Geography 9322, Environment and Sustainability 9595, History 9811

Winter Session January to April, 2010

Course Requirements and Evaluation

Requirements:

The written work will be response papers in selected weeks, a prospectus to present to a mid course workshop for critique, and a paper to be circulated for discussion in one of the final classes. The oral work would be responsibility to lead the seminar one week and to be active in the seminar.

Participate by reading and making notes on your issues and satisfactions with the method, sources, analysis and conclusions of the core readings, by bringing these notes to class and using them as the foundation for your contributions to the seminar. Each week, hand in a two page, 500 word response to the readings. Listen actively to your colleagues and engage them in discussion. Present your research plans at the February 10 workshop and your research paper to the class in one of the three March meetings.

Assignments/Evaluation:

Seminar Presentation and Teaching Notes 30%

Seminar Participation and Response Notes 30%

Research Project 40%

Assignments and Evaluation Elaborated

Seminar Presentation Weekly seminars will be led most weeks by members of the seminar. Most seminars will begin with the leader tabling the issues for the week. These should be questions or problems rather than summaries or conclusions and may include a report on related contributions to the literature beyond those assigned to the group as a whole. The leader will usually then guide the group socratically, using a calendar of prepared questions to direct an examination of the key elements of the assigned texts. These should include a discussion of the sources, methodologies and conclusions of the works, the theoretical and personal perspectives of the author(s), and the scholarly strengths and weaknesses of the work. Leave a copy of your teaching notes with me. Participate by reading and making notes on your issues and satisfactions with the method, sources, analysis and conclusions of the core readings, by bringing these notes to class and using them as the foundation for your contributions to the seminar. Each week, hand in a two page, 500 word response to the readings. Listen actively to your colleagues and engage them in discussion. Present your research plans at the March workshop and your research paper to the class in one of the four March research workshops.

The research paper, 3800 words long, annotated following the Chicago Manual of Style, is a chance to explore a topic of your own choosing. The paper may be either a work of primary research based on documentary sources in any medium (perhaps an initial foray into a thesis project), or a commentary on a problem arising in the secondary literature. Attend office hours to refine the research questions and methodology. Present your prospectus for the paper at the February workshop and leave it for me to annotate. Models for these papers would be the research notes or scholarly debates sections in a journal in your field. Papers will be circulated in advance of the workshops.

Plagarism

University policy requires I convey this reminder: ‘Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage of text from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and proper reference. Plagarism is a major academic offense (see Scholastic Offense Policy in Western Academic Calendar).

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