HIST 2710 - United States 1877-Present
3 Credit(s)

A continuation of HIST 2700 with emphasis on the emergence of modern corporate enterprise and the growth of the U.S. as a world power and the growing impulse to domestic reform in the 20th century. (Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Registration Restriction(s): Intensive English Program majors may not enroll

• The American Yawp, A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook, Vol. II, After 1877 — http://www.americanyawp.com/
• The American Yawp Reader, A Documentary Companion to The American Yawp, Vol. II, After 1877 — http://www.americanyawp.com/reader.html

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• 1. Distinguish social, political, economic, and cultural developments in the United States from the 1870s to the present.
• 2. Identify main issues, problems, and topics in United States history between 1877 and the present.
• 3. Evaluate historical evidence with the aim of improving your ability to construct historical interpretations and develop your own historical interests.
• 4. Apply and enhance your communication, analytical, and writing skills through diverse assignments.

Course Assessment Table

Assignment Outline

Weekly Reading Journal Entries

Starting in Week 1, you are expected to submit a weekly journal entry to Canvas that will typically focus on a prompt or question related to required class readings. Your response should be organized, factual, insightful, and well written, preferably submitted in an essay format of at least 500 words. These journal exercises are designed to 1) encourage your active and regular reading of our required textbook, 2) help you think more critically about issues and topics in United States history, and 3) improve your writing and analytical skills. You will receive some helpful but not extensive feedback for your weekly journal entries, and these will be graded on a P/F (or Complete/Incomplete) basis. A simple rubric will be used to evaluate your work and to encourage high-quality responses.

Primary Source Discussions

You will be asked to select, evaluate, and discuss primary source documents from The American Yawp Primary Source Reader. Your posts of at least 200 words should analyze the source and explain what you learn from it. Please note that you are expected to reply in a meaningful way to at least two students for each discussion assignment.

Critical Documentary Movie Review

You will be asked to watch and critically evaluate a documentary movie that is centered on an aspect of United States history between 1877 and the present. You will find more resources within Canvas to select and review a movie of your choice, subject to your instructor's advice and approval. The goal of this exercise is for you to watch a carefully-chosen movie with a critical eye, and to then express your observations in a well-organized written review that addresses historical events, evidence, and interpretations.

Primary Documents Analysis Assignment

Due no later than the end of the semester, this assignment asks you to critically evaluate primary resources and materials related to one of the two final chapters in The American Yawp. This assignment builds upon our weekly activities during the semester. In some ways, this assignment is a written "capstone" project in place of a final exam.

Grade Scheme

The following grading standards will be used in this class:

Assignments with Weight/Percentage of Final Grade

check weights and dates

• History Journal (Weekly entries graded on P/F basis, completion percentage will determine letter grade) -- 55% (Entire semester)
• Primary Source Discussions -- 10% (Entire Semester)
• Critical Documentary Movie Review -- 15% (Week 10)
• Primary Document Analysis Assignment -- 20% (Week 14)
• Total = 100%

History Journal Writing Assignments — Separate weekly assignments together worth 55% of your final grade

The percentage of completed and acceptable journal entries will determine your final grade for this assignment:

• 100 % (A) = 100% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 95% (A) = 95% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 90% (A-) = 90% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 85% (B) = 85% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 80% (B-) = 80% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 75% (C) = 75% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 70% (C-) = 70% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 65% (D) = 65% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 60% (D-) = 60% completed and acceptable journal entries
• 0% = Less than 60% completed and acceptable journal entries (yes, this will be a grade of 0 that will count toward 55% of your final grade)

Your response should be organized, factual, insightful, and well written, preferably submitted in an essay format. All Canvas submissions should be uploaded in an acceptable file format, preferably as a Word document (.docx). You should compose with a word processor and upload or copy your comments after adequate proofreading and spell-checks. These weekly assignments will be due to Canvas no later than the deadlines at 12 midnight, and you are encouraged to submit earlier.

Your work will be evaluated by the quality of your written response, not its length, although you are strongly encouraged to write more than the minimum number of words in aiming for a high-quality essay. Because this is a history class, you should strive always to use relevant, specific, and detailed historical evidence drawn from all course materials in your written journal entries, discussion posts, and other assignments in History 2710. Aim to think, write, and analyze evidence as historians do.

These written journal exercises are designed to 1) encourage your active and regular reading of our required textbook and primary sources, 2) help you think more critically about issues and topics in United States history, and 3) improve your writing and analytical skills. You will receive some helpful but not extensive feedback for your weekly journal entries, and these will be graded on a P/F (or Complete/Incomplete) basis. A simple rubric will be used to evaluate your work and to encourage high-quality responses. If your response is deemed inadequate or incomplete, you may be asked to revise and resubmit to earn credit for the assignment. Note that all chapter-related journal entries require the use of at least one primary source document from The American Yawp Primary Source Reader.

For your weekly journal entries, you do NOT need any kind of formal citations, footnotes, or bibliography. But, it will be helpful to refer to specific documents in the body of your journal entry by a source's author and/or title and/or date. You are encouraged to integrate these documents by writing in your own words with only occasional quoted excerpts. I am most interested in your writing and your analysis, so use these documents to support your arguments with specific evidence when possible.

As with all of your college-level work, your journal submissions should be coherent and feature well-crafted writing that is appropriate for academic purposes. (Your written responses are not texts, tweets, or informal emails.) If you wish to quote from course materials or other sources, please place all quoted material in quotation marks and add a page reference or citation in parentheses at the end of that sentence. Be aware that you are expected to submit original and independent work by all deadlines, and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Note that all assignments will be processed by an excellent and thorough plagiarism detection program within Canvas. Please read and heed "Avoiding Plagiarism" in the Course Resources module, along with "Course Policy Statement: Discouraging the Use of ChatGPT and AI Resources for Academic Purposes."

Finally, feel free to be imaginative in exploring the questions asked in this course, and ask questions if you are unclear about assignments or expectations.

Primary Source Documents Discussion — 10% of Final Grade

You are to select and evaluate primary sources in line with course resources about analyzing historical evidence. Successful submission of all required posts will lead to a grade of 100 for this component; any missing, incomplete, or late submissions will lead to a grade of 0.

Critical Documentary Movie Review — 15% of Final Grade

You will be asked to watch and critically evaluate a documentary movie that is centered on an aspect of United States history between 1877 and the present.

Primary Document Analysis Assignment — 20% of Final Grade

Due no later than the end of the semester, this assignment asks you to critically evaluate primary resources and materials related to the two final chapters in The American Yawp. In some ways, this assignment is a written "capstone" project in place of a final exam. More information will be available in Canvas.

Instructor's Response Time & Feedback

Online classes provide unique challenges for interaction. For messages sent to me, I will respond in the specified amount of time. Feedback is an important part of learning please look for feedback on your assignments that I provided in the specified amount of time, to find feedback look at this tutorial How do I view assignment comments from my Instructor.

It is my goal to:

• Respond to student messages within 2 business days
• Provide grades and feedback within 2 - 5 days from the due date

Late Policy

All deadlines are explained within this course. Any submission after the deadline will result in a permanent grade of zero or "incomplete."

Make-Up Work/Extra-Credit

This course does not have any options for make-up work or extra credit.

Attendance : This is an online course with regular weekly deadlines.

AI Is Not Allowed

Within this course, all submitted assignments should be written, developed, created, or inspired by you. If any work is created by artificial intelligence (AI) it will be considered plagiarized work and a violation of SUU Policy 6.33: Academic Integrity. This could result in a failing grade to disciplinary action through the Dean of Students’ Office. AI is an evolving technology and will impact our academic, professional, and personal lives. It is important that as part of your education, you learn to critically think, create, and evaluate products/assignments.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT and BingAI, are not allowed to be used in this class. Although the use of these types of tools may be allowed in other classes or are used professionally, this class will focus on learning foundations without the aid of generative AI. Any perceived use of generative AI will be investigated for possible submission to the university as cheating.

Required Extra- or Co-curricular Activities

None.

Canvas Information

Canvas is where course content, grades, and communication will reside for this course.

• For Passwords or any other computer-related technical support:
  • 435-865-8200
  • support@suu.edu
  • IT Service Desk
• For Canvas help:
  • 435-865-8555
  • canvas@suu.edu
  • Canvas Help Center
  • How to Use Canvas