Assignments

As stated in the Course Philosophy, I will not be using a traditional grading scheme to evaluate your work. Instead I have outlined a set of baseline expectations that you need to meet and formal assignments that you need to complete to succeed in this class. I will notify you during the semester if I feel you are not meeting one or more of these expectations or need to put more effort into your formal assignments.

Baseline Expectations

  • Attend each class on time and prepared to discuss that day’s topics and readings. There are 29 classes in the semester and I don’t expect or require perfect attendance. You do, however, need to be contributing to the classroom community, which is not going to be possible if you miss too many classes. If you need to miss class, please notify Professor Blevins (you don’t need to give me a reason) to review the material you missed to get caught up prior to the next class.
  • Actively participate in class activities and discussions. For discussions, this means making observations and asking questions that help the class think together. For hands-on workshops, this means making a good-faith effort to complete the activity and helping your peers to do so as well if they are struggling.
  • Behave professionally and respectfully with each other. You can disagree and push each other to consider other perspectives, but bullying, intimidation, or discrimination will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
  • Complete all assignments described below by the required due date and time of submission.
  • Take feedback from Professor Blevins and your classmates into account and make an effort to apply it to your assignments. I might ask you to revise and resubmit an assignment if I feel it is necessary.

Formal Assignments

Perusall Annotations

We will be using an online annotation tool called Perusall to collaboratively annotate course readings, or write comments that are anchored to specific parts of the text. You might use your annotations to respond to questions and prompts, connect ideas in the text to prior readings, classroom discussions, or current events, flag big ideas and explain why they are important, or pose questions for your classmates. Rather than reading in isolation, this style of annotation will help you read communally and give you a chance to begin the discussion of that day’s topics online before the start of class. Unless otherwise noted in the Perusall assignment page, you should complete a minimum of four annotations per reading by 11:00AM the morning of class in order to give Professor Blevins enough time to review your comments before the start of class. Note that Perusall will assign you a score for each of the readings which you can find in the Gradebook. I will be consulting these scores in a general sense, but following the Course Philosophy I will not be assigning you a numerical grade for every reading. We will discuss the larger issues around algorithmic grading in class.

Readings that need to be annotated are marked by [Perusall] on the Schedule page.

Coding Homework

You will be completing a series of coding homework assignments in order to help you learn how to work with data, primarily using the Python programming language. Each exercise will have you apply the skills you learned in the preceding classes. See the assignment page for more detailed instructions.

Project Review

You will be reviewing a data-driven historical project during the semester. This review will include a written submission and a verbal presentation to your classmates. The project can be an academic paper, long-form journalism, or any other substantive work that focuses on some historical topic and uses data in its analysis or presentation. You will then write a 600-800 word review of this project that explains the project’s argument, underlying dataset(s), methodology, and how effective it is (what works, what could be further developed, what is missing). Do not just describe a project; draw on other readings or concepts we’ve discussed to contextualize your review and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. In addition to the written review submitted on Canvas, you will sign up for a class period to verbally present the project to your classmates in 5-7 minutes, offering an overview of the work and your evaluation of it.

The goal of this assignment is two-fold. First, it will help you develop data literacy, or the ability to critically evaluate data “in action” using real-world examples. Second, in trying to find your project and listening to presentations from your peers you will get exposed to a wider body of data-driven research. Please email me with the project you are thinking of doing before you start your review.

HIST 5261 only: if you are enrolled in HIST 5261, you are expected to complete TWO project reviews during the semester.

Due over the course of the semester - you will sign up for a day(s).

Data Biography

You will write a “data biography” about a historical dataset that I have selected for you. You will need to put on your detective hats and try to familiarize yourself with the data and its history.

Due Friday, 10/8 by 11:59PM

HIST 5261 Only: Build Your Own Coding Homework

One of the best ways to learn a technical skill is to think about how you would teach it to others. Rather than have you complete a homework, for this assignment you are going to design one from scratch. Using the coding exercises I have assigned and your own experience completing them, you will build your own coding homework from scratch. You should select some set of Python concepts and techniques and then design a homework assignment that would help a student practice those skills. After you have completed the questions, make a Jupyter Notebook that includes the answers to each question (modeled as if it were a completed homework submission) and upload the file to Canvas.

Due Friday, 10/29 by 11:59PM

Research Project

The major assignment for this course is a research project in which you find or create a dataset that allows you to investigate a historical topic. You will then use Python to process and analyze the data in order to present an argument, interpretation, or narrative based on that analysis. You are free to choose any topic or dataset that you want, but it must be generally historical in nature. The assignment is scaffolded across several stages. See full assignment description for more details on each of these steps.

  • Research Project Proposal (11/9)
  • Research Project Data Biography (11/19)
  • Research Project: Draft (12/5)
  • Research Project Presentation (12/6)
  • HIST 5261: Feedback on classmates’ projects (12/7)
  • Research Project: Final (12/14)

Self Assessments

You will be writing three self assessments in this class spread over the course of the semester. The first two self assessments are short, 2-3 paragraphs submitted on Canvas that should convey to me the areas of the class in which you’ve been doing well (with concrete examples), the areas of the class in which you could be doing better, and what steps you plan to take to address your weaknesses or achieve your learning goals for the remainder of the semester. The final self assessment is a longer, 2-3 page reflection on the semester as a whole that expands on what you accomplished (with concrete examples), any areas in which you struggled or wish you had done better, how you want to apply what you’ve learned in this class to your studies or career moving forward, and the overall grade that you feel you deserve for the class.