1. Participation

Class participation is important. If you miss class, you should get notes from another student, and I would encourage you then to check your understanding of the day's topic by coming by to see me during office hours. Class participation represents 15 % of your grade. There are NO make-up quizzes, examinations, or discussion assignments. In preparation for the exams, both for the midterm and the final, there will be four short reading quizzes. Additionally, you will be expected to present an assigned biograpy. Finally, there is one six to eight page paper on any woman of your choice---she should be a woman chosen from a topic of interest. Any plagiarized work will result in an F in the class and a letter written to your department and the Dean; if you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask.

If you aren't in class, you can't participate. Therefore, I give those with 0 absences, the full 60 points; those with 1-3 absences, 57 points; 4-5 absences, 50 points; 6-7 absences, 45 points; 8-9 absences, 40 points; 10-11 absences, 30 points; 12-15 absences, 15 points; 15+ absences, 0 points. Excused absences given only for documented and REAL emergencies.

2. Biographical Presentation

Please see the Class Presentation page--you are expected to:

1) Present to the class an assigned biography:

On your assigned day, turn-in a short summary and evaluation of the reading (no more than two pages). Include the following:

A. WHAT IS THE OVERALL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PERSON?

B. WHAT ARE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DATES IN THE LIFE OF THIS PERSON? (brief chronological biography)

C. PRESENT THIS PERSON VIA WORDS, MUSIC, ART, ETC. (give us a personal view of her)

D. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PERSON FOR WOMEN'S HISTORY? WHAT DO THEY REVEAL ABOUT WOMEN OF THE TIME--ARE THESE WOMEN REFLECTIVE OF THE NATURE OF THE LIVES OF MOST WOMEN, OR ARE THEY LEADERS AMONG WOMEN OF THEIR TIME? DO THEY REPRESENT CONTINUITIES IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN, OR DO THEY REPRESENT CHANGES? (tie your person's life to your reading and class lectures)

E. Email me a copy of your Presentation Outline BEFORE your presentation date.

F. Be sure to include sources used in your presentation.

3. Reading Quizzes

There will be FOUR reading quizzes based on the required reading. These quizzes will be 15 points each, and will be in short answer or short essay format--more to be posted on the quiz page.

4. Midterm Exams

There will be TWO equally weighted midterm exams--the first will cover the first part of class, and the second will cover the last half of class (i.e., the final midterm is not cumulative). Midterms are generally about 40 % short answer, identification, or matching, and about 60 % essay. Please see the Midterm Exam pages for more information and some specific examples.

5. Paper Proposal & Paper: Biography

You can write a paper on a person, any person who falls in the time frame of our class--an American woman living between 1848 and the present. This person can be famous or infamous; someone of national signficance or personal significance (a great, great, great grandmother, for example). Just be sure to ask a question about her life, then read for the answers. Did this person's life reflect the history of the women of her time, or was her experience significantly different? Was she typical or atypical of her generation, and why?

PAPER PROPOSAL:

Begin as if you are working on a term research paper, and use library and database resources (such as World Cat, Jstor, & EBSCO host, to name only a few). You can then select the most useful sources, and in writing your paper, you are required only to use one to three—and this depends upon your topic. If you are writing about a person, then you should select the best biography for your question. If you are looking at social history, for example, you may want to select information from several sources. You should also use class reading in forming your question and in writing your paper.

In your proposal, please include the following:

1. What is your question, or your curiosity, about this person?

2. List 10 sources which might help you answer your question, and use full bibliographic citations--author, title, date and place of publication, etc. Plese put these sources in proper bibliographic form--author, work, publisher, place of publication, date). PLEASE DO NOT simply list a URL. Please see Paper Link for information regarding bibliographic citations.

3. List 2-4 of the above sources you expect to be most helpful. why?

4. WHAT do you think you will find? Venture a hypothesis.

PAPER:

1. Why are you interested in this person? This might make a separate paragraph, or possibly might connect with your thesis/paragraph. Your thesis paragraph should include your question, thesis, and reasoning.

2. Body of paper should be organized around YOUR reasoning/argument, as spelled out inyour thesis paragraph.

3. Conclude by answering the question: Did this person reflect the times in which they lived, or did they help to shape the times in which they lived? Both? Explain.

4. Include Chicago Manual of Writing Style FOOTNOTES or ENDNOTES (see Paper page)

(use Kate Turabian, Book/ Website)--I will put an example up on the Paper Webpage.

5. Include bibliography (again, use Turabian, Book/ Website).

6. If you have difficulties writing, come see me early or make use of the Campus Writing Center.