are enough sources available to you to write a substantive historical paper. Some topics have more books written on them than you will be able to read during the term; others are almost entirely inaccessible at the moment. Choose carefully. In the second half of the term, there are two assignments designed to help you and your classmates think about the significance of your topic. During week 6, you must submit a journal entry on the relationship of your topic to larger themes in American history. In addition, you will be allotted approximately 20 minutes of class time to make a presentation on your project. You should plan on using about half of that time to describe your project and about half to field questions and suggestions from your classmates. With the presentation, you have the opportunity both to teach your classmates and instructor something they might not know about, and to get ideas about improvements for your final paper. The final paper should be about 15 typed, double-spaced pages long. Be sure include a title page, footnotes, and a bibliography. You may use illustrations if you like. Be sure to give appropriate credit for both picture and text sources. Your paper is due at the last class meeting. Extensions will only be granted if you can figure out a way to get your paper into my hands before I have finished grading all the others. You must consult with me about this. I would like to be able to return your papers to you. Please submit a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your paper. If you have a campus mail address, then of course stamps will not be necessary. You may write your term paper about anything relating to Chicago, subject to my approval. You might want to choose a person, an event, a theme, a locale, an industry, an institution, a group of people, or a time period. The following list is meant to be suggestive rather than comprehensive: People
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