HIST6321: Seminar in Atlantic History to 1800, Spring 2012

1. Email: garrigus@uta.edu, but please use the BlackBoard email when possible.
2. Office: University Hall 201b; [Note that this is on the 2nd floor]
3. Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday noon to 1; Thursday 2 to 3; you can also make an appointment or take a chance and drop by.
4. Office Phone: 817-272-2869; cell phone: ______________________ (texts are okay)
5. BlackBoard: http://elearn.uta.edu
6. Website: http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/garrigus

This seminar is designed to coach students in researching, writing and presenting a paper on some aspect of Atlantic history up to 1800. The paper will be based on primary sources. Students will learn about how to locate research materials, improve their understanding of current scholarship, and build skills in the basic tasks of research, writing and presentation.

1. Students will develop a list of on-line and library sources for primary historical material.
2. Using the citation manager Zotero, students will produce and submit an annotated bibliography of 6 works related to their research project.
3. Students will describe digital archives and new digital humanities approaches to historical material in presentations and in an on-line format
4. Students will develop a scholarly interpretation of a specific body of primary historical material or scholarly question.
5. Students will be able to integrate the work of other historians from the secondary historical literature into their interpretations of these primary sources.
6. Students present their interpretations orally and as a written paper of roughly 6,000 words.

1. Greene, Jack, and Philip D. Morgan, eds. Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
2. Sweet, James H. Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

• Zotero, either as an add-on for the Firefox browser or in a new standalone version [http://www.zotero.org; http://www.mozilla.org]
• Zotero plug-in for Word or OpenOffice

At the end of the semester, students who have accumulated 900 or more points will receive a "A"; 800 to 899 is a "B"; 700 to 799 is a "C"; and 600 to 699 is "D". Less than 600 points is a failing grade.

I take attendance at every class and use this information as part of your participation grade.

"Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts." (Regents' Rules and Regulations, Series 50101, Section 2.2)

It is the philosophy of The University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

I realize that you may not clearly understand what plagiarism is depending on your previous academic experiences. Please ask me for clarification if you have any questions after reading the following paragraph.

Plagiarism occurs when you present someone else's words or ideas as your own. Avoid plagiarism in all class assignments, including on-line discussion boards as well as more traditional papers and projects. When you copy paragraphs, sentences, and phrases from someone else, from the Internet, from encyclopedias, or from other works you are committing plagiarism. What you may not realize is that paraphrasing (copying a sentence and changing a few key words) is also plagiarism. Avoid plagiarism by always explaining ideas in your own language. If you must reproduce someone else's words, use quotation marks and give that writer credit in a footnote or endnote.

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Students should meet in person with the instructor to discuss any concerns about their grade.