Schedule

INTRODUCTION

WEEK 1. Introduction (1/12)

Wed 1/14—Introduction to the Course

In Class

  • Introduction to the course – and our questions
  • Practical questions: Moodle, Voices, etc.
  • Introductions!
  • Assignment for Friday (yes, Friday!)

After Class

  • Start a course notebook (if you haven’t already)
  • Make sure you can find our Course Schedule and Moodle Readings Folder and know how to find your way around Voices and Moodle
  • Take a look at Friday’s assignment and plan time to complete it

Fri 1/16—Introduction to History

Before Class

  • Follow all of the links – and read details under Syllabus Details
  • Read Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, skim preface and read introduction, “Why Study History” – available through Inclusive Access or in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Complete week 1 research and writing assignment prep (below)

Friday ASSIGNMENT PREP

  • Goal: to think about the way news functions among your peers, in the world of Wooster today.
  • Do this research
    • Talk to 3 people – ask a few questions about “the news”
    • Who? In an ideal world you’d talk to three people of different ages or backgrounds
    • What should you ask? Is it important to be informed? Why? What kind of news do they follow? Where do they get their news?
    • Take notes in your notebook:
      • Name of subject and a few demographic details (age, background, etc.)
      • Bullet points on their answers
  • Bring your notes to class on Friday
  • Bring your laptop to class for an in-class writing assignment

In class:

  • First: Names – Photos – Syllabus
  • News Today / Writing Exercise. Some terms: an informed citizenry, mainstream media, alternative media
  • Why study history? Some terms: historia, sources, historiography

PART 1—A HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK

WEEK 2—History and Communications (1/19)

Mon 1/19—MLK Jr. Day

  • No class. Please participate in some of the MLK Jr. Day events and come tell us about them on Wednesday

Wed 1/21—The Print Revolution 1

One More Assignment:

  • Come see your professor at office hours in the next couple weeks. No preparation necessary. Just a chance to get to know each other better. Details on office hours on our Contact page.

Before class:

  • Make sure you have a devoted notebook for this class for your reading notes and class notes and paper preparation notes. This is a key to success. By the way, I’ll typically let you use your notes if I quiz you on the reading…
  • Read Kovarik, “Part 1: The Printing Revolution,” read pp. 17-18 – but just skim pp. 18-26 (the intro to this part of the book)
  • Read Kovarik, “Chap. 1: The Divine Art,” pp. 27-45 (the first half of the chapter)
  • Please bring your laptop to class

In class:

  • Why history? (from last week) And the C’s of History
  • Kovarik on Print Revolution
    • technological determinism vs. social construction
    • what did first 100 years of print revolution look like?
    • what was its impact? (on religion, language, knowledge, etc.)
  • Explain Assn. #2 – initial searching in databases – and start searching

Thurs by midnight—Due: Week 2 Assignment

  • First, spend some time exploring the research databases on our Links for Historical Research. I’d like you to get to know the way these work. It may also be helpful to read the Rampolla on “Working With Sources” assigned for Friday. Also, you should have already created a HIST 201 News folder in OneDrive and shared it with me. In that folder you can create a Week 2 Research folder. Then…
  • Your assignment is to complete a short annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources on a news topic.
  • Do some initial research – searching in three separate news databases
    • these could include the following: the London Times Archive, the New York Times Archive, African American Newspapers, the Japan Times, any one of the news archives among the Proquest databases, Chronicling America at the Library of Congress
    • identify one news item in each of three different databases. (How to choose? Pick anything that interests you). Ideally, at least one of your news items will come from before 1900. Maybe find one from the 1700s, one from the 1800s, and one from the 1900s
    • download a pdf of the source to save in your research folder
  • Now write your bibliography
    • Under the heading “Primary Sources”
      • add a citation to the source
      • add a short description of the source – one sentence will do – under each citation
    • Under the heading “Secondary Sources”
      • add a citation to the Kovarik book
      • add a short description of the source – one sentence will do – under the citation
  • Use Chicago style bibliography format. Follow examples in Rampolla – or see the “Chicago Guide” at Purdue OWL.
  • For an example of excellent annotations, see a model Annotated Bibliography – from a Senior IS – linked on our Handouts page
  • See the copyright page for Kovarik – linked here – for the details for the bibliographical citation. Actually, I’ll make this easier for you and provide the correct citation. Note that we allow leaving off the place of publication for contemporary publishers. And note that bibliographical citation looks different from a footnote citation.
    • Kovarik, Bill. Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age. 2nd ed. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
  • Due by midnight before class (Thursday night, Friday morning)
  • Upload to Moodle in pdf format

Fri 1/23—The Print Revolution 2

Before class:

  • Read Rampolla, “Working With Sources” (see Moodle readings folder)
  • Read Kovarik, “The Divine Art,” pp. 46-66
    • Sorry, it’s a long reading with a lot of names. But it maps out the variety of news outlets from the 1600s to the early 1800s – along with some central themes in the history of news
    • What are key themes and key examples?

In class:

  • Working with Sources – Primary and Secondary Sources
  • Your Research in News Sources
    • How to use these as primary sources for historical research
  • Press and Politics in 17th and 18th c.
    • Variety of news outlets
    • Press and revolution
      • English Civil War & pamphlets
      • American Revolution
      • French Revolution
      • Latin America
    • Censorship – varieties of control
    • Freedom of speech

WEEK 3—History and Communication in the 19th c. (1/26)

Mon 1/26—The Early Nineteenth Century

Before class:

  • Read Kovarik, “Commercial and Industrial Revolution” 1, pp. 67-88
    • Lots of details. Come to class with central themes and examples. Some terms to know
    • London Times, Penny press, NY Sun (Benjamin Day), NY Tribune (Horace Greeley), NY Herald (James Gordon Bennett), London Daily Mail (Alfred Harnsworth)

In class:

  • Freedom of speech and “the marketplace of ideas” Discuss (no class today)
  • Annotations (no class today)
  • The Penny Press Revolution of the Early 19th century (no class today)

Wed 1/28—The Late Nineteenth Century

Before class:

  • Read “How to Read a Primary Source” – on Handouts page
  • Read Kovarik, “Commercial and Industrial Revolution” 1, pp. 89-104
    • Again lots of details. Some examples to know
    • WT Stead and the Pall Mall Gazette, Joseph Pulitzer and the NY World, William Randolph Hearst and the NY Journal, Nellie Bly, The Yellow Kid, War in Cuba
  • Read Selections from Nineteenth-Century News Items – available in Moodle Readings Folder

In class:

  • Annotations (briefly)
  • The Penny Press Revolution of the Early 19th century
  • The Press of the Late 19th century
  • 19th c. News Styles
  • How to Write a College Paper (save)
  • Paper Writing! Writing Exercise (save for later?)

For Fun:

  • Watch Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles as a William Randolph Hearst figure – on how to run a newspaper – here on Youtube

Fri 1/30—Stanley & Twentieth C. Examples

Friday Assignment Prep:

  • Read the coverage of the New York Herald for Monday, July 15, 1872
    • Ten pages are available here on Library of Congress Chronicling America – I’ve downloaded these as high-quality pdfs
    • Read the page 5 dispatch entitled “Livingstone” – a famous moment from 19th century press history
    • Don’t worry about details you don’t understand, but note some important and interesting quotations in your notebook
    • Take a good look at the newspaper and take a few notes
      • What does the paper look like?
      • What kinds of topics are covered?
      • What signs of the intended audience do you find
  • Do five minutes initial research on H.M. Stanley. Who is he? You can ask Gemini or Google or ChatGPT or read the short bios in The Dictionary of African Politics or the Dictionary of African Biography

In Class:

  • The Variety of the Press in the 19th century
  • Introduce Paper #1
  • Footnotes/Citations in History
  • Talk H.M. Stanley and the New York Herald

WEEK 4—News in the 20th c. (2/2)

Mon 2/2—Stanley Paper / The Twentieth Century – part 1

Before class:

  • Read Paper #1 Assignment
  • Come to class with notes for the paper in electronic form (so you can easily share them with others. Keep these in categories:
    • 1. Context notes
    • 2. Primary source notes (on Stanley’s reporting)
    • 3. Brainstorming ideas (ideas for the argument of our paper)
    • Please include a short citation so that we can use these notes in our paper (Snyder, 244)
  • Take 15 minutes to skim Kovarik, “Print Media in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” pp. 105-122 (first part of chapter). I’ll tell you some take away ideas in class
  • Bring laptop to class

In class:

  • Kovarik on 20th c. News – Key Themes & Examples
  • Arguments for history paper
  • Work on argument & outline for our paper

More:

Wed 2/4—Stanley Paper / The Twentieth Century – part 2

Before class:

  • Take 15 minutes to skim Kovarik, “Print Media in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries,” pp. 123-138 (second half of chapter) – I’ll explain some take away points in class
  • Read “Plagiarism” at UNC Chapel Hill – online here – and on our Handouts page
  • Look over handout, “Tips for Writing Short College Papers” on the Handouts Page – on our Handouts page
  • Read through our Paper 1 Preparation Notes – see documents in Stanley Paper Preparation folder
  • Now write one ¶ for our paper
    • I’m looking for completion first of all – write something (however good or bad) and bring it to class ready to share
    • A ¶ that fits in our paper? Presents an idea about Stanley’s reporting – and example and analysis to flesh it out
    • Please print hard copy and bring to class
  • Bring laptop to class

In class:

  • Briefly – Kovarik on 20th c. News – Key Themes & Examples
  • Talk Plagiarism
  • Review outline for our paper – work on intros and examples

Fri 2/6—Writing Workshop

Before class:

  • Reread the Paper #1 Assignment
  • Read handout, “Sample Short Paper” for format – on our Handouts page
  • Read through the Paper #1 Outline – see documents in Stanley Paper Preparation folder – this argument and these examples belong to all of us
  • Draft your paper – print out two hard copies to bring to class
    • You don’t need to complete the paper – just write what you can and bring to class
    • Your goal? What Annie Lamott calls a “shitty first draft”
    • And to cultivate your own voice. The less this sounds like the encyclopedia the better

In class:

  • Workshop our papers together!

Sat 2/7—Paper #1 Due

  • Paper #1 due Saturday 2/7 by 12pm noon in pdf format uploaded to Moodle
  • Primary source analysis paper. See assignment for details
  • Extended to the end of the weekend!

PART 2—THEORIES OF NEWS

WEEK 5—History, Theory, Critique (2/9)

Mon 2/9—Does News Matter?

Before class:

  • From Michael Schudson, The Sociology of News
    • Read Introduction, “Making News” – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • Read – or skim if you are pressed for time – Ch. 2, “Does News Matter? (Media Effects, Part 1)” – in Moodle Readings

In class:

  • First: Sign up for presentations
  • Writing Without Drama and Shitty First Drafts
  • Michael Schudson and Sociology of News
  • Media Effects – What is the Impact of News?

For Fun:

  • Try your hand at this online game to edit the news and build a loyal readership – Republia Times

Wed 2/11—The Public Sphere

Before class:

  • Read Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article” (1964) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • Note: this is a dense and complicated text from an influential German philosopher and social theorist! Take some time to read with care. Look for the larger point and don’t sweat the details. Come ready to explain his ideas as best you can
  • Skim or read Jürgen Habermas, “Introduction,” The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Read the Wikipedia entry for The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

In class:

  • Presentation on Jürgen Habermas and the Public Sphere
  • Discuss public sphere

Thurs by midnight—Due: Week 5 Assignment

  • Summarize the argument of Jürgen Habermas on the public sphere, based on the class reading for Wednesday.
  • Or, summarize the argument of Michael Schudson on media bias, based on the class reading for Friday.
  • Write one paragraph to present an overview of the argument in your words. Make sure you have a topic sentence and a clear organization. Don’t try to fit everything in to this paragraph! It is an overview that lays out the main lines of the author’s thinking. You might want to include one or two short quotations from the source.
  • Important: I’m looking for you to put these ideas into your words – not to reprint an encyclopedia entry or ChatGPT summary. Feel free to try using evocative language – or metaphors or similes – or contemporary comparisons – to convey your explanation.
  • Cite your sources with a Chicago-style footnote format. No bibliography is necessary. Some details:
    • Put the footnote at the end of the sentence, after the period or quotation marks. See Rampolla for details.
    • A first footnote, for the encyclopedia article, would look like this:  Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964),” trans. Sara Lennox and Frank Lennox, New German Critique (1974), 49-55.
    • The following footnotes would look like:  Habermas, “Encyclopedia,” 49.
  • Due by midnight before class (Thursday night, Friday morning)
  • Upload to Moodle in pdf format.

Fri 2/13—What is The Power of the Press?

Before class:

  • From Michael Schudson, The Sociology of News
    • Rd. Schudson, chap. 3, “Media Bias (Media Effects, Part 2)” – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • “New Research Explores How Conservative Media Misinformation May Have Intensified the Severity of the Pandemic,” Washington Post, June 25, 2020 – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • See links to research articles within this news piece

In Class:

  • Presentation on Media Effects
  • Discuss media effects

WEEK 6—More Theories of News (2/16)

Mon 2/16—The Manufacture of Consent?

Before class:

  • Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent (1988) (selection) –  available in Moodle Readings Folder

IN class:

  • Presentation:
    • Amanda Crouse
    • Connor Weathers
    • Lexi Rosser
  • See Washington Post article from last week again. Reporting COVID…
  • In class: clips from Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War (2007) – see movie online at Vimeo

Wed 2/18—Moral Panic & Social Control

Before class:

  • Stuart Hall, et al, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order (1978) (selections) – in Moodle Readings
  • Take a brief look at the Wikipedia entry: “Moral Panic”
    • This is an idea much associated with Stuart Hall and his collaborators. It has wide and powerful usage in the story of media
  • Paper preparation
    • Ideally, you will one-page outline of your Paper #2. Include: tentative title, thesis, and an outline that describes the point of each paragraph
    • At the very least, prepare a document that includes your ideas for the paper
    • Print out and bring to class

In Class:

  • Presentation:
    • DT Franklin
    • Josie Fleischel
    • Sova Gannon
  • Workshop paper outlines

Fri 2/20—Imagined Communities

Before class:

  • Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1983) (selections) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Paper preparation
    • Draft introduction to your paper
    • Bring your introduction to class

In Class:

  • Media Effects
  • Workshop paper intros

Sat 2/21—Paper #2 Due

  • Paper #2 due by Saturday 2/21 at 12:00 noon. Upload to Moodle in pdf format
  • Present and examine a theory of news. See assignment for details

WEEK 7—From Theory to Case Studies – of Victorian Journalism (2/23)

Mon 2/23—Lauren Berlant and the Intimate Public Sphere

Before class:

  • Read Lauren Berlant, “Intimacy: A Special Issue,” Critical Inquiry (Winter, 1998) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • Berlant can be dense, but they have had a powerful impact on American studies and literary studies, especially on the importance of emotion to the public sphere and with the concept of the intimate public sphere. To understand their work more fully you might take a look at The New Yorker piece (from 2019, in our Moodle Readings) or read the Wikipedia page on them

In class:

  • Introduction to Research Databases – and Handout Assignment for Thursday
  • Research in History
  • Presentation:
    • Andrew Rombach
    • Fridosse Adam
    • Jacob George

PART 3—CASE STUDIES

Wed 2/25—Victorian Journalism in Practice 1

Before class:

  • Read through research assignment for Thursday night – bring any questions you have
  • W.T. Stead, “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” The Pall Mall Gazette (1885) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • The document is twenty pages long. Please read the first four or five pages and the last three pages. That should be well enough to understand what Stead is up to
    • Warning: Stead’s reporting includes vivid descriptions of sexual violence and child abuse. This will be challenging to read and discuss. If you need an alternative come talk to me.
  • For more on Stead, you could take a look at the W.T. Stead Resource Site at: http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/
  • Some questions to consider:
    • Who is Stead? And what did he aim to do with his journalism?
    • What is the “maiden tribute”?  What does Stead describe? How does he tell this story?
    • Who is the audience?
    • How does this kind of journalism compare to some of the other examples we have discussed (say Stanley, or Waggles, or Woodward/Bernstein, or the Moon Hoax)?

IN class:

  • Questions About Research Assignment for Thursday?
  • Introduction to Victorian London and its press
  • Presentation:
    • Bennett Dickerson
    • Elijah Stewart
    • Louie Lindsay

Thurs at midnight—Due: Week 7 Assignment – Using Library Resources and Historical Databases

  • An exercise in using library resources and historical databases. This is a chance to master – or if you already know it, demonstrate – the use of library databases and the advanced search function.
  • See Week 7 Research Assignment
  • Due by midnight before class (Thursday night, Friday morning) – extended to Friday night at midnight
  • Upload to Moodle in pdf format

Fri 2/27—Scandal and Journalism

Before class:

  • Read Gretchen Soderlund, Sex Trafficking, Scandal, and the Transformation of Journalism, 1885-1917 (2013) (selections) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • I give you just the Preface. Read it to understand Soderlund’s framing of the topic and her larger argument.

IN class:

  • Research in History
  • The Historical Monograph and you
  • Presentation on Soderlund:
    • Constantine Vernadakis
    • Derrick Jones
    • Isabella Diehl

WEEK 8—Scandals in the Late 19th and Early 20th c. British Press (3/2)

Mon 3/2—The Whitechapel Murders and Social Reform

Before Class

  • Read Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, October 14, 1888 – online in our Moodle Readings Folder
    • Should have provided some details. Please read:
    • “Good Out of Evil,” page 1
    • “The East End Murders,” page 1
    • “The East End Murders,” page 3 (a lot here, but try to take away some key examples)
    • Skim the rest of this edition to get an idea of the papers’ coverage
  • You might want to read or skim the Wikipedia entry, “Jack the Ripper” – for a solid overview of the cases that have been ascribed to this unknown assailant – or the Wikipedia entry, “Whitechapel Murders”
    • Note: both articles include descriptions of sexual violence and bodily mutilation
  • Bring computer to class – we’ll have time to work on research assignment

IN class:

  • First: visit from Evelyn McCain on the Digital & Visual Storytelling Pathway
  • Intro Research Assignment for Thursday
  • Presentation:
    • Alex Markland
    • Nilay Ernst
    • William Hicks
  • Discussion
  • Work on research assignment

Wed 3/4—Jack the Ripper and Feminist History

Before class:

  • Read Research Assignment for Thursday – bring any questions you may have
  • Read Judith Walkowitz, “Jack the Ripper and the Myth of Male Violence,” Feminist Studies, (1982) – available in Moodle Readings Folder

IN class:

  • Questions About Research Assignment for Thursday?
  • Reading a historical article
  • Presentation:
    • Claire Allison McGuire
    • Catherine Colarusso

Thurs at midnight—Due: Week 8 Assignment – Building a Corpus of Primary Sources

  • An exercise in finding primary sources that might serve as the basis for a future research paper
  • Using our research databases, build a corpus of primary sources on a particular topic. Present these sources in a bibliography with a descriptive title for the project. Provide one or two sentences that explain the topic.
  • By a “corpus” (Latin for “body) of sources, I mean a collection of primary sources on a single topic that might be the starting point for a strong research paper. What does this entail? Well, for the research paper itself, you will need something equivalent to about 25-50 pages, something like a ten short news articles or broadcasts or three long news reports or one or two long magazine articles. For this assignment, I’m happy if you include a smaller number of sources for each set or corpus, such as three newspaper articles or three radio or tv broadcasts or two magazine articles or one pamphlet
  • You do not need to annotate each source. I simply ask for one or two sentences that explain the topic
  • All news sources must have been published or broadcast before 2015. I’d suggest you try include some sources from before 1900 and some non-print sources – just to see what is out there on similar topics
  • If you have multiple topics in mind, feel free to include sources that could serve as the basis of research for more than one topic.
  • Please use more than one database
  • Extra credit for using your foreign language skills
  • List your sources in bibliographical format. Follow the models from Mary Lynn Rampolla. Simplify capitalization. Use stable URL’s or database names to indicate the database you’ve used, rather than pasting in a long and messy (and unstable) URL. You don’t need a long annotation for each source. This is about building your corpus. For example:
    • “Spring to See Greatest Migration in History.” The Chicago Defender. February 21, 1925: 9. In Proquest: Historical Newspaper Collections.
    • “Birth Control Pill.” CBS Evening News. September 4, 1969. 3:00. At Vanderbilt Television News Archive.
  • Double space throughout
  • Note: This assignment prepares the way for your third paper, which will be a primary source analysis, and your final research paper. If you can find a set of sources that you want to write about, you are well along your way! (Oh, and if you decide you don’t like this topic or you want to shift gears, that is ok as well).
  • Due by midnight before class (Thursday night, Friday morning)
  • Upload to Moodle in pdf format.

Fri 3/6—Women’s Activism in Early Twentieth c. Britain

Before class:

  • Read the first edition of The Suffragette, October 18, 1912 – online in our Moodle Readings Folder
    • Read Christabel Pankhurst, “The Policy of the W.P.S.U.”
    • Spend a half hour reading in this paper. You are not responsible for reading the entire edition. But you should be able to answer: Who is it written by? And who is it written for? What kinds of subject matter does it include? What are its politics?

In class:

  • Feminist press in Edwardian England
  • Talk through our research

WEEK 9—The Critical Tradition of Muckraking (3/9)

Mon 3/9—The Critical Tradition – Muckraking in the Progressive Era

Before class:

  • Read Paper #3 Assignment (due after spring break) and Research Paper Assignment (due exam week)
  • Read S.S. McClure, “Concerning Three Articles in this Number of McClure’s,” McClure’s Magazine (January 1903) – at the end of the “Steffens-Minneapolis” pdf – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Work on your research assignment for Thursday night

In class:

  • Introduce Paper #3 and Research Paper

Wed 3/11—The Critical Tradition – Ida B. Wells and Anti-Lynching

Before class:

  • Read Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)  – available in Moodle Readings Folder
    • This reading requires a couple content warnings
      • It includes many references to episodes of rape and sexual assault, and to false accusations of rape
      • It includes deeply offensive racist language quoted from the white press
      • Note that Wells refers to African Americans as “Negros.” The term is anachronistic, and in some contexts, derogatory. We can quote the term in its historical context. When she was writing, and up to the 1970s, the word was a polite term for African Americans embraced by Black writers such as Wells and W.E.B. Dubois.
    • What is Wells’ story? And how does she tell it?
    • Question for discussion: what should be the role of the press in changing – not merely reporting – the world?

In class:

  • Questions about paper assignments?
  • The Black Press in US History
  • Ida B. Wells

For More:

Thurs at midnight—Due: Week 9 Research Assignment—Initial Bibliography for your Research Paper

  • The assignment for this week is to present an initial bibliography for your research paper. It should include:
    • a working title that defines the topic
    • a sentence or two to explain the question you are going to explore
    • a set of initial primary sources on your topic (a set of news sources that will be the basis for your primary source research)
    • a set of relevant and important secondary sources – the historiography on your topic. This might include:
      • historical monographs
      • book chapters
      • historical surveys
      • peer-reviewed journal articles
      • theoretical works
    • All sources should be in correct bibliographical format per Mary Lynn Rampolla (or close)
    • No annotations are necessary
  • For this assignment, I’d expect you to have:
    • for primary sources: at least three long sources (say, magazine articles) or six short sources (news reports)
    • three secondary sources (book chapters or articles by historians on your topic). You can also include encyclopedia articles from our reference databases for background. You will need more than this for your research paper!
  • Upload by Thursday night midnight to Moodle.

Fri 3/13—Muckraking: Still Relevant?

Before class:

In class:

  • Thinking Like a Historian – and Researching
  • Muckraking today
  • Questions about Paper #3 and Research Papers

*** SPRING BREAK!! *** 3/14 to 3/29 ***

WEEK 10—Research and Writing (3/30)

We will meet in small groups this week in our regular classroom. See the date that you are scheduled for and show up to class on that day. On the two other class days you should work on your own. For each day of class you should read in primary sources, add to your bibliography, and write some piece of your paper.

Mon 3/30—Small group meeting

For ALl – Your Monday Assignment

  • Read “Research Paper Assignment” – on our handouts page
  • Read “Paper #3 Assignment” – on our handouts page
  • Read “How to Talk Like a Historian” – on our handouts page
  • Revise your initial bibliography. Be sure you can answer yes to the following question:
    • Do you have a strong corpus of primary sources?
    • Do you have secondary sources that shed light on your topic?
  • Start writing your Paper #3. Answer the following questions and then start outlining and writing:
    • What historical question are you asking?
    • What is your argument? (That is, what do you have to say about these primary sources? What is your answer to this historical question?)
    • Why does it matter?

Before we meet

  • Bring to meeting:
    • Your updated initial bibliography
    • Outline and/or draft of Paper #3

Small group to come to class

  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

Wed 4/1—Small group meeting

Before we meet

  • Read in primary sources, add to your bibliography, and write some piece of your paper
  • Bring to meeting:
    • Your updated initial bibliography
    • Outline and/or draft of Paper #3

Small group to come to class

  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

Fri 4/3—Small group meeting

Before we meet

  • Read in primary sources, add to your bibliography, and write some piece of your paper
  • Bring to meeting:
    • Your updated initial bibliography
    • Outline and/or draft of Paper #3

Small group to come to class

  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

Sat 4/4—Paper #3 Due

WEEK 11—Broadcast News (4/6)

Mon 4/6—Radio News, True and False

Before Class

  • Kovarik, Part III, “The Electronic Revolution,” pp. 249-253
  • Kovarik, Ch. 8, “The New World of Radio,” pp. 275-307
    • See esp. sections 5 (1920s), 6 (Licensing), 7 (Golden Age), 8 (Radio and the News), 9 (Hate Speech), 10 (WW II), 13 (Talk Radio)
    • This is a long chapter. You don’t need to read it closely. Don’t get bogged down in the detail of the technology or the many examples. Understand the main idea and a half dozen key examples. Note: the case of the Orson Welles broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” (1938) is overblown. Folks who have looked at it closely have seen no evidence of mass panic, certainly not of hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes.
  • Listen to at least one of the following radio clips. Bring your notes and be prepared to explain to class.

IN Class

  • Introduction to Era of Broadcast News
  • History of Radio
  • Mass Culture

Wed 4/8—Television News

Before Class

  • Kovarik, Ch. 9, “Television: A New Window on the World,” pp. 309-341
    • See esp. sections 3 (FCC), 4 (Murrow & McCarthy), 6 (TV Culture), 7 (Presidency), 8 (Vietnam), 9 (Civil Rights)
    • A lot of detail here. You don’t need to read closely. Spend an hour with this to understand the main shape of the historical trajectory Kovarik paints and to fathom some essential turning points, but don’t sweat the details.
  • Watch excerpts from any of the following television clips. Bring your notes and be prepared to explain to class:
  • Additional references

Fri 4/10—What Was Wrong With Mass Culture?

Before Class

  • Read Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (2005, orig. 1985), “In 1985” and “Foreword” pp. xix-xx – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Read the cartoon version of Postman’s intro by Stuart McMillen (2009) – available in Moodle Readings Folder
  • Also… develop your historiography – find three secondary sources that you can use in your Research Paper and write a brief description of these works
    • More than encyclopedia articles
    • These might include:
      • Journal articles/chapters/introductions by historians on your precise topic (eg, Walter Cronkite’s reporting of the Tet Offensive of 1968)
      • Journal articles/chapters/introductions by historians on the context that your are exploring (eg, television in the late ’60s)
      • Excerpts from important works in media history that could help frame your discussion (Hall, Habermas, Schudson, etc.)
    • Bring citations and brief annotations to class – ready to discuss
  • Optional: If you want to read more I also give you Postman, Chap. 11, “The Huxleyan Warning” – available in Moodle Readings Folder

PART 4—FINAL PAPERS AND MORE

WEEK 12—Research Papers & Social Media (4/13)

Mon 4/13—Research Papers

Before Class

  • Read, research, take notes on your paper topic
  • Update your bibliography in an annotated bibliography
  • Prepare a first draft of “Project Notes” for your final paper
    • See the example – on our Handouts page
    • Project Notes provide a short (2 pp.) overview of your paper. They include (in overview, perhaps with bullet points):
      • Working title
      • Statement of Topic and Historical Question (and eventually, Argument). What precisely are you investigating? What is your research question? What do you hope to show?
      • Historiography. Brief description of the historiography that you will use to frame your paper. What is the gap you will fill?
      • Context. What do we need to know about your subject?
      • Primary Sources and Methods. Describe your corpus. What defines the sources you are looking at? How will you analyze your corpus?
      • Significance. Why does this research matter? What can it tell us? (Material you can use in the conclusion)
      • Outline of paper. Briefly, how will you organize your paper?
  • Put your Project Notes and Annotated Bibliography in one pdf and submit on Moodle before class – I’m extending this to Wed morning
  • Come to class ready to talk about your research paper
  • Bring your computer to class

In Class

  • Discuss Research and Writing
  • Check in on your topics
  • Workshop research papers

Wed 4/15—Social Media and News Media in the U.S. Today

Before Class

  • 2 options to think about social media
  • Continue working on your research paper
    • Read more on your topic – esp. on relevant secondary sources – take notes
    • Revise your project notes – the overview of your project
    • Start to outline and draft your paper

In Class

  • Discuss social media and news
  • Research papers

Fri 4/17—Research Paper Workshop

Before class

  • Review the Research Paper Assignment
  • Review the Sample Research Paper
  • Review the Model Outline of Research Paper
  • Work on the initial draft of your paper
    • Write! Build out your paper from your Project Notes and brief Outline – write something outside of what you’ve already done for Paper #3
    • Write – and submit to Moodle assignment before class – just turn in something you’ve started writing
    • Your draft should include a rough introduction – perhaps in 2 or 3 ¶s? – culminating in a clear statement of your thesis. Draw in your reader, announce your topic, lay out the question your paper will examine, tell us how you’ll answer that question, and present a statement of your thesis.
    • If you want to go beyond this, you might start to write context or historiography
    • Please feel free to write a sh%#y first draft
    • Bring your draft to class (either in hard copy or on your computer)
    • Bring your computer to class

In class

  • Discuss news today
  • Talk writing strategies
  • Workshop research papers and introductions

WEEK 13—Conclusions (4/20)

Mon 4/20—Freedom of the Press Across the World

Before Class

  • Read “RSF 2024 Roundup” Reporters Without Borders – online at RSF
  • Read “2024 World Press Freedom” – online at RSF
    • And then explore some different regions and countries that interest you
    • Look at trends over time
  • Come to class with a few notes and your observations

In Class

  • Press freedom
  • Looking at news media in the US and beyond

Wed 4/22—A Look Back on Where We’ve Been!

Before Class

  • Watch “History of How News Media has Changed with Matt Taibbi” (at Penn State 2024) – online at Youtube
  • Optional:
    • “Media and Democracy: Our American History” from The Report of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy (2019) – online here

In Class

  • Conclusions / Reflections

Fri 4/24—Presentation Preparation

Before Class

  • Continue working on your papers! See all of the previous comments, handouts, discussions. A research paper requires time and effort. Keep putting in the time. Hone your historiography. Take your ideas/outline/draft/whatever you are working on to the Writing Center. Read your paper aloud…
  • Prepare materials for your poster presentation per Guidelines for Poster Session on the Handouts Page. You may also want to look at the Poster Session Examples. Bring your pages in physical copy
  • This is not the day of your presentation (that will come next week) but a day to prepare for your presentation. You will have a chance to revise slides, but you should come to class with the materials for your poster.

In Class

  • Talk about your take aways for the course
  • Discuss principles of presentations
  • Prepare posters

WEEK 14—Presentations (4/27)

Mon 4/27—Presentations

Presenters

GROUP A

  1. TBD
  2. TBD
  3. TBD

GROUP B

  1. TBD
  2. TBD
  3. TBD

Wed 4/30—Presentations

Presenters

GROUP C

  1. TBD
  2. TBD
  3. TBD

GROUP D

  1. TBD
  2. TBD
  3. TBD

Fri 5/2—I.S. Symposium

No classes

  • No classes. But I require you to attend the I.S. Symposium. Listen to a talk – or visit a poster session – for at least two history seniors. Ask them a question. Here are some easy one?
    • What was their historical question?
    • Where did they get the idea for this research
    • What does the historiography look like?
    • What primary sources did they use?
    • What did they find?
    • What was most surprising in their research?
    • Are there any implications from their research?
    • Be ready to talk about what you’ve seen on Monday.

Saturday 5/3—Paper Due

WEEK 15—Last Day (5/5)

Mon 5/5—Last Day of Class

Before Class

  • Read through the syllabus to see where we’ve been
  • Bring a brief comment on IS Symposium
  • Bring final questions about research paper
  • Bring laptops for course evals

In Class

  • Course evals at start of class
  • Research paper questions
  • Take stock of where we’ve been – and what AI has to say about the history of the news
  • Celebrate the end of classes!

EXAM WEEK

Fri 5/8—Final Exam

  • Final exam in my office Kauke 111