Goals for HIST 489

This is a historical seminar, which entails certain things. It also is the capstone course for the History major at NDSU, and that entails certain things, too. Considering both of these circumstances, here is what I consider to be the goals of HIST 489. On conclusion of this seminar, you should be able to do these things.

1. Discuss and evaluate secondary historical literature on a given topic.

2. Conduct primary historical research on a given topic.

3. Construct a sound historical narrative from your primary research.

4. Connect the findings of your primary research with the body of historical knowledge in secondary literature.

5. Write book reviews and historical essays—standard forms of historical writing—according to the conventions of the profession.

6. Discuss the assumptions, values, and approaches to the enterprise of History that have been articulated by great historians, and state your own.

That Sounds Hard. . .

These are stern standards, ones to which mature historians aspire to the end of their days. They are mirages on an ever-receding horizon. Individually and together, we do the best that we can, and in the end, we reflect on how far we have come.

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