Dual Credit US History

Please disregard everything below this message for the school year beginning Aug. 2022. There will be NO summer work this year. As far as the textbook goes, wait until school starts for further information. Be prepared to spend around $120 for online access to the book and other features once school begins. Please make sure you register as soon as possible with Navarro College to be enrolled in the class. If you have any questions, email me.

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Book

The book you will need for the class is:

THE ENDURING VISION: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE, 9^th edition by Boyer.

At the beginning of Navarro’s semester, you will be required to purchase online access which will cost about $120. It will give you access to an online textbook and the online assignments and quizzes. You may also rent a textbook from them rather inexpensively. You are also welcome to go online and purchase an older edition of the textbook for not too much money if you want a hard copy of the book.

Summer Work

You will find the information for the summer work attached to this page. Follow all instructions. CITE ALL SOURCES!!! Not citing your sources is plagiarism. If you tell me how much the Louisiana Purchase cost the US, you must cite where you gained that information or you are plagiarizing.

You must turn in a hard copy the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! No exceptions! Keep a digital copy as Navarro will require us to upload it to their Canvas during the semester.

Contact Information

Please contact me early in the summer if you have any problems or questions with the work or anything else. If you wait until close to the beginning of school, I may be too busy to help. Go to the school’s website and check for any updates on my page. My phone # and email address are:

254-625-2445

senorjeff1988@yahoo.com or jeff.wright@fairfieldisd.org

Summer Assignment

HISTORY Signature Writing Assignment

Step 1: View the Power Point Lesson for the "Overview for Primary Source Documents" provided by the Library of Congress which describes primary and secondary sources.  This step is VITAL!

Step 2: After viewing the lesson, pick out a primary source that you find interesting.  For the purpose of this course, students are required to pick out a letter, speech, or diary entry.  Use one (1) single artifact rather than a collection of artifacts.  The primary source must be something that is covered in this course. For HIST 1301, this can be anything from Christopher Columbus to the Civil War/Reconstruction.  For HIST 1302, this can be anything after the Civil War up to the last chapter that is covered in the book. 

In addition, students must use a secondary source that backs up or provides information to clarify information in the primary source.  An example of this would be if a student chooses a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, a secondary source that gives information about who James Madison was and a little bit of background information about him would meet the requirements.  One secondary source is required, but students can use more than one. Please see the information after the Power Point about Primary and Secondary sources to find out more information about finding a Primary Source.  Primary sources can be found using the sources provided on the following page.

Step 3: After a primary source and secondary source(s) is chosen, students can begin to write the paper by answering the 10 questions below.  The finished product should be a formal paper that is 3-5+ pages written in essay style (minimal work will get a minimal grade).  Reviews are to be doubled-spaced in Microsoft Word format utilizing MLA format and must include in-page citations. Reviews should be composed in Times New Roman 12 point font.

Taking into consideration the information presented in the Overview of Primary Source Documents lesson: Address the following points in your review:

1. Who wrote the document? Until you know this you know little about the document. Sometimes you can figure this out from the document itself. Was the author a political or private individual? Was he educated or not?
2. Who was the intended audience/who was the letter or speech written to? This will tell you about the author's use of language and the knowledge that he assumed on the part of the reader.
3. What is the story line? What is going on in the document?
4. Why was the document written? Everything is written for a reason. Is it just a random note, or a scholarly thesis?
5. What type of document is this, or what is its purpose? A newspaper article is different than a diary. Thus, one can expect to extract different kinds of information from different kinds of documents. A private letter to a friend is very different from a political letter written to discuss governmental matters.
6. What are the basic assumptions made by the author? For example, did the author assume that the reader could understand certain foreign or engineering terms?
7. Can you believe this document? Is it reliable? Is it likely? This should be more than a yes or no answer. What makes it believable or not?
8. What can you learn about the society that produced this document? All documents reveal information about the people who produced them. It is embedded in the language and assumptions of the text. Your task is to learn how to "read," or analyze, a document to extract information about a society. You might wish to analyze each document in terms of various aspects of a society (economic, political, religion, social structure, culture, etc.).
9. What is the importance of this document to history? Everything can be considered important even if it is not important for political or governmental purposes. Does it shed light on what life was like during the time period it was written? Does it demonstrate views of the world from a time long ago? Etc.
10. Finally, what does this document mean to you? If you answer nothing, you will lose a whole letter grade. You are the one picking out the sources, so pick something that you find interesting that means something to you. Tell me why it means something to you and why you picked it.

Step 4:  Turn in a hard copy the first day of school. Failure to do so may result in a failure for the first grading period. Keep a digital copy. Once the college semester begins, you will need to submit a digital copy online.