HIST 2C - World History Since 1500

Examples: Students can be required to complete essay exams aimed at assessing the student's ability to form important historical questions, develop a thesis, and argue the thesis utilizing both primary and secondary evidence. The student is asked to exhibit a thorough and sophisticated understanding of the inter-relationships among events and/or concepts, the essential institutions of the society under study, and exhibit a good comprehension of content material. Students can be required to write a research paper related to the course material in order to develop and support a thesis utilizing primary and secondary sources. Students can be expected to complete assignments that explore primary and secondary source evidence in order to create and support historical arguments. Document analyses will ask the student to evaluate primary source documents analytically and critically by answering the following questions: who was the author and when was the source written, who was the intended audience, what was the strategy of the author, what assumptions did the author make, what is the author's bias, what does the document reveal about the author and his/her society? Exams are evaluated on the student's ability to synthesize key concepts covered in the course readings, assignments and lectures. Students may be asked to briefly define and identify key concepts, terms and people. They are evaluated on the ability to demonstrate understanding of the importance of concepts, terms and people. Objective examinations will evaluate how well the student is able to formulate a chronology of major world civilizations and events in world history, as well as identify the contributions of various civilizations, cultures, and individuals including ethnic, gender and marginalized groups within the historical context. Objective exams may also evaluate the student's ability to identify key concepts and events covered in the course readings, assignments and lectures. Students can be expected to create an oral presentation based on a research topic, current news articles involving historical topics, or a museum exhibit in order to demonstrate how students can identify and explore historical concepts in the contemporary world. Students can be required to write a paper on a museum exhibit. Students will be asked to identify the following: how does this exhibit pertain to the course material, what does this exhibit reflect about the society that created it, and who was the intended audience? If there is an identified author of the exhibit items, students will be asked to consider who was the intended audience and what was the strategy of the author, what is the author's bias, and what does the exhibit reveal about the author and his/her society? Students will be evaluated based on their ability to clearly identify links of museum artifacts and artwork to the civilizations that produced it, and possibly make parallels to the contemporary society. All written work should demonstrate the ability to create a thesis which is supported with evidence. Written work will also evaluate the student’s ability to write at a college level, use proper citations, and create a bibliography.