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Student Book Exchange Group
2008-04-07 15:50:00
If you do not want to keep your books for your personal library, you can sell them back to your university bookstore at the end of the semester. The benefit of doing so is you get instant cash. The potential downside is the relatively low price you'll get in relation to the relatively high price they will charge a student. Perhaps you would like to cut out the middleman? Student s at Georgetown University already have a solution with their Book Co-op. Since I have seen nothing similar at George Mason University, I have set up a Google group called Student Book Exchange . You can use it to contact students who might want to buy your used textbooks or sell you theirs. The group is private. To access it, you will have to have or sign up for a Google ID and then click "apply for membership". I am restricting membership to former or new students of mine, although I will consider requests from other history students at George Mason University or Georgetown University who provide their uni...
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Hist 100-B-02, Summer 2008, George Mason University
2008-04-07 05:36:00
This course offers an overview of the history of Western Civilization. Rather than attempt to cover many centuries chronologically, however, it focuses on key themes in seven different units. These are Hist orical Thinking, Economic Thought and Practice, State-Building in Early Modern Europe, Religion and Society, The State and the Individual in Modern Europe, Imperialism, and War and Society. To help students come to terms with this history, the course emphasizes critical reading, critical thinking, writing, and civil discourse. I am still writing the syllabus for this course, but here is the reading list. You can obtain these books through the GMU bookstore or the History Survey bookstore that I have set up on Amazon. Lualdi, Katherine J. Sources of The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. 3rd ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Vol. II. Miller, Maureen C. Power and the Holy in the Age of the Investiture Conflict: A Brief History with Documents. Boston and N...
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Some Research Tips
2008-03-06 16:33:00
Some students had trouble finding sources for their Wikipedia articles, because they only searched for their actual topic in the library catalog and article databases. This approach can lead to disappointing results, because many topics are not going to appear. If you were attempting to learn about the Treaty of Stockholm (Great Northern War), for example, you should not expect to find a relevant book with any of these words in the title, although you might get lucky and find an article. Instead you need to figure out what the general subject and time period is, and search for a book based on that information. An encyclopedia can help with that, or perhaps even Wikipedia. In this particular case, there is a Wikipedia article on the Great Northern War that gives the time period and countries involved. That's a good start. Even better, the article already lists some relevant books. But don't stop there. While you are in the library looking for these books, see what else is near th...
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The Iron Law of Averages
2008-03-02 05:05:00
I understand when some students are unable to balance all of their responsibilities well enough to turn in less than their best effort. It disappoints me sometimes, but I evaluate the work, and the student gets credit for the exercise. But why do some students not submit their paper at all? A failing essay still earns half credit, but no essay earns nothing. It is possible to recover from one F and pass a course, but recovering from a zero is extremely difficult. Imagine, for example, that you have four components to your course grade, each worth 25%, as is the case this semester. If you earn a C (75) in three of them, but only a zero in the fourth, your average will be 56.25%, that is, an F. What if that zero were an F (55) instead? Then the course average would be a 70 or low C-. The moral of the story is clear. Turn in your work or the iron law of averages will get you.For letter grade and numerical average equivalents, see Grading.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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What Should You Call Your Professor?
2008-03-02 04:47:00
If you are new to the American university scene, perhaps you do not know what you should call your professor. In some countries, such as Germany and Austria, the title of Professor is reserved for those who have received a full-time appointment along with that formal title. Not so in the United States, where you can get away with using Professor with all your professors, for example, Prof. Stoneman. Most of your professors possess a PhD, so you can also call them Doctor, for example, Dr. Stoneman. I actually prefer this solution, because I do not have a full-time appointment, but I do have my doctorate. No matter which of these two solutions you choose, never assume that it is okay to use the standard Mr., Mrs. or Ms. Only use these titles if your professor asks you to. That will probably only happen if the professor hasn't yet completed his PhD.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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50th Anniversary of the Peace Sign
2008-02-22 05:32:00
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the peace sign. Professor Todd Gitlin at Columbia University explains in an interview with Bob Garfield on One the Media. The interview is followed up by a tongue-in-cheek interview with Peace Sign . By the way, On the Media is an excellent radio show on NPR that is also available as a podcast. It exemplifies the kind of critical reading and thinking skills that I try to cultivate in history classes. Instead of talking about the news, it analyzes how the media brings us that news.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Finding Reliable Information on the Internet
2008-02-17 01:23:00
Finding information on the internet is easy for most students, but what about finding reliable information? For the convenience of new readers, here are some links to posts on this subject that I've written during the past year. Evaluating the Reliability of Web Sites Wikipedia in the History Survey When Google Gets It Wrong (on Clio and Me) Don't forget, though, that the library has valuable resources not available on the internet: books and journal articles.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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"Totally Like Whatever" by Taylor Mali
2008-02-10 03:59:00
This video is not about history, but it speaks to an issue that I sometimes encounter at university. I think Mali has a point. What about you?© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Women in Art
2008-01-28 02:04:00
Here is a fascinating video that Philip Scott Johnson made from images of women in five hundred years of Western art. Many of these beautiful images will appear familiar, but perhaps—like me—you will not be able to identify them. Fortunately, an art teacher, Boni, has created a webpage with the answers. If you like these images and you live in the Washington metropolitan area, perhaps you would also enjoy a visit to the National Gallery of Art.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Hist 100 Syllabus for Spring 2008
2008-01-22 17:41:00
Hist 100 Students: You can download a copy of your syllabus as a PDF file using one of the links below. I will pass out hard copies of the syllabus in class. Hist 100-02, Mondays, 7:20-10:00 p.m. Hist 100-30, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:55-7:10 p.m. Hist 100-32, Wednesdays, 4:30-7:10 p.m. © 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Wikis
2008-01-17 15:42:00
You already know the world's biggest wiki, Wikipedia, but did you know that wikis come in other shapes and sizes too? We are going to be using a wiki in Hist 100 this semester. I will email a link to students once I have finished setting it up and obtained passwords for everyone. For now, though, I would like to share this introductory Wiki tutorial by The Common Craft Show, "Wikis in Plain English": Besides using the course wiki, you might want to set one up for yourself. They can be handy for keeping notes or doing group projects. My family uses one to coordinate plans.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman

Holiday Break
2007-12-19 04:00:00
I've decided to take a little break over the holidays. I will not be reading and moderating comments during that time either. See you in 2008! Happy holidays everyone! Happy New Year!© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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"I" and "You" Do Not Belong in History Papers
2007-12-16 04:24:00
From my new blog, Language For You: When writing a history paper or some other piece of academic prose, do not refer to yourself or the reader with I or you. In fact, you should not refer to either party explicitly at all. . . . The full post explains why.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Getting Ready for Spring 2008: Hist 100 at GMU
2007-12-11 22:29:00
A student registered in one of my Hist 100 sections asked about the reading list for next semester. Here it is: Katharine J. Lualdi, Sources of the Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, 2nd edition (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005. Volume II only. [ISBN 0-312-41221-5] John Aberth, The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.) [ISBN 0-312-40087-X] Lynn Hunt, The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996). [0-312-10802-8] Emile Zola, Au Bonheur des Dames, translated by Robin Buss. Penguin Classics. New Edition. 2002 [ISBN 0140447830] George Orwell, Burmese Days (San Diego, New York, and London: Harvest, 1974). [ISBN 0-15-614850-1] Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, Intimate Voices from the First World War (Perennial 2005). [ISBN 0-06-058420-3] The books are available via the GMU Bookstore and an online boo...
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2007-12-10 05:47:00
December 10, 2007 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights ." To mark the occasion, the United Nations is celebrating December 10th as Human Rights Day. Have a look at the Declaration. Can you see how it takes up and expands on themes that we have covered in this course? [hat tip]© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman

New Blog: Language for You
2007-12-08 18:17:00
I have started a new blog called Language for You to deal with many of the writing problems that I encounter in the classroom. I was writing about these things here on History Survey, but I would like to devote less space on this blog to generic writing issues and more space to history and historical thinking. Of course, there are still aspects of writing specific to history, and I will continue to weigh in on those here. Meanwhile, please visit the new blog for my posts on the nuts and bolts of writing.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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Mastering the Dreaded Essay Exam
2007-12-05 13:37:00
I have a confession to make. My first history midterm exam in college earned a D. That's right. I had studied and studied and studied, but there it was: a big ugly D. What had gone wrong? I earned an A on my paper, but I still only pulled off something like a C on my final exam. I had thought I was good at history, but clearly there was a problem. At first I just thought I did not know how to write under pressure, that I was not good at in-class essays. I needed time to think things out. Exam s denied me that time. Later I realized that I was wrong. I actually had time the time I needed to think things through. I wasn't supposed to spend all my study time memorizing what had happened in the past. I was supposed to spend a great deal of time thinking about what I had learned and organizing it into one or more coherent narratives. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I began college in 1980 and took an extended break after 1982, because I did not like college and had no idea why I was t...
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A Poem Approved by Spell Checkers Everywhere
2007-12-05 04:25:00
I have a spell checker It came with my PC It plane lee marks four my revue Miss steaks aye can knot see Eye ran this poem threw it Your sure real glad two no Its very polished in its own weigh My chequer tolled me sew A cheek or is a blessing It freeze yew lodes of thyme It helps me right awl stiles two reed And aides me when aye rime Now spilling does not phase me It does knot bring a tier My pay purrs awl due glad den With wrapped words fare as hear To rite with care is quite a feet Of witch won should be proud And wee mussed dew the best wee can Sew flaws are knot aloud So ewe can sea why aye dew prays Such soft wear four pea seas And why eye brake in two averse Buy righting want to please — author unknown [hat tip]© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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The Pitfalls of Spell-Checking
2007-11-20 13:11:00
In Spell -Checking To Disaster, Richard Becker summarizes the results of a study at the University of Pittsburgh, Without grammar or spelling software, students with higher SAT verbal scores made, on average, five errors compared to 12.3 errors made by students with lower scores. Using spell-check software, students with higher verbal scores made, on average, 16 errors compared with 17 errors for students with lower scores. Spell checkers give us a false sense of security. They make us lazy. They also have no understanding of the context of the words we use, so they cannot know when words like "there" and "to" are spelled correctly or incorrectly. I have also never met a computer grammarian that had mastered the grammar of our language. These days I rarely write with a spell checker. Only after I have proofread everything do I give my document one final pass with a spell checker. Even then I do not assume the computer knows what it is doing. I make the decisions, often with the help ...

Quotable
2007-10-06 18:55:00
Americans love their history, but seldom think historically. The problem is not that they don't pay enough attention to history. Americans spend millions each year on heritage vacations and history books. Politicians and pundits use history to justify their views. The problem is a common propensity to mangle the past to suit current needs, a sort of indoctrination by historical example. Too many believe that the study of distant societies and events is worthless unless it is somehow useful to prove a current point. Thus begins Christian historian John Fea in a his recent post on the History News Network called Is America a Christian Nation? What Both Left and Right Get Wrong. This article can help Americans get a better grasp of historical thinking, because it addresses a political discourse with which we are familiar: the memory of the founding fathers invoked to justify religion in public life— or a complete ban on religion in public life. Near the end of the article Fea of...

Movie Recommendations: After World War Two
2007-10-01 19:24:00
Ladri di biciclette [The Bicycle Thief], directed by Vittorio de Sica, Italy 1948 — Shot soon after the Second World War, this film deals with the material and moral dilemmas that a man faces in a city racked by unemployment. Beautiful and heartbreaking. You might relate this film to the development of the welfare state. I'm all right Jack, directed by John Boulting (Great Britain 1959) — A period comedy with Peter Sellers that pokes fun at trade unions and industrialists in Britain. This film also relates to the welfare state. Le petit soldat [The Little Soldier], directed by Jean-Luc Godard (France 1960) — French New Wave film about the Algerian War, but it takes place in Europe, mainly Switzerland. Portrays a mix of alienation, espionage, counter-espionage, terrorism, and torture. La Battaglia di Algeri [The Battle of Algiers], directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (Italy 1966) — French and Arabic with English subtitles. Dramatization of the first year of t...
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Banned Books Week, 9/29 - 10/6/2007
2007-09-30 02:24:00
It is Banned Books Week . For more information see the American Library Association, Amnesty International USA, Google Book Search, or the many blogs that are talking about it. For some historical background on the censorship of books as well as links to many of these books online, see Banned Books Online at the Online Books Page. And perhaps you would like to read a banned book?© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman

Movie Recommendations: The Second World War
2007-09-28 06:05:00
When France surrendered in 1940, Germany only occupied the northern half of the country and France set up a fascist regime in the south under General Pétain. The capital of unoccupied France gave this fascist regime its name: Vichy. Claude Chabrol's L'oeil de Vichy [Eye of Vichy] uses news footage and other propaganda from the time to tell this history. The movie is interesting not only for its depiction of France in these times, but also as an illustration of how a society can move from democracy to fascism to anti-Semitism and active collaboration with the Nazi Holocaust. Historian Robert Paxton was one of the writers. Roberto Rossellini's, Roma, città aperta [Rome, Open City] (1945) explores the problems of resistance and collaboration near the end of the war. Rossellini began work on the film before the war was even over. Mrs. Miniver (1942) was an Academy Award winning British film designed to persuade Americans to enter the war. Note the use of class and gender in...
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Writing Resources: English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
2007-09-26 04:56:00
Writing an academic essay is hard for most of us, but what if English is not your first language? One important resource is your university's writing center, which probably offers one-on-one tutoring sessions to help you with your paper. Ask too if the writing center has tutors with EFL experience (also called ESL for English as a Second Language ). George Mason University Writing Center Georgetown University Writing Center University writing centers also often have links to an increasing number of helpful online resources. These are intended for all students, but some writing centers also have information specifically for non-native speakers of English. George Mason University's ESL Resources for Students is excellent. Take a look at all the links there to see which sites will be most useful for you.© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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The Elements of Style
2007-09-24 18:39:00
Bartleby.com offers free online access to a number of useful reference works, including the perennial American favorite, The Element s of Style by William Strunk, Jr. You can use the web site's search engine to find what you're looking for or you can scroll down and use the table of contents. This is the original 1918 edition. The fourth edition with revisions by E.B. White and Roger Angell is probably more useful, but it is still subject to copyright and so is not available online. But perhaps you already own it? Many high school and college English teachers make it a required text in their courses. © 2007 Mark R. Stoneman

Evaluating the Reliability of Web Sites
2007-09-20 21:12:00
Google is pretty good at finding relevant information, but how do you know if the information is reliable? Google places popular web sites at the top of its search results, but is that an accurate guage of reliability? Who can you trust in an environment in which anyone can publish anything? The bottom line is verifiability. Can you verify the information with a source that you know is reliable? Can you verify that the author has the expertise to publish on this subject? But these questions bring us back to square one. What if you do not know any reliable sources with which to verify sites and their authors? University librarians have put together some useful guidelines to help you sort through the jumble of fact and fiction on the internet. Georgetown University Library offers Evaluating Internet Resources, a check list that helps you to assess various aspects of each site you encounter. Study this list and ask yourself if you are as careful with information you find on the interne...
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How to Use this Blog
2007-09-16 05:14:00
Having to read a blog for your history course is probably a new experience for most of you. Where to start? What to read? My "Welcome" message on the right clarifies a few points, but let me say more.First, notice how this blog has an index. (Scroll down a little and look at the right-hand column.) Most blogs refer to labels or tags, but I thought the analogy with a book's subject index would be most helpful. Choose a topic about which you need to read and click on that word.Keep in mind that blogs are in reverse chronological order. Once you have a group of posts on a given subject, you might want to go to the bottom of the page and read the oldest post first. That way you will get all the advice I offer on a topic in the order in which I posted it.Where should you begin? Most important is probably teaching philosophy. Reading about this topic will help you to get the most out of a course with me. You can also avoid a lot of confusion by reading my posts about terms. Finally, it i...
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Confusable Words
2007-09-16 04:36:00
There are a lot of small words in English that many of us confuse. Here are three examples. between/among We use between for two things and among for three or more things. "The two friends shared the money between themselves." "The three men shared the money among themselves." many/much We modify countable words with many and uncountable words with much. "She has much patience." (We cannot count patience.) "She has many friends." (We can count friends. Notice how it is in the plural.) Whether or not a word is countable does not matter if you decide to use a lot instead. fewer/less When we compare things, we use fewer for countable nouns and less for uncountable nouns. "I have less money than Donald Trump." (Notice how the word money appears in the singular here. You can count money, but the word money is uncountable.) "I have fewer dollars than Donald Trump." (Notice how the word dollars appears in the plural here. It is countable.) What common mistakes do you notice in people's w...
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Writing about the Oppressed in History
2007-09-08 19:44:00
Often in history we have to analyze the situation of oppressed people, including slaves, the working class, women, and religious and ethnic minorities. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to handle this kind of analysis. We can treat the oppressed exclusively as objects with no will or mind of their own. Or we can also try to comprehend them as subjects who, no matter how oppressed, might have nonetheless left behind hints of their humanity in the form of actions, words, or things they made. It is usually easier to treat the oppressed as objects. Then all one has to do is identify all the wrongs that they endured. End of story. Treating the oppressed as subjects requires one to go the extra mile. Besides laying out injustices inflicted upon them, one must try and learn how they lived, acted, thought, and felt. In the case of Spartacus in ancient Rome, we can look at the slave war and consider what actions slaves took and deduce why, even though we do not have direct testimony ...
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Movie Recommendations: The Cold War
2007-08-31 03:38:00
"Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," directed by Stanley Kubrick, USA 1964. [IMDb] [Wikipedia]There are plenty of good Cold War movies out there, but this outrageously funny and dark film is among my all-time favorites.The following trailer by Pablo Ferro is also worth watching.See also The Cold War (at History Survey Links) and The Cold War Museum (at Clio and Me).© 2007 Mark R. Stoneman
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