RAMONAT SEMINAR 2018-19:
CATHOLICS AND CATHOLICISM IN AMERICAN POLITICS

Mondays and Wednesdays
5pm – 615pm in Crown Center 528

Professor: Elizabeth Tandy Shermer
Email: eshermer@luc.edu
Office: 473 Crown Center
Office Hours: Wednesday 3-4:30pm (or by appointment)

Teaching Assistant: Ruby Oram
Email: roram@luc.edu
Office: 552 Crown Center
Office Hours: Monday 12-2:30pm (or by appointment)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Building on the work of the Fall seminar, we devote the Spring semester to individual research papers.  The instructor will guide the students through the process of finding a topic, developing a research question, and finding sources in the first month of the course.  Students go to archives and libraries in the middle of the semester for independent research while meeting with the professor and blogging about the process and their reflections.  They will conduct research on an ongoing basis.  They will learn story-specific research skills, including: mining primary sources in archives, finding secondary sources in circulating libraries, and developing historiographic reviews of relevant literature.  In addition to group discussions of each other’s work, the students will meet with the instructor for one-on-one advising on their projects.  Students are also encouraged to work with an additional specialist in this history department or, if appropriate, another discipline. Students will spend the last third of the semester writing and sharing their work.

For 2018-19, the Ramonat Seminar is cross-listed with the following departments and programs: Political Science, Theology, Religious Studies, Urban Studies, Sociolegal Studies, and Catholic Studies.

READINGS

There are no textbooks to buy for this course. Your readings will instead be available electronically through Sakai.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students must produce a substantial research paper by the end of the Spring semester and will need to complete all of the writing assignments and blog posts associated with that outcome.

ATTENDANCE

We won’t meet nearly as frequently as a class during the Spring semester. Students will need to attend all scheduled class sessions (including the “Behind the Tweets” event) and individual meetings.

Please be in touch and provide documentation if you are a student with a disability who may have difficulty meeting the course requirements.

GRADE BREAKDOWN

40% – Blogs (5pts each, must do all 8 blogs)
40% – Research Paper
10% – Class Participation
10% – Oral Presentation

I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the Spring semester, students will be able to: a.) research primary sources in historical archives and find secondary sources in circulating libraries from which they develop a historical argument b.) write an original piece of historical research and c.) speak with confidence in a public forum about their own research and pose questions about their peers’ projects.

SCHEDULE

Week 1: Welcome Back & Let’s Get (Re)Started

14 January: No Formal Class Meeting. First Blog Post Due by 11:59pm: Explain your research topic.

16 January: Introduction to Zotero and share preliminary research topics.
**Sign-up for individual meetings to discuss fall film paper.

For next week: Start thinking about your research questions for the 2nd blog post.

Week 2: Asking Questions & Giving Feedback

21 January: NO CLASS – Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

22 January: Second Blog Post, Due Tuesday by 11:59pm: Introduce readers to your topic, the five questions that you would like to ask of it, and where you are looking to find sources for your topic.

23 January: Funding & Starting Research
Dr. Kyle Roberts joins us to explain how to tap Ramonat funds
Share & discuss research questions

For next week: Gather a preliminary bibliography of at least 15 items that seem relevant to your research:
– Some must be articles (try “Article Quick-Search” on the library web page) and some must be primary sources.
– Start reading some of the articles, books, etc. available in Cudahy Library.
– You can recall books on loan to someone else. (On the left-hand side of the library website homepage click “Request Forms”; then click “Recall/Hold.”)
– Immediately order articles, books, etc that Cudahy Library does not have through Inter-library Loan.
– Explore the possibilities in Chicago for archival work.

Week 3: Bibliography Week

28 January: No Formal Class Meeting – Due in Professor Shermer’s mailbox by 4pm: Bibliographies, which should be divided into 2 parts: primary sources and secondary sources. Bibliographies should be annotated to briefly explain what that source is, its potential relevance to your project, the status of obtaining this source, and status of reading/taking notes on it.

30 January: Discuss how topics have been defined, research questions honed, and bibliographies built. Be prepared to discuss your topic with the class explaining how you moved from your interest in the broad subject to the specific topic.

3 February: Third Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm:
Post the following to your blogs:
1) A page of notes that you have taken (a pdf or jpg is fine)
2) A short primary source sample (a pdf or jpg is fine)
3) A report if you met with a department specialist to discuss your topic.
4) An outline of the scholarly article posted on Sakai that labels the sections expected in a scholarly article.
5) A reflection on how this scholarly article’s structure differed from long papers that you have written for past classes and an explanation of what this article showed you needed to be in this Spring semester’s research paper and how it should be structured.

Week 4: Working with Primary Sources

4 February: Be prepared to discuss the structure of scholarly articles, note-taking techniques, & reading/using primary sources.  Don’t be miffed if we don’t get to your primary source.

6 February: No Formal Class Meeting.
Students are encouraged to come to the History Department’s Undergraduate Career Night, 4-6:30pm, in Crown Center Lobby.

Week 5: Individual Meetings to Discuss Progress

11 February: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

13 February: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

Week 6: Library Week

18 February: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on your project!

20 February: No Formal Class Meeting. Work on your introduction & detailed outline due on February 25th.

Week 7: The Art of the Introduction & Detailed Outlines

25 February: No Formal Class Meeting. Due in Professor Shermer’s mailbox by 4pm: Introduction & Detailed Outline. Bring several copies to 27 February class.

27 February: Meet to discuss & share introductions and outlines.

Week 8: SPRING BREAK!

Week 9: The First Chunk

11 March: No Formal Class Meeting. Due in Professor Shermer’s mailbox by 4pm: A chunk of your first draft. This section should be copy and pasted into your introduction and outline. Please be sure to edit your introduction and outline to show how your project is evolving as you research and write.

13 March: Class meets at 6pm in IES 123 for presentation of Dale Winling’s Chicago Election Project. Afterwards Ramonat Scholars are invited to dinner at 7:30pm with the speaker.

17 March: Fourth Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm: Reflect on the process of starting to write your paper. What was satisfying about the experience? What was frustrating? How do you see your ideas evolving? What did you see in Dale Winling’s talk that gave you ideas about how digital sources and projects could be used with your research project?

Week 10: Interim Feedback

18 March: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

20 March: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

Week 11: First Draft Due & Peer Review

25 March: Due in class: First draft. We will briefly meet to go over the peer review exercise.

27 March: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on your project.

31 March: Fifth Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm: Write about the process of creating the first draft of your paper. What was satisfying about the experience? What was frustrating? Where do you think you need to do more work?

Week 12: The Editing Process

1 April: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on your project.

3 April: Class meets to discuss editing tips & tricks and to sign up for individual meetings with Shermer/Oram. 

Week 13: Individual Meetings

8 April: Peer review due by 4pm in Shermer’s mailbox. No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

*Any student who wants Oram or Shermer to look over new or edited drafts or sections should email those materials at least 24 hours before their scheduled meeting.

10 April: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project/attend individual meeting with Shermer/Oram!

*Any student who wants Oram or Shermer to look over new or edited drafts or sections should email those materials at least 24 hours before their scheduled meeting.

14 April: Sixth Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm: Write about your experience of receiving feedback on your first draft from both the instructors and your peers. Explain your plan and process for revising.

APRIL 11-14: WEEKEND OF EXCELLENCE

Week 14: Revising

15 April: No Formal Class Meeting – Work on project!

17 April: Class meets at 5pm to go over guidelines/suggestions for paper presentations and audience participation. The rest of the time will be devoted to individual meetings with students wanting more guidance from Shermer & Oram.

18 April: Seventh Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm: How is the revising process going? What have you been doing to incorporate the feedback from the instructors and your peers? What was satisfying about the experience? What was frustrating? Where do you think you need to do more work?

Week 15: Oral Presentations

DUE April 22nd, 4pm: All student papers and powerpoint presentations for the Ramonat symposium should be submitted in the Google Drive folder (link under Announcements on Sakai). Any papers or powerpoints not turned in by 4pm will be excluded from the judging. (These papers are not the final papers, there will be more time for revisions)

22 April: First Group of Presentations. Due in class: Engaged Learning Assessment

24 April: Second Group of Presentations. Due in class: Engaged Learning Assessment

28 April: Eighth Blog Post, Due by 11:59pm: What was your experience giving your oral presentation? Reflect on your experience with the class as a whole.

27 April: Ramonat Symposium

Members of the History Dept., administrators in the College of Arts and Sciences, and other faculty will be invited. Please invite your family and friends. There will be refreshments.

May 2nd, 4pm: Final papers due in Shermer’s mailbox. Provide 2 copies (one for Oram, the other Shermer)