1000 total points possible

300 points: Participation

The participation grade includes attendance/in-class participation, reading notes, and discussion posts. 

1. First, students will be graded on their level of participation in discussion. Because not all students are equally comfortable with sharing their insights, visits to office hours and participation in small group discussions in class will also factor into the spoken half of the grade. Good participation is not simply talking a lot but rather adding to the discussion productively which always requires strong preparation. This will amount to half the participation grade.
2. Secondly, students are expected to do each class meeting’s assigned readings before that class meets. They will access the readings through Perusall, adding 5 comments throughout the text. Students may respond to one another’s comments toward their total of 5 comments.
3. Finally, the written responses are meant to be an exercise in critically engaging the reading. Though brief (500 words), they ought to go beyond the level of summary to analyze the readings, connect them to each other and the broader course, and ask a few questions that are not merely factual or clarifying. These responses will be due every week by 24 hours before the week’s second meeting submitted via Canvas. Each student may skip any three weeks without giving the instructor notice.

150 points: In-Class Midterm

            This test will ask students to remember and define terms highlighted through the first half of the semester, identify events and explain their significance in short answer questions, and analyze events and sources in context in two long answer questions and will be administered halfway through the term.

150 points: Discussion Leading

            Students will lead discussion in groups once per semester, walking the class through sources and leading the source analysis and discussion through questions that invite exploration.

200 points: Reading Quizzes

Four brief readings quizzes throughout the semester will assess students’ completion of the assigned reading. Each quiz will ask students to identify the author and date of a primary source and answer questions about sources assigned for the homework.

200 points: Primary Source Project & Presentation  

            Students will choose a single source or body of closely related primary sources (e.g. multiple issues of the same newspaper or entries of the same diary) pertaining to Borderlands history. Over the course of the semester, students will draft an 6-8pp paper with the following components:

1. Introduction
   1. Historical question
      1. Statement of historical argument
         1. Context
         2. Argumentation based on the sources
         3. Conclusion

Each student will give a 15 minute presentation on their findings during the last two weeks of class. Students are required to meet with the instructor at least once over the course of the semester in office hours to discuss the topic and argument. Topics and historical questions must be approved by the instructor two weeks before the semester’s end.