HI 460 Cross-Cultural Encounters

Welcome to the History department capstone for Fall 2016!

Our capstone course is designed to help you synthesize and integrate learning in the major and your college education, demonstrate mastery of historical thinking and the student learning outcomes of the history major, and facilitate your transition from WSU to your chosen post-graduate plans. It is meant to be the culminating learning experience of your history degree. We’ve designed it to be a senior-level research seminar focused on a deep, narrow topic in which you produce

• a semester-long inquiry resulting in a substantive original research paper adhering to the scholarly conventions of the discipline of history
• a polished portfolio of your work in the History major as an example of professional self-presentation

This class will lead students through the process of formulating an effective research question, developing a research strategy, understanding and interpreting primary sources, situating oneself within existing historical scholarship, creating a polished research paper, and presenting oneself professionally.

My version of HI 460 in Fall 2016 tackles the American West as a region of cross-cultural encounters. “Encounter” is a neutral word that encompasses everything from conflict, colonialism and conquest to trade, development, alliance, and peacemaking. Any time period, story, place, person, event, or theoretical perspective about this region is welcome, so I invite you to make this semester’s work truly your own by delving deeply into something of interest and relevance to you.

The course will meet MW 12:30 – 1:45 pm in Sullivan 314. Bringing your laptop each day is highly recommended. Course books are posted under the “Readings” tab so you can get started finding them through your favorite bookseller if you want; they will also be available in the campus bookstore.

Please note! The Conquests and Consequences book is SUMMER READING – please obtain it early and read it during August so you can see the broad span of Western history and begin to identify topics you’re interested in researching and writing about. The course will move VERY fast once classes start. If you have questions or concerns before our first meeting on September 7, please feel free to contact me at thangen (at) worcester.edu.

PS: Previous versions of this course use the same website, and their information is left up as an archive. You can safely ignore any post not tagged “Fall16.”