Participation = 15%

History 318 requires your participation at all times. This course emphasizes your reading, which serves as the basis both of your understanding of early modern European history and of the discussions that will deepen our historical knowledge. These discussions will take place in class both in the Tuesday "lecture" block and in the Thursday tutorials. In class you can expect to work in small groups for short periods in order to contribute to a larger class discussion.

You cannot participate unless you attend class. Therefore attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class, so do not arrive late.

Three important tips for your reading:

Read to understand. Reading a new book, whether it is a novel or a history book, often ushers us into a new and strange world of thought that we need to understand through its own concepts and vocabulary. In short, reading a new book is a learning experience. As you read, make sure that you know what the author is saying. Keep a good dictionary close by so that you can look up words unfamiliar to you. If you do not know what these and other words mean, it is your business to find out. Do not hesitate to use resources available to you in the reference section of the library, such as encyclopedias and atlases. Looking at a map of France and of Europe will be a useful and a necessary exercise.

Read with attention. Often when we read, it is easy to become distracted or to let our eyes pass over the pages without fully realizing what is going on in the text. That is why it is important to pay attention to what we read. We need to be engaged by what we read. As you read, be aware of the essential concepts that an author uses. Consider the explicit or implicit arguments in your readings as well as the way in which an author shapes a narrative and martials facts to substantiate an argument. Remember: to read history means to read interpretations. Always be on the lookout for interpretation.

Read to evaluate. The first two tips correspond to these questions: Do we understand the words that we read? Do we understand what the author is up to in his or her text? The final and most important stage in reading history involves questions like these: What is our reaction to a text? How do we judge it? What is the basis for our judgment? These questions all speak to the evaluative process of our reading. The act of reading does not achieve its full potential and value unless we think about what we read. After determining an author's argument and interpretive method, we need to consider if the argument is convincing and the method is sound.

If you follow the above three tips, you will, I hope, find the reading assignments valuable, interesting, and enjoyable.