Learning Activities & Course Requirements

  1. Online discussions:

    • You are expected to login to the discussion board at least twice per week and to actively participate in the discussions, which will be based on the readings.  You should never copy from any of the assigned sources.  (You may include very short quotes from the texts; but you must place all quoted material in quotation marks, and cite the author and page). Posts should demonstrate an understanding of the authors’ ideas and arguments, application and critique of these in your own words, as well as an understanding and analysis of your classmates’ postings.  Postings should be “cut and pasted” or typed into the Blackboard discussion board. Do not submit your postings as attachments. The online study guides will assist you with your reading, with the online discussions, and with learning the material.
    •  Each week, question assignments from that week’s study guide will be posted to our discussion group by Saturday at 2:00 p.m. However, all students should read all of reading assignment, and be able to answer all of the questions, not just the ones they are assigned to answer. The instructor will also post a general response to the weekly discussions, but evaluations will be provided to each student privately. Grades will be posted on the online Grade Center. The instructor will sometimes, but not always, participate in the discussion.
    • Students should respond to the instructor’s question(s) by Wednesday at midnight, and comment on one or more of the responses of classmates by Saturday at noon every week. Students are encouraged to participate as much as possible, but should limit responses to one to one-and- a- half screens. Comments about a classmate’s post should be substantive; they should provide constructive criticism or explain agreement, and should be several sentences long. There is no non-verbal communication or body language over the Internet; treat fellow students as you would like to be treated. Comments to another classmate posted late cannot receive credit, since ordinarily classmates will not check the discussion forum after the deadline. Because of busy and varied adult schedules,this in an asynchronous discussion; but due to the nature of the course, make up of a missed posting is possible ONLY with prior approval of the instructor. Make-ups cannot be allowed for comments to classmates, as explained above.  (These comments are worth 1 pt. ea. week total=9 pts).
    • The answers to the weekly questions are worth 5 pts ea. week (total= 45 pts.)

    If everyone agrees, we may use WebEx (Web confererence ) once or twice for an office hour, discussion, or question and answer session about the research papers, in addition to using it for the course orientation.

  2. Documentary reviews: After viewing the French Revolution documentary plus two others on different revolutions, the student will write a review on each due by the Saturday night @ midnight we study that revolution. Each review should include the following:
    • Your reaction to this documentary;
    • A summary of the five or six most important things you learned from it;
    • The main point/thesis the documentary maker is trying to convey;
    • A comparison/contrast between the documentary’s treatment and what you read in the assigned readings; and
    • Any important questions  you have as a result of viewing this documentary.

    Be sure to give the correct MLA format citation at the end of your review. Otherwise, this is an informal writing assignment to be graded on content only.  Documentary reviews should be posted under “Assignments” in Blackboard.

                                                                       Each documentary review: (4 pts).

  3. Peer Reviews: Students will conduct two peer reviews, one of their partner’s first two pages, outline, and tentative Works Cited; and the other of a draft of the entire paper and Works Cited. Peer reviews should include a critique of content, spelling/grammar/punctuation, MLA format, as well as both the sources and format of the Works Cited. Paper drafts and peer reviews must be completed on time to receive credit.                                       Each of 2 peer reviews: (2pts.)
  4. Research paper: The student will choose one revolution that occurred since 1916 to which to apply the theory we studied, including De Fronzo’s “five factors, Brinton’s “natural history of revolutions,”or Todd’s ideas. In an8-9 page double-spaced paper, the student will describe the causes of this revolution, the events that occurred in this revolution to date, as well as how at least two “theories” of revolution apply to this revolution. The student must identify the primary values of the major revolutionary leader/s and those of the counter revolutionaries. The student must also state how cultural/political/economic globalization applies to this revolution. All sources must be cited in MLA format. (History majors may use CMS format). This is a formal writing assignment, and will be graded on content, grammar, and format. A minimum of six scholarly/ authoritative sources must be cited in the text of the paper; and one of these should be a primary source (a source contemporaneous with the event, such as an archival newspaper article or a writing or speech of a revolutionary participant or ruler. A primary source does not interpret an event with an historian’s hindsight, as a secondary source does). The student should submit a “Documentation of Resource Form” for the one primary source. In an effort to help students avoid inadvertent plagiarism, each student will submit his/her draft and final papers to Turnitin via Blackboard at least 4 hours before it is due to the instructor. The draft of the research paper, the Documentation of Resource Form, the Turnitin submissions, and peer reviews must completed by the deadlines. Unless you have an exceptional extenuating circumstance which you discussed with the professor, failure to submit any of the following on time will result in the loss of 5 points from your paper grade: your drafts to your peer review partner and , to Turnitin, the Documentation of Resource Form,  and peer reviews. Permission for late assignments is granted only for extreme extenuating circumstances.

MLA Students:

Graduate students will complete the assignments above, but will submit a 13-15 page paper (see #4 above), with at least 10 sources cited (a minimum of three of these must be primary sources). Graduate students will submit both a Works Cited and an Annotated Bibliography, both of which should be divided into primary and secondary sources.  In addition to the readings assigned to undergraduates, MLA students will integrate the Goldstone and Cheng/Ebadi/Ghonim readings, as well as the essays from the Imaging The French Revolution website into the discussions.

Draft of first two pages, outline, and tentative Works Cited: (5 pts); Final paper with Works Cited: (25 pts.)