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Liberal Arts 102
The Family, Sex, and Marriage in U.S. History
Dr. Susan Ditto
The goal of this course is
to provide students with a solid foundation of research and
writing skills and an overall approach to academic work that they can
carry
with them throughout their college years and beyond.
In addition to improving
their grammar, word
choice, and sentence structure, students will learn how to better the
overall
quality of their essays by focusing on thesis statements and effective
organization. They will learn the merits
of approaching each assignment in stages, from outlining to revising,
rather
than making one stab at it the night before the due date.
They will also learn how to choose the best
sources for a particular project, how to critique a book, how to
properly use
the internet for research, and how to compose a quick but effective
in-class
essay. Throughout the course, we will
also pay special attention to plagiarism and ways to avoid it.
Don't forget to submit your final paper through mydropbox.com.
- Be sure to submit it only once.
- It isn't necessary to submit works cited, title page, and other parts of the paper if they're contained in separate files. Just the body of the paper will do.
- Instructions on how to submit papers through MyDropBox.com are provided on the Assignments page of this site.
Reading and
writing assignments in this course will draw from a wide range of
materials including primary
sources such as personal documents, census data, and judicial
proceedings,
popular culture references like poetry and film, and material culture
such as
architecture and costume--in addition to scholarly secondary works.
Students will use
resources in the J. D.
Williams Library, the