e-mail: dougc@cameron.edu
 A Rendering of Saladin |
 Richard I of England |
Through our consideration of the course material I intend that each of you will gain a greater understanding of relationships across the fault lines of religion, politics, and culture within and between the Middle East and Europe c. 1100-1500. I also want you to see this course as a vehicle for learning more about the world in which we currently live for the past is always more present than we think. As I place a particular emphasis both on written and oral expression, it is also my hope that you will each improve your abilities in these areas as well.
Click
on the link in this sentence to access a more detailed
description of the course's aims.
Course Texts:
Main Texts:The Crusades: A Reader, edited by S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010)
Robert of Clari, The Conquest of Constantinople, translated by Edgar Holmes McNeal (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005)
Thomas F. Madden, The New Concise History of the Crusades, updated student edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople (New York: Penguin Books, 2004)
Other Materials: When I deem it helpful, I will supplement these readings with primary or secondary source readings, usually taken from online resources or my own collections of source materials.
All of the above readings will be required for the course.
They
are
all, apart from the supplementary materials, available at the CU
Bookstore, although I do not require
that you buy them there.
Requirements: Course work consists of three elements: participation, which consists of several elements; a source essay; three reading quizzes; and an essay-based final examination.
Participation (150 points):a. Structured Debates (80): This is an upper division course run partly as a seminar. As such one of the things we do is devote serious class time to extended discussion of the big ideas in the course. We will do that through four structured debates in which there will be a question or topic assigned and the class will be divided into teams. Participation in the debates is therefore mandatory and your grade will suffer if you do not participate.
b. Source Anaylsis Pieces (80 points possible): To focus our dicussions and your reading and prepare you for the longer source essay I will assign four short source analysis pieces, each of which will be worth 20 points and be 2 typed, doubled-spaced pages in length, written in Times Roman, 12-pt. font and must be properly footnoted (see me before starting an assignment if any of these standards are unclear). The emphasis will vary from paper to paper, but since the focal point of this course is basic source analysis, it will be determined by the sources I pick. In addition, I will not want just a summary, but an actual discussion of what's going on in the assigned source. The purpose of these assignments is to give you practice with analyzing different kinds of sources before you have to write a serious essay for me.
c. Credit for Participation: A perfect score in participation is 150 points. Thus you need a minimum of 135 for an A, at leasts 120 for a B, at least 105 for a C, and 90 points for a D. Anything less than that is an F.
Source Essay (350 points): You
will
have to write a focused source essay on a group or individual's
experience's in the Crusades. Most of you will use the major
Crusades chronicle that we will read this term: Robert of Clari's The Conquest of Constantinople.
You may, naturally, choose to use another chronicle for your paper, but
it must come from the list of sources on page 323 of Jonathan
Phillips's The Fourth Crusade
or, alternatively, from the list of approved sources at the back of
Thomas F. Madden, The New Concise
History of the Crusades, pp. 243-246. I will make every
effort to ensure that a selection of sources from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th Crusades is available either on reserve at the CU Library or
via the course's Blackboard module, but if there is a source that I cam
not able to obtain that is on the lists of sources just mentioned you
may order it via Interlibrary Loan, but please note that this will take
time so plan ahead! The focus of your
paper will be a reconstruction of the everyday crusading experiences of
a group or individual; I will be less interested in having you
reconstruct the "big picture" of the Crusades through this person's
story than I will be in seeing the Crusades through their eyes as it
were. The total value of the paper is 350 points
of which 150 will be earned as part of a drafting process and the
remainder will be earned on the final draft. The
paper
must be 10-12 typed, double-spaced pages in
length. Papers are to be typed in Times Roman font with a 12-pt.
pitch and must be appropriately footnoted (please see me before writing
a paper if you have questions about these standards). There will
also
be a mandatory drafting process involving a paper proposal (15 points),
three posts to the class Blackboard blog on Robert of Clari's The Conquest of Constantinople in
standard, well-crafted English prose (20 points for each post for a
total of 60 points), and a draft of 8 to10
pages (75 points) that will undergo a mandatory peer critique and a
critique from
me. Failure to turn the
proposal, make the posts, or turn the draft in on time will
result in an automatic loss of the points available for that piece of
work,
and writing drafts that are short of the minimum length will result in
up to a 10-point deduction for each page you fall short of the
minimum.
In addition, failure to participate in the in-class peer
review will
result in a 10% deduction from the final paper score. Due
dates for the various drafts for the paper are listed below. General
guidelines, including my expectations for a paper, are to be found
by clicking on the hypertext in this sentence. Specific guidelines for
the papers will be provided in this syllabus in a timely manner.
To find them look for the due dates below in the course assignment and
reading schedule where you will find the paper title in hypertext; by
clicking this hypertext you will arrive at the specific instructions
for the paper.
Reading Quizzes (100
points
possible): There will be three.
multiple-choice reading
quizzes each worth 50 points and based on the primary textbook for the
course: The New Concise History of
the Crusades.
These quizzes will be taken online in the Academic IT Computer Lab (104
Burch Hall-581-2829)
or
in the Tutoring and Testing Center of CU Duncan (CU Duncan Main
Building-877.282.3626) and
there will be a
week-long window during which you will be able to take each quiz.
Please note also that you will need to call and reserve a place in
advance to test on the CU-Duncan campus.
Final Examination (150 points):
There
will
be a comprehensive, essay-based final examination.
Grading Breakdown:
| Course Component | Component Point Value |
| Participation | 150 |
| Reaction Papers | 350 |
| Reading
Quizzes |
100 |
| Final Examination | 150 |
| Total of All Categories | 750 |
General Policies:
Classroom Environment:
Talking to
your classmates or others outside the context of classroom activities
is rude and will not be tolerated. Reading outside materials,
listening
to music, taking telephone calls on your cell-phone, and similar
non-class
related activities are equally unacceptable. I expect all
students
to be respectful of one another's right to speak and express opinions.
Disagreements and different viewpoints are welcome, but debates
should not involve insults. Finally, food and drink are permitted
in class as long as courtesy is observed; e.g. if you haven't quite
finished your cup of coffee, do
bring it along to class, but turning the classroom into a cafeteria is
not permissible.
Preparation: All assignments, whether involving reading or writing, for a given day are to be completed before the class meets on that day. I also recommend that you take notes as you read and during lectures and dicussions as this will make studying for the reading quiz and final examination and writing the papers for the class less of a challenge.
Late Papers: The following policy applies to all late final drafts of papers or formal writings for this course that will receive a letter grade. All papers submitted to me at any time on the day that the paper is due will be considered on time. Papers submitted after that date, no matter what the reason may be, will be automatically marked down one grade. You will then have seven days from the original due date to turn in the paper. If in that time you are unable to complete the work, the paper will receive a zero. Please note that a different policy applies to rough drafts for formal papers and it is outlined above.
Late Working Papers: No
late working papers will be accepted as the lowest of the four scores
will be dropped.
Missed Quizzes and Examinations: There will be no make-ups for the quizzes as the lowest score that you earn will be dropped. Make-ups for the final examination are granted to the student at the instructor's discretion and only with a legitimate (e.g. a medical emergency) and documented reason.
Academic Dishonesty: As
per Section 4.07 of the CU Student Handbook: "Each student is expected
to
engage in all academic pursuits in a manner that is above reproach.
Students
are expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in the academic
experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any student found guilty
of academic dishonesty will be subject to disciplinary
action."
For examples of academic dishonesty please see the full version of
Section
4.07 at: http://www.cameron.edu/student_development/student_conduct/
Among the most
serious offenses a
student can commit is plagiarism, which is the representation of the
work of another as your own. In all of the writing you do for this
course you must make clear to me which ideas in a paper are your own
and which come from someone else. This is especially important for any
formal essays you write. In
such essays you must cite all primary and secondary sources you use in
accordance with the proper conventions. Instructions on the
basics
of citation may be found under the general guidelines for papers.
before any formal essays come due. If for some reason you do not
choose to examine this page, know that you will not be exempt from
following
its guidelines. In cases of plagiarism, the Department of History
and Government at CU follows the plagiarism policy in the current
"Student
Handbook," as described in Sections 4.07 and 4.08 of the CU Code of
Student
Conduct. Penalties for plagiarism as defined by the Student Code
of
Conduct include:
1) The student may be required to perform additional academic work/project not required of other students in the course;
2) The student may be required to withdraw from the course with a grade of "W" or "F"; or
3) The student's grade in the course or on the examination or other academic work affected by the dishonesty may be reduced to any extent, including a reduction to failure.
Please heed this
warning as I am
quite serious about it.
Disability
Statement: As per
the Office of Student Development, "It
is the policy of
Website for this office:
