Cecilia Miller
| Instructions for Essays | | Book List |
| Week 1 | | Week 2 | | Week 3 | | Week 4 | | Week 5 |
| Week 6 | | Week 7 | | Week 8 | | Week 9 |
Thesis-Argument
After finishing the reading, you must design a controversial Thesis-Argument, which you will answer in three main points. Ideally this Thesis-Argument and the three Test-Cases will come from your reading notes. The essay must demonstrate familiarity with the text, the ability to manipulate ideas and to organize your arguments, and independent thought regarding the fundamental issues. Your arguments must be thoroughly grounded in the primary texts. Constant references to related issues in the texts are required. There should be a clear line of argument and a smooth development of ideas. Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence and several sentences of analysis which examine the relevance of the particular essay topic to the overall theme. Each paragraph should have at least three sentences. You must do much more than summarize the subject. You are not expected to consult additional sources.
No essay longer than 1,500 words (excluding the footnotes/endnotes) will be accepted. The essay must contain the following essential features:
Title Make it short and--if possible--memorable. It should not be the same as your Thesis-Argument.
Introduction You must explicitly state the Thesis-Argument and the three main ideas. The Thesis-Argument must be genuinely controversial. Do not hesitate to present views with which I might disagree, but, throughout the essay, you must support your assertions from the texts. In the Introduction, you should present the question for debate (to a reader familiar with the topic, but one who must be persuaded of your command of the subject) and state the direction and aims of the paper.
Argument for Test-Case 1 Each of the three ideas must be used as a Test-Case of your Thesis-Argument. This paragraph should maintain that the Thesis-Argument is correct in terms of Test-Case 1. It should contain short quotations, examples, and exceptions from the texts.
Counter-Argument for Test-Case 1 This paragraph should assert that the Thesis-Argument is not correct in terms of Test-Case 1. Counter-Arguments must be developed as fully as the arguments.
Definitions and Textual Analysis for Test-Case 1 One well-chosen, short quotation (indented and single spaced) should be examined with detailed textual analysis. Identify particular words and phrases from the passage and discuss implications and contradictions. The textual analysis should be developed in one good paragraph and may be used to support either the Argument or Counter-Argument for Test-Case 1.
Argument for Test-Case 2
Counter-Argument for Test-Case 2
Definitions and Textual Analysis for Test-Case 2
Argument for Test-Case 3 In general, Test-Case 3 should be your strongest point and Test-Case 1 the relatively weakest.
Counter-Argument for Test-Case 3
Definitions and Textual Analysis for Test-Case 3
Statement of Opinion This is your opportunity to express your views about the topic, the texts, and the writing styles, as well as any background or related interests you might have in the subject. You may use the first person in this section, but only for emphasis. This will be the next-to-last paragraph.
Conclusion The conclusion should be more than a rephrasing of the introduction. It must be part of the debate. Assess the strength of the Argument and the Counter-Argument for each idea. Explicitly state which is stronger for each Test-Case. Counter the Counter-Arguments in the conclusion. A direct answer to your contentious Thesis-Argument should appear here. There may be some small element of doubt concerning your own views up to this point, if you have effectively presented both sides of the arguments throughout the paper.
Warnings
Do not use colloquial phrases. Adopt the scholarly tone of an educated person of the twenty-first century. You are not obliged to imitate the writing styles of the authors. Watch your tenses. Employ active verbs. Do not use contractions. Define all terms. Analyze quotations; do not use them to make your points for you. Only use quotation marks for quotations. Transitions are needed from one major idea to the next. Give details--dates (in particular, for authors, historical characters, and books), numbers, and places. Underline or italicize all foreign words. Avoid the following words: fact, really, actually, obviously, truth, reality, say, mean, feel, believe, important, and interesting. Do not repeat words. Use a thesaurus or J.I. Rodale's The Synonym Finder (New York: Warner Books, 1978). Number the pages. Arguments must be made in depth--be concise and precise. Constructively criticize and respond directly to the authors. Discuss the significance of the problems raised. Make connections with other books and historical events. Address both sides of an argument. Display your knowledge of the texts. Focus your approach. Edit your reading notes. Read the essay out loud to yourself several times. Check your spelling. Present views in an analytical and contentious manner. Be aware of the organization of the paper. Expand your vocabulary. Use 10 words in each essay that you have never used before. The instructions for the paper set the minimum standard.
IS THERE A SENSE OF INTELLECTUAL EXCITEMENT IN THE ESSAY?
Notes
Do not put citations in the text. Footnotes or endnotes are required. A bibliography is not needed, as all books consulted should appear in the notes. Thus all the required reading should be noted in the endnotes. Always give the date of the first edition. Use the following style:
Endnotes
1. Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here (New York: Signet, 1935, 1970), pp. 99-111.
2. Ibid., p. 198.
3. Nadine Gordimer, My Son's Story (New York: Penguin, 1990), p. 77.
4. Lewis, p. 169.
N. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley, Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1994).
J.I. Rodale, The Synonym Finder (New York: Warner Books, 1978).
Margaret Shertzer, The Elements of Grammar (New York: Macmillan, 1986).
Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992).
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550 (Minneapolis, St. Paul: West, 1991, 1994).
Bonnie G. Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700 (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1989).
Global Studies: Western Europe (Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin, latest ed.).
J.M. Roberts, The French Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984, 1986).
Georges Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947).
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, vol. II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961).
David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969).
E.J. Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1968).
Phyllis Deane, The First Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965).
E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (New York: Vintage, 1966).
Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wieser, Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).
David Cannadine, The Decline of the British Aristocracy (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1990).
David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History (Oxford: OUP, 1948).
Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952, 1971).
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (any edition, first published in 1928).
Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975).
Marc Ferro, The Great War, 1914-1918 (New York: Military Heritage Press, 1969, 1989).
Martin Malia, The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991 (New York: Macmillian, 1994.
V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (New York: Harper Collins, 1971).
Philip Pomper, The Russian Revolutionary Intelligentsia (Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, 1970, 1993).
William Sheridan Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town (New York: Watt, 1964, 1985).
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (New York: Knopf, 1996).
Jackson Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1988, 1991).
Sebastian Haffner, The Meaning of Hitler (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983).
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (New York: Collier, 1958, 1961).
Jane Kramer, Unsettling Europe (New York: Penguin, 1980, 1990).
Walter Lacquer, Europe since Hitler (New York: Penguin, 1973, 1982).
Michihiko Hachiya, Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1955, 1995).
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550 (Minneapolis, St. Paul: West, 1991, 1994), ch. 20, "A Revolution in Politics: The Era of the French Revolution and Napoleon."
Bonnie G. Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700 (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1989), ch. 1, "Eighteenth-Century Worlds," ch. 2, "Winds of Change," and ch. 3, "The Age of Revolution."
J.M. Roberts, The French Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), esp. chs. 4-6.
Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984, 1986), Introduction, ch. 1, and Conclusion.
Georges Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947).
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, vol. II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), Part I, "The French Revolution." The arguments in your essay should be grounded in the original readings from this book.
The readings are listed from the most general, secondary source at the top of the list down to the primary sources in Contemporary Civilization in the West at the end. Read the first few readings quickly, the middle ones with care, and Contemporary Civilization in the West, the book of primary readings, with great care.
All readings for the Tutorial are available on 2-hour loan at the Reserve Desk at Olin library.
WEEK II THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 21, "The Industrial Revolution and Its Impact on European Society."
Phyllis Deane, The First Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965, 1979), chs. 1-5, 14-16.
David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), chs. 1-3.
E.J. Hobsbawn, Industry and Empire (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1968), Preface, Introduction, chs. 1-5.
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, vol. II, Part III, "The Advance of Industrialization."
WEEK III THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 22, "Reaction, Revolution, and Romanticism, 1815-1850."
Bonnie Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, ch. 4, "The Rise of the Woman Worker: The Early Years."
E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (New York: Vintage, 1966), Preface, chs. V-VIII, esp. ch. V.
Joan Scott, "Women in The Making of the English Working Class" in Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989).
Alain Corbin, "The Stench of the Poor" in The Foul and the Fragrant (Cambridge, MA; Harvard, 1986), 142-160.
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, Vol. II, Part IV, "Programs for Reform."
WEEK IV THE 1848 REVOLUTIONS AND THE RISE OF NATION STATES
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 23, "An Age of Nationalism and Realism" and ch. 24, "Society and Politics in the 'Age of Politics.'"
David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus, chs. 4-5.
Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952, 1971).
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, vol. II, Part VIII, "Politics in the Unified Nation State."
WEEK V REAPPRAISING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 25, "Imperialism, International Rivalry, and Culture in the 'Age of Progress,' 1871-1914."
Bonnie Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, ch. 5, "The Domestic Sphere in the Victorian Age," ch. 6, "Culture and Politics in the Nation-State," ch. 7, "Working-Class Life in the Belle Epoque," and ch. 8, "The New Woman."
Judith R. Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), pp. 1-13 (Introduction), and ch. 7, pp. 191-228, "Jack the Ripper."
David Cannadine, The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), Preface, Prologue, chs. 1-3, 7-8.
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, Vol. II, ch. X, "Reappraising the Nineteenth Century."
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 26, "The Beginning of the Twentieth-Century Crisis: War and Revolution."
Bonnie Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, ch. 9, "Warriors, Pacifists, and Revolutionaries.
Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner, Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), ch. 11, "World War I and the Russian Revolution," pp. 394-433 only.
Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975), esp. chs. I, II, and V in particular.
Marc Ferro, The Great War, 1914-1918 (New York: Military Heritage Press, 1969, 1989).
Sandra M. Gilbert, "Soldier's Heart: Literary Men, Literary Women, and the Great War," the complete version appeared in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 8, N. 3 (1983) 422-450.
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front (any edition, first published in 1928).
WEEK VII THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner, Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History, ch. 11, "World War I and the Russian Revolution," pp. 433-447 only.
Martin Malia, The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism In Russia, 1917-1991 (New York: Macmillan, 1994), Chs. 1-8.
Isaac Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography (New York: Vintage Books, 1949, 1967), ch. VIII, "The 'Great Change,'" pp. 294-344.
Robert C. Tucker, Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941 (New York: Norton, 1990), Introduction and ch. 8.
Robert C. Tucker, "A Stalin Biographer's Memoir," in Psychology and Historical Interpretation, W.M. Runyan, ed. (New York: Oxford, 1988).
Philip Pomper, The Russian Revolutionary Intelligentsia (Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1970, 1993), chs. 1-2, 5-6.
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, vol. II, ch. V, "The Growth of Socialism."
V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (any edition, written in 1916).
WEEK VIII GERMANY AND WORLD WAR II
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 27, "The Futile Search for a New Stability: Europe Between the Wars, 1919-1939" and ch. 28, "The Deepening of the European Crisis: World War II." Read quickly.
Bonnie Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, ch. 10, "Consumer Culture and the Routinization of Work," and ch. 11, "New Battles: The Rise of Dictators and War."
Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner, Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History, ch. 13, "Women and Fascism, World War II, and the Holocaust."
William Sheridan Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town (New York: Watt, 1964, 1985). Read the Prefaces, Chs. 1-3, 18-20, and the Appendices with care. Be able to debate the arguments in ch. 20, "Conclusions."
Jackson Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1988, 1991). Read quickly.
Sebastian Haffner, The Meaning of Hitler (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983).
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz (new York: Collier, 1958, 1961). Read with care.
John A. Garraty, "The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression, American Historical Review 78 (1973) 907-944. Identify the major themes in the article.
Claudia Koonz, "The Fascist Solution to the Woman Question in Italy and Germany" in Becoming Visible: Women in European History, Renate Bridentahal, Claudia Koonz, and Susan Stuard, eds. (1987). Identify the major themes in the article.
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (New York: Knopf, 1996). Read the Introduction,
Part I--Chs. 1-3 (pp. 3-128), the Epilogue, the Afterword, Appendices 1-3, Pseudonyms, and Abbrevialtions (pp. 463-486).
David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History (Oxford: OUP, 1948). This is on your book list and should be on the reading list for this week. Read the Introduction and Ch. 1 quickly.
WEEK IX TWENTIETH-CENTURY RETROSPECTIVE
Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization, vol. II, Since 1550, ch. 29, "Cold War and a New Europe, 1945-1970" and ch. 30, "The Contemporary Western World (Since 1970)."
Bonnie Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, ch. 12, "Technology and Power in the Late Twentieth Century."
Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner, Lives and Voices: Sources in European Women's History, chs. 14-15, "Women and Post-war Europe, 1945-1980," and "The 1980s to the Present."
Global Studies: Western Europe, (Guilford, Connecticut: Dushkin, 1989, 1991).
Martin Malia, The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991, Ch. 9 to the end of the book.
Walter Lacquer, Europe since Hitler (New York: Penguin, 1973, 1982).
Jane Kramer, Unsettling Europe (New York: Penguin, 1980, 1990).
Michihiko Hachiya, Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1955, 1995).
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