History 111: Early Western Civilization Prof.

Michael Bruening Fall 2013 Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2:30-3:30, or by appointment Office: H-SS 125 Office phone: 341-4802 E-mail: bruening@mst.edu Office hours are times that I have set aside to talk to students about academic issues. If you are having problems, not getting the grades you would like, or need further clarification or advice about any aspect of your academic performance, please stop by during office hours. If you have a scheduling conflict, it is easy enough for me to schedule a time to meet that is more convenient for you. If my door is open, feel free to stop in. I check e-mail frequently between the hours of 8:00 and 6:30, even when I am not on campus. It is the best way to get in touch with me when I am not in my office. Course Description: This course examines the history of Western Civilization from its origins in the Middle East to seventeenth-century Europe. Special attention will be given to the political, religious, intellectual, and social trends and institutions that have shaped Western culture. This course will be taught using traditional methods of reading, writing, lecture, and discussion. You are expected to take notes by hand in class. Class will consist chiefly of discussion of the assigned readings, along with some brief lectures on other material. There will be no electronic gadgetry allowed in class at all no cell phones, blackberries, laptops, ipads, ipods, kindles, headphones, etc. As soon as I begin class, all electronic equipment will disappear immediately. If I so much as see you with an electronic device during class, your discussion/professionalism grade will be reduced by 15 points for each offense. Required Texts: 1. Osborne = Roger Osborne, Civilization: A New History of the Western World (New York: Pegasus, 2006). 2. Backman = Clifford Backman, Cultures of the West, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). 3. Course Packet 4. William Strunk, The Elements of Style, online at http://www.bartleby.com/141/. The Osborne and Backman books and the course packet should be available in the Missouri S&T bookstore. Stunks Elements of Syle is available online. The Backman book is a standard textbook and is primarily for your own studying purposes. The Osborne book presents more of an interpretation of Western Civilization. The course packet contains primary source readings. NB: The course packet is available only from the Missouri S&T bookstore. Stunks Elements of Style is intended to help you improve your writing, which is an essential element of the study of history. There will be weekly quizzes on the sections in Strunk. (Note: if you have later editions of Strunk and White, thats great, but quizzes will be based on the online version). We will discuss the primary source readings and the Osborne book in class. Bring those books to class whenever readings are assigned from them. Failure to have your book with you in class will result in a deduction of 5 points from your discussion/professionalism grade each time you do not have it.

Grading 30% Exams (15% midterm, 15% final) 30% Objective quizzes (10% each) 20% Papers (10% each) 10% Strunk grammar quizzes (1% each) 15% Discussion and Professionalism Grading Scale: There will be a standard 10-point grading scale: A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69; F=59 and below. I will round from tenths digit; e.g., a 79.50 is a B, a 79.49 is a C. Exams: The two exams will be essay exams that will test your ability to analyze primary sources and your understanding of the main long-term themes covered in class. Objective Quizzes: Four objective quizzes will be given in class that will test your knowledge of the key persons, events, and ideas discussed in class. The dates for these are listed on the schedule below. I will keep your three highest scores. Papers: Each student will write three 1-page papers on the primary sources. I will keep your two highest scores. Students will be assigned different sources and due dates in class. Papers may be written either by hand using a template posted on Blackboard, or typed using a different template posted on Blackboard. You will read two of your papers aloud to the class. They are due in class on the assigned due dates. For at least one of the papers, you must do a re-write in conjunction with a visit to the Writing Center. Failure to do so will result in a 20-point penalty on your total paper grade (e.g., if your two highest scores were an 80% and an 85%, your total would be 80+85-20=145, an average of 72.5%). Take your graded paper with my comments with you to the Writing Center, along with a new draft. In addition, you are allowed to do a rewrite of any of your other papers for a new grade, but you must go to the Writing Center before handing in any re-write. Rewritten papers are due 2 weeks from the date I hand back papers from a single class period (even if you were absent that day). Be sure to make appointments with the Writing Center in advance. See the paper assignment handout on Blackboard for more details. Strunk Grammar Quizzes: The level of student writing has dropped to terribly low levels in recent years. This is especially dangerous since the top thing employers who recruit at S&T are looking for is clear communication skills. Since no one seems to be teaching grammar these days, you will get at least some of it from this class. You may have heard of Strunk and Whites Elements of Style. We will be using the original version of this book, published by William Strunk in 1919, which is freely available online. Not many of the rules have changed since then. If you go to the website listed above, you will see that there are VI parts of the book, and 18 subsections of parts II and III. There will be a weekly quiz in class on these. I will keep your 10 highest scores. For the first part of the semester, you will be quizzed on the 18 subsections in parts II and III. So, for example, on Thurs., Aug. 22, you will be quizzed on part II, sections 1 and 2, Form the possessive of singular nouns... and In a series of three or more items... Discussion and Professionalism: This class will rely heavily on class discussion of the assigned readings in the packet and in Osborne. Students must come prepared to class, having carefully read the assigned readings for the day. Your discussion grade this semester will be based both on your general contribution to class discussions and on your ability to comment intelligently on the assigned readings. Commenting intelligently means, at the most basic level, being able to identify the main arguments of an Osborne chapter or being able to identify and explain the

significance of key sections of a primary source. I will randomly call on students to do both things each class. Your discussion grade is based much more heavily on the relevance of your contributions to the readings than on the sheer number of times you say something in class. In addition, you will be graded on your professional attitude and comportment. You need to start adopting the habits that will be important to your success in the working world. This means that, among other things, you need to dress in an appropriate manner, read and answer emails in a timely and appropriate manner, come prepared to class, complete all assignments with a high standard of ethics and integrity. Thus, while I reserve the right to reduce your grade for additional infractions, the following penalties will be automatically imposed for this portion of your grade: Cheating/plagiarism: loss of all points Use of cell phone during class (any use at all, including just looking at it): -15 Failure to bring book with assigned readings to class: -5 Inappropriate communication with professor: at least -5 Inappropriate language or communication in class: at least -5 Chronic tardiness: -5 each time after 2nd offense Make-up Work Absences: Absences from class will not directly affect your final grade, but it will hurt your class participation grade. I reserve the right to drop students from the class who are absent for 4 class sessions in a row without explanation, but if you plan to drop the class yourself, regardless of how many times you have missed, please fill out a drop slip. Late papers and make-up work: 1. Objective quizzes and Strunk quizzes: Since you are allowed to drop one objective quiz and three Strunk quizzes, there will be no make-up quizzes allowed for any reason! 2. Exams: Make-up exams will be given only if you have a valid excuse for being absent (e.g., mandatory school-sponsored activity, death in the family, medical emergency, etc.). An illness must be serious enough to warrant a doctors visit. If you miss an exam because of an unexcused absence you will receive a 0 on the exam. 3. Late papers: Papers are due in class on the date of the readings you have been assigned to analyze. You will read the papers out loud in class. Since you get to drop one paper, no late papers will be accepted for any reason. 4. Discussion: Most reasonable excuses for missing class will be accepted to exempt you from being called on to answer a question. Just let me know ahead of time if you know you need to miss class. Academic Honesty Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course. Missouri S&T defines cheating as: 1) use of any unauthorized assistance in taking quizzes, tests, or examinations; 2) dependence upon the aid of sources beyond those authorized by the instructor in writing papers, preparing reports, solving problems, or carrying out other assignments; 3) acquisition or possession without permission of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the University faculty or staff; or 4) knowingly providing any unauthorized assistance to another student on quizzes, tests, or examinations. The campus defines plagiarism as 1) use by paraphrase or direct quotation of the published or unpublished work of another person without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, citations, or bibliographical reference; 2)

unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials; or 3) unacknowledged use of original work/material that has been produced through collaboration with others without release in writing from collaborators. All work must be your own. You are not allowed to work in groups on anything except to discuss the readings, study for quizzes, and, in a limited way to be explained later, study for exams. Papers must be entirely your own work, although you may seek assistance from the Writing Center. It is my policy in this course to assign a 0 to any work in which cheating or plagiarism has been discovered, and the student will lose all discussion/professionalism points. The student will also be reported to the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies for possible further action. Disability Support Services Missouri S&T is committed to helping all of our students attain their highest level of achievement possible. If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make arrangements to meet with me soon. You will need to request that the Disability Services staff send a letter to me verifying your disability and specifying the accommodation you will need before I can arrange your accommodation. For more information, see Disability Support Services, 204 Norwood Hall, 341-4211, dss@umr.edu. Schedule of Topics, Readings, and Assignments Tues., Aug. 20 The Idea of Civilization, Prehistory and Bronze Age Europe Reading: Osborne, Prologue and ch. 1 Thurs., Aug. 22 Quiz, Strunk, 1-2 Mesopotamia and Egypt Reading: Packet, 1-8: Tacitus, Germania Backman, pp. 3-55 Tues., Aug. 27 Hebrews Reading: Packet, 9-12: Hammurabis Code Backman, ch. 3 Thurs., Aug. 29 Quiz, Strunk, 3-4 Ancient Near East Reading: Packet, 13-24: Hebrew Bible Backman, pp. 56-67 (Fri., Aug. 30: Last day to add a course) Tues., Sept. 3 The ancient Greeks Reading: Osborne, ch. 2 Backman, ch. 4 Thurs., Sept. 5 Quiz, Strunk, 5-6 Greek historians and plays Reading: Packet, 25-80: Thucydides; Sophocles, Oedipus Tues., Sept. 10 Greek philosophy and culture Reading: Osborne, 72-85; Backman, pp. 131-58 Thurs., Sept. 12 No class Tues., Sept. 17 Quiz, Strunk, 7 Greek philosophy, Alexander the Great Reading: Packet, 86-94: Plato and Aristotle Reading: Osborne, 85-93 Backman, pp. 158-67 Thurs., Sept. 19 Quiz 1 Republican Rome Reading: Cicero, De Officiis (Blackboard) Backman, pp.171-85

Tues. Sept. 24 Late Roman Republic and Augustus Reading: Livy and Polybius (Blackboard) Osborne, 94-106 Backman, 185-89 Thurs., Sept. 26 Roman Empire Reading: Tacitus, Annals (Blackboard) Osborne, 107-12 Backman, 189-203 (Mon., Sept. 30: Last day to drop without transcript record) Tues., Oct. 1 Midterm Exam Thurs., Oct. 3 Quiz, Strunk, 11-12 Christian Origins, Early Church, and Late Rome Reading: Osborne, 113-26 Backman, ch. 7 Tues., Oct. 8 Early Christianity Reading: Packet, 146-68: Gospel of Matthew, Life and Teaching of St. Paul, Pliny, Perpetua (skip Saturus Account), and Eusebius Thurs., Oct. 10 Quiz, Strunk, 13-14 St. Augustine, Early Middle Ages Reading: Osborne, 126-44 Backman, 237-52, 268-81 (Oct. 12: Mid-semester) Tues., Oct. 15 Quiz 2 Early Middle Ages Reading: Packet, 169-86, 220-27: Augustine, Bede, Gregory of Tours Rule of Benedict (use shorter version on Blackboard) Thurs., Oct. 17 Quiz, Strunk, 15-16 Charlemagne and Muhammad

Reading: Osborne, 144-56 Backman,253-68, 283-304 Tues., Oct. 22 Feudal Society Reading: Packet, 228-32: Charlemagne Backman,304-09 Thurs., Oct. 24 Quiz, Strunk, 17-18 Church-State Conflict and the Crusades Reading: Osborne, 156-61 Backman,310-325 Tues., Oct. 29 City Life Reading: Packet, 233-39: Urban II, Investiture Contest Osborne, ch 7 Thurs., Oct. 31 Quiz, Strunk, IV (A Few Matters of Form) Growth of the Medieval State, Cultural Change Reading: Packet, 240-45: Medieval Markets and Fairs, Guilds Backman,327-46 Tues., Nov. 5 Quiz 3 Late Middle Ages Reading: Packet, 258-64, 302-10: Lancelot, Life of St. Francis Caesarius of Heisterbach, Tales of the Devil (Blackboard) Backman, 346-52 Thurs., Nov. 7 Quiz, Strunk, V A-L Renaissance Reading: Packet, 284-95: Boccaccio Osborne, 180-212 Backman,373-88 (Fri., Nov. 8: Last day to withdraw from class) Tues., Nov. 12 Renaissance Reading: Packet, 265-83, 296-301: Dante, Machiavelli

Thurs., Nov. 14 Quiz, Strunk, V M-Z Late Medieval Christianity and Martin Luther Reading: Osborne, 213-28 Backman, 388-400 Tues., Nov. 19 Reformation Varieties Reading: Packet, 315-27: Erasmus, Luther Osborne, 328-35 Backman,400-413 Thurs., Nov. 21 Quiz 4 Europe slide show Nov. 23-Dec. 1 No class, Thanksgiving holiday Tues., Dec. 3 Quiz, Strunk, VI Wars of Religion Reading: Packet, 328-33: Calvin, Geneva Ordinances Backman,415-16, 441-52 Thurs., Dec. 5 Exam Review Final Exam: Tues., Dec. 10, 1:30-3:30. Note that this is a special, common-finals time, which will not be held in our usual classroom.