Course Requirements
REQUIRED BOOKS (available for sale in the UNCG bookstore):
1. C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, 8th
edition (McGraw-Hill, 1997)
2. Patrick J. Geary, ed., Readings in Medieval History, 2nd
edition (Broadview Press, 1997)
3. Beowulf and Other Old English Poems, trans. C.B. Hieatt,
2nd edition (Bantam Classics, 1983)]
4. Chrétien de Troyes, Yvain: the Knight of the Lion,
trans. Burton Raffel (Yale University Press, 1987)
5. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, ed. Betty Radice (Penguin,
1974)
6. The Song of Roland, trans. Glyn Burgess (Penguin, 1990)
7. Scholarly Articles placed on reserve in Jackson Library (the reserve
room is to the right as you enter the front
door). It is
up to you to procure these articles from the Reserve Room.
8. On-Line texts. Occasionally your primary source reading for a week
will be located on-line. I have indicated the
URL where
such texts may be found. If you have trouble using the internet,
please see me for assistance.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Attendance, Discussion, and Homework (10% of your grade)
I care about attendance and will reduce the grade of those who frequently
miss class without first obtaining permission. Discussion and participation
in class can only help your grade. If you have perfect attendance
but never open your mouth in class, you will likely receive a C for this
part of the overall grade. At the moment I do not plan to require
formal homework assignments, although I reserve the right to institute
such a policy if I deem it necessary.
2. Quizzes (10%)
Approximately every other week (or at times I deem necessary) I will
administer a short, in-class quiz based on the assigned readings. These
quizzes are designed to ensure that you keep up with the reading.
Your overall quiz grade for the course will be an average of the individual
quiz grades.
3. First Paper: due Monday September 24 (10% of your grade)
[click here for the topics for paper 1]
You will write a short (3 page) interpretive essay on either Charlemagne
or Alfred the Great. I will distribute a paper assignment during
the first week of class. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with
standard one-inch margins, and should be written in good, formal English.
Citations to the text are necessary. Be sure to proofread!
4. Take-Home Mid-Term Examination: Friday October 26 (20% of your
grade) [click here for the take-home midterm]
This exam will include one or two short essays interpreting primary
sources, a short analysis of one of the scholarly articles, and a longer
essay. The goal of the longer essay will be to have you evaluate
and synthesize (that is, pull together) material from the readings and
discussions.
5. Second Paper: due Monday November 19 (20% of your grade)
You will write a slightly longer paper (4-5 pages) on Chretien de Troyes’
classic work of chivalric literature, Yvain. Specific questions and
further information will be distributed in class.
6. Final Exam: date to be announced (check Schedule of classes for final exam times) (30% of your grade) The format of this exam will be similar to that of the midterm. I will ask you several short identifications and then ask you to write two longer essays.
GRADE BREAKDOWN:
Attendance, Discussion, Homework:
10%
Quizzes
10%
First Paper (on an early medieval king):
10%
Midterm Examination:
20%
Second Paper (on Yvain):
20%
Final Exam:
30%
IMPORTANT NOTE:
You cannot pass the class if you do not fulfill all of the requirements
listed above. This means that you will fail the course if, for instance,
you don’t write the first paper. Assignments are due on the date
and at the time listed on the syllabus; if a crisis (such as illness) arises,
it is your responsibility to contact me. If you do not contact me,
I will be unable to accept late work. Contact may be made by phone,
email, or a note left in my mailbox in the History Department (219 McIver).
Note that while I provide my home phone number above, I will be annoyed
if you call me at home after 9 PM.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is a type of cheating, and occurs when a person passes off
(whether intentionally or un-intentionally) someone else’s words or ideas
as their own. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, which, in its most
overt forms, can result in formal disciplinary action by the university.
This is a notoriously thorny area for students. Many students
unintentionally commit plagiarism by ‘borrowing’ ideas, interpretations,
and/or actual words from other authors. Make sure that your words
are your own, and that your interpretations are also your own. If
you find yourself using someone else’s words or ideas, make sure you have
given him/her credit by using a footnote, endnote, or parenthetical citation.
When writing exams or papers, keep in mind the following points:
1. DO discuss sources, interpretations, and anything else with
your peers and friends.
2. DO feel free to make use of interpretations presented
in class.
3. DO NOT slavishly copy, quote, or otherwise present the textbook’s
rather meager interpretation as your own. Hollister presents a rather
straightforward narration of facts. In no case will you find that
he offers sufficient interpretation to answer an exam question or a paper
topic. You should read Hollister for background, and to gain a sense
of the chronology of events, but when writing you should present your own
interpretations based on your reading of the primary sources and our discussions
in class.
4. DO NOT pass off someone else’s words or ideas as your own.
To do so is to commit the academic crime of plagiarism, a serious offense
that can lead to a variety of punishments including failing the course.
If you copy the exact words of another author into your paper, they must
appear within quotation marks and you must provide a citation to the source
from which you took the quotation. Likewise, if you simply rearrange
the words but keep the main point and/or interpretation from another text,
you also must provide a citation indicating the source of the point/interpretation.
Exception: my comments in class do not need to be cited.
CITATION OF SOURCES
For any formal written assignment (ie., one prepared and written at
home, with access to sources, readings, etc. - but not in-class exams)
you must provide specific citations to the texts that you use in support
of your paper. What are citations?
In general: they are
bookmarks for the reader, allowing him/her to return to the source you
have used to make your point. They also serve as
acknowledgments of the sources you have used (particularly so that your
reader does not think you are passing off someone else’s ideas as your
own)
In practice: citations
are brief statements of the author and/or title of the work you are referring
to, along with a reference point (usually a page number) within
that work. For example, if you wanted to use Hollister’s opinions
of King John in a paper, you would include a citation such as this ....
(Hollister, p. 256).
Or, if you are discussing a particular episode from Yvain in a paper, you
might offer (Yvain, lines 170-195).
Types of Citations
1. Parenthetical citations: are necessary whenever you
have paraphrased a source (that is, taken the gist of
it and reworked it into your own words) or when you refer
to an episode from a source (for example, “In the relief clause of Magna
Carta, the barons demanded ....”). Because you are not using the
exact words of the original text, you have some leeway about where you
place the citation. Place it either at the end of the paragraph or immediately
after the relevant portion of your paper.
2. Direct citations: are necessary whenever you use an author’s
words directly. In this case, the author’s
words must appear in quotation marks and the citation
should appear immediately after the closed quotation mark. For instance,
in the following made-up sentence I quote myself. “As the noted medieval
historian, Richard Barton, once said, ‘Medieval History is cool’ (Barton,
p. 297)’.”
The Nitty-Gritty: How to cite
1. Formally ... by using
endnotes or footnotes
2. Informally, by providing
the author’s last name and the relevant page number in parentheses in the
relevant spot within your paper.
In History 221 you are welcome to cite sources informally. Be
forewarned that other professors may require endnotes or footnotes, so
it’s worth learning how to use them.