Undergraduate Studies
General Description For Undergraduate History Courses
The primary purpose of this document is to describe the program of undergraduate courses offered by the Department of History in the new course system. The descriptions (encompassing focus, scope, formats, workloads and the like) are intended as guidelines that inform established faculty what the new numbering system means and that aid new faculty in defining and designing their courses.
Overall, the program is designed to help students develop the skill to read, interpret, and write critically about a range of demanding texts. The goal is to turn students who progress through the program from consumers to producers of history. Topics become more specialized as the levels increase. Readings progress from textbooks on the lower levels, closest to the students' own time, place, and language, to primary sources and scholarly works aimed toward more specialized audiences on the higher levels.
While grading remains at the discretion of the instructors, the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee recommends that in courses on the 100- and 200- levels, no single exam or student writing should count for more than 40% of the final course grade. Therefore, grades should be based on multiple exercises.
Instructors should explain assignments, expectations, standards, and grading procedures in syllabi distributed to all students. Course parameters and workloads vary by level of course and by instructor, so a syllabus should define the particular course clearly, playing the role of an informal contract between instructor and student. Special attention should be paid to writing assignments, which should constitute an important part of all history courses.