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History 1A03

 
History 1A03
Europe: From the Renaissance to the French Revolution
Published by kokosas
06-13-2008
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History 1A03

History nerds, this class is for you.
It gives a great over view of the major changes and happenings in Europe from the Renaissance to the Englightenment of the French Revolution. Dr. Armstrong teaches well, there can be no saying that she doesn't know her stuff. She's clear, to the point, and even funny sometimes. Topics touched upon in my year were: Gallelio, the Spanish Inquisition, the Protestant and Catholic revolutions of England, the Witch Craze and the Black Plague just to name a few.

To do well in this class you have to do your readings and pay attention in class. The final will include quite a bit of detail and you are expected to know dates within a give or take 2 years kind of range.

This class is part one of two, the other being History 1AA3.

To see the syllabus for this class click here.


Class Breakdown:
Tutorial participation 15%
2 Short papers (3 pages each) 30% (2 x 15%)
Research paper(6-7pages) 25%
Final Examination 30%
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Old 07-13-2009 at 08:57 PM   #2
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Hey Kokosas,

I'm a Science student and have not taken any course that deals with intensive essay components but I found this course interesting but I am just worried about how heavy the course load is. Do you think I will get at least a 9 in this course considering that I have other Science courses?

Also, I am hoping to improve my essay-writing and argumentative skills. Will this course help?

Thanks and hope you will reply.
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Old 07-14-2009 at 12:13 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mumbojumbo View Post
Hey Kokosas,

I'm a Science student and have not taken any course that deals with intensive essay components but I found this course interesting but I am just worried about how heavy the course load is. Do you think I will get at least a 9 in this course considering that I have other Science courses?

Also, I am hoping to improve my essay-writing and argumentative skills. Will this course help?

Thanks and hope you will reply.
The CSD has workshops that can help you learn about essay writing. I tried to access the information, but I guess it's not up yet. But you can check: csd.mcmaster.ca
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Old 07-14-2009 at 10:28 AM   #4
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Hey I took this course in my first year. In terms of course load, its not that bad, you just gotta read and do a little research for your papers. As for essays itself, they are not bad at all, it really helped me develop my skills. The TA's for the class are great and they will help you out. Plus they tend to go easy on you since it is a first year course. Id recommend it for science students. You can easily pull off a 9.
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Old 07-14-2009 at 10:35 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mumbojumbo View Post
Hey Kokosas,

I'm a Science student and have not taken any course that deals with intensive essay components but I found this course interesting but I am just worried about how heavy the course load is. Do you think I will get at least a 9 in this course considering that I have other Science courses?

Also, I am hoping to improve my essay-writing and argumentative skills. Will this course help?

Thanks and hope you will reply.
I agree with Phoenix, actually we took this course together and I think we were in the same tutorial. Even if you find yourself struggling with your essay there are services on campus to help you fix them and to teach you better writing skills. There are also several books available to give you tips; the little brown handbook for writers and Fit To Print (was actually written by a McMaster Staff member) are two that I own and use frequently.

And if you happen to have Dr. Azoulay, he gives out a pamphlet about writing essays in history so you'll be set
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Old 07-15-2009 at 07:22 PM   #6
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ahha yes we did have that class together! and the tutorial! yeah mumbo, i'd suggest taking the class
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Old 07-15-2009 at 07:57 PM   #7
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It depends on the professor for this course. I took it in first year and overall I enjoyed it. I took it with a sessional professor named Darren Ferry and I thought he did a great job. I do enjoy history very much though. There is definitely some reading involved but the books assigned were overall pretty interesting (although I will admit to not actually reading The Social Contract), for example I really liked The Return of Martin Guerre.

A friend though took this course in the same year, different term and had a different prof (not the one mentioned above I don't think) and they hated the course and did poorly. It was mostly because of the prof they said.

So it could be hit or miss but from my experience I'd recommend the course.
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Old 06-20-2011 at 11:34 AM   #8
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I recently just took this course and found that the course load isn't too bad, as the essays were only a few pages long each and the required readings were on the light side. The exam was 5 small essays and one large essay and I barely had time to finish..
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Old 06-20-2011 at 12:14 PM   #9
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I took this course first term. The essays were manageable, depending on the TA you get (mine was a very tough marker), and the research paper wasn't bad at all. The exam was fair, 5 identifications and an essay I believe. The only thing I didn't like about the class was the fact that the prof that I had decided to focus more on the art and culture of the time than on the actual events, which kind of threw me for a loop considering the fact that I knew more about the events than the people/art/culture. Note: do the textbook readings, they'll help.
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Old 12-19-2011 at 12:38 PM   #10
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After taking this course first semester, I agree with everything the last poster said. The content was interesting, but the prof got off topic a lot. There is a heavy focus on the French Revolution, but very little of it is on the exam. Overall, I enjoyed the content and am taking the continuation next semester.
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Old 12-30-2011 at 03:26 AM   #11
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History 1A03
This class was so terrible. The lectures were boring and all she focused on was telling people to shut up. My TA was a very hard marker, there is A LOT of reading to do each week and the exam seems easy but they mark it super hard! Everyone I've talked to said they thought they did so much better than the did. My Professor was Dr. Armstrong.:thumbsdown :
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Old 12-11-2012 at 09:01 PM   #12
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History 1A03
HISTORY 1A03: EUROPE FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Course Outline

More Course Outlines for History Classes

This class covered a lot of interesting material. I wasn't crazy about the professor (read more about that below) but I found many aspects of the course quite intriguing, and while a lot of work, the assignments were much the same.

There were two 50-minute lectures a week, and one 50-minute tutorial a week.

ASSIGNMENTS

1st Paper (10%)

For the 1st paper, we had to write about a Vergerio document answer the question: "What were critical facets of this new educational programme that reveal the influence of Renaissance culture?" It was only 500 words long and not too hard.

TIP: Get familiar with Chicago style citations. You will use them a lot in the course, and (from my understanding) other histories as well. Here is the link to the Online Style Guide.

2nd Paper (15%)

We read a Scribner document on magic and analyzed it: was it significant? Why or why not? We also had to elucidate his arguments, etc. The hardest part of this assignment was actually picking apart the document, but once that was done it wasn't bad. Learning about magic was certainly interesting, I found. This was 1,000 words long.

TIP: Contact your TA if you are having trouble. They are there to help! It seems obvious, but a lot of people forget about this.

Research Report (30%)

The big daddy. We had to write on either Medicine and Science or Witchcraft, and use a bunch of primary and secondary sources in the paper (some were supplied, some we had to find on our own). 1,200 words long, and proper citation was a must this time around. This was a pain to do I found, as while I liked my topic, finding and dissecting so many sources took a while. As long as you put the work in you should be fine, though.

TIP: Do not procrastinate with this report. Seriously. Every time you are thinking of procrastinating, think about this review and GET STARTED! (You're welcome).

Tutorial Participation (15%)

In my tutorial the TA would put marks next to our names whenever we said something relevant. Once you got three marks, he would stop. I'm not sure if other tutorials operated this way, but for the full 15% make sure you say at least three things every tutorial (the more the better!)

TIP: Think of these sessions as free marks, and don't be afraid to speak up. Even if you are totally off, at least you tried- and you will be rewarded for that.

Final Exam (30%)

For the first part of the exam we were given twenty-eight terms (The Black Death, Petrarch, The Bastille, Galileo, etc.) and told ten would show up on the exam, where we would have to write about five. (Oddly, there were actually fifteen on the exam.) The second part was an essay where we were given four questions, told three would show up on the exam, and we would have to write about one. As long as you prepare in advance and study the provided terms, you shouldn't have trouble. The hardest part is remembering the dates.

TIP: Make cue cards. Put the term on the front, and all the relevant information on the back. Make one for all the terms you need to know (only twenty-three if you think about it- there are twenty-eight in total and you have to write about five, so there is no reason to study them all) and quiz yourself using them.

PROFESSOR

Dr. Armstrong certainly knew what she was talking about. However, she went off on tangents every now and then, and her PowerPoints had almost no information on them. As someone who handwrites notes, it was sometimes difficult to keep up with everything she was saying. It was also annoying to hear her say: "We have no time to talk about this..." only to have her talk about it for five minutes. Oh, and be warned: do not talk in her class, as she hates it and will stop the lecture and wait for you to cease before continuing. She is by no means a bad professor though; as I said, she definitely knows what she is talking about, and has her funny moments.

My TA was Frank Nosic, and he was absolutely fantastic: a fair marker, funny, helpful, always prompt with e-mail replies, and available for help when/if you needed it. I would take another course in a heartbeat if I knew he was TA'ing it.

OVERALL

I wasn't crazy about Dr. Armstrong's lecture style, but the material itself was quite interesting. I also had an amazing TA, which certainly made the course more enjoyable. All in all, I would recommend this class; it is quite a lot of work, but much of it is engaging. I learned a lot!
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