History 490
Senior Seminar

THE COURSE
History 490, the history research seminar, is the culmination of a history major's progress through the program. It is designed to be taken during the senior year (those trying to take it earlier will usually be removed by the department). Ideally, all of the skills emphasized in lower- and upper-division courses (and identified in the standards) will be used in this course. The goal of this class is the production of a seminar paper, a piece of original research and analysis drawing on a wide variety of secondary and, ideally, primary sources. By this time, students should have learned to ask interesting and fruitful questions, find and accumulate sources, evaluate those sources and produce a well-written and well-argued seminar paper. Students may also have initial drafts of that paper evaluated by their peers, who share their evaluations in oral and written form. This experience should serve as a capstone to the student's progression through the major and allow them to function as a historian by producing original research.

WHO IS TEACHING?
At least one class of History 490 will be offered every semester. In Spring 2003, Professor Sundstrom will be teaching the course. In Fall 2003, Professor McBroome will be teaching the course, preferring American history topics. In Spring 2004, Assistant Professor Jason Knirck will be teaching it.

REQUIREMENTS
While some aspects of the class vary with the professor teaching it, there are elements that remain the same.

1. Students are expected to do original research on a topic. Students should use as many types of sources as possible. The web allows access to primary sources that might not otherwise be available. In addition, Interlibrary Loan, from which students should order sources as early as possible in order to obtain them in time, allows students to access books, microfilm and articles that are held outside the HSU Library.
2. Students must use the research to support a well-crafted argument and to create a well-written paper whose final draft must reach at least 25 pages.
3. Students must appropriately cite all information, using the correct Chicago Manual of Style format (as shown in the Citation Guide).