The course will emphasize the history of ideas, including religious and scientific ideas, but considerable attention will also be paid to social and political history. A principal goal will to be gain experience with close reading, discussion, and written analysis of primary sources, and to learn how historians use such materials to understand and interpret the past. Grades for your reading journal and participation will be based primarily on the signs that you show of having given serious thought to the course materials. In calculating your grade for the course, I will give credit for improvement. Feel free to consult me as we go along about how you are doing.
Attendance is required at all class meetings.
Students who miss more than four class meetings may be dropped from the course. Since much of the work for this course involves the close reading and discussion of assigned readings, students who come to class unprepared will be counted as absent. Incompletes will be assigned only in case of documentable emergency. By enrolling in this course, you agree to inform yourself about these policies and to abide by them. Although you are encouraged to discuss the course material with other students, the work you do in this course must be your own.