Matters of academic integrity are fundamental to the historian's method. All too often plagiarism can creep in through inattention or sloppy methods (see Turabian, Manual for Writers, p. 42). For this assignment you will be asked to take review some material about plagiarism and then take a test over your knowledge of plagiarism and how to avoid committing it. Although this assignment will not be counted toward your semester grade, you will not be permitted to complete any written assignments until you have attained a minimum score of 70 on this test.

The semester project for this course is to write a relatively short article-length (5,000-10,000 word) analysis of the historiography on a particular topic of your own choosing. The first formal step in doing any sort of research topic is the crafting and submission of a project proposal. In Blackboard you will find material relating to how you should approach and structure your proposal. Also review the opening sections of Turabian, Manual for Writers as prescribed in the Course Activities section of the Syllabus.

Readings in Sharlene Sayegh and Eric Altice, History and Theory are accompanied by exercises that will take different forms depending on the specific materials covered.

Throughout the semester various assignment will require that you post responses to the Discussion Board in Blackboard. In addition, I will be asking for you to respond to postings put up by your colleagues. While individual postings will not be graded, overall participation will be evaluated on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis (Satisfactory=100%, Unsatisfactory=0%).

Research proposals and preliminary project drafts that have been submitted will be distributed to peer members of the class for review and comment. These peer reviews will be graded based on the criteria that you will find in the materials concerning peer reviewing in Blackboard.

The project proposal you submitted will be returned to you with my comments and with comments from a peer reviewer. Using these comments as a guide you will revise your proposal into a final form.

You will submit a preliminary draft of your full article for review and comment.

The project draft you submitted will be returned to you with my comments and with comments from a peer reviewer. Using these comments as a guide you will revise your proposal into a final form.