History 138:  Science in the U.S.

Short Writing Assignments
Assignments You will have three sorts of short writing assignments:
  • Reading responses (1½ pages each) to primary and secondary sources in the course reading.
  • A journal essay (3 pages) on the first U.S. scientific periodical.
  • A review essay (3 pages) in preparation for the final exam.
Reading Responses Each reading response is a 1½-page paper.  In each half of the semester (before and after the midterm), you will write
  • two essays on primary sources
  • two essays on secondary sources
for a total of eight short essays (approximately 12 pages). You may turn them in as you choose, as long as they fall as required in the two halves of the semester.

Reading response papers should not summarize the documents. Rather, they should pick out one or more interesting or provocative features to analyze.  If you choose, you may structure your reading responses around the preparatory questions available in the reader and as links from the schedule.  Some points to keep in mind:

In approaching primary documents, keep the following questions in mind:

  • Who created the item? What do you know about the authors and their backgrounds?
  • To whom is the document directed? Why was it written?
  • What point of view comes through? What can you say about the authors' assumptions, agendas, or predispositions?
  • What can you learn from the document apart from textual content: style, publication information, printing, prefaces, mottos?
For secondary sources, think about the historiography as well as the history.  That is, along with absorbing the historical facts, pay attention to how the historians frame and deploy the facts.  Understanding how historians construct their histories is the first step to reading them critically.

Submission and grading:

  • Primary sources:  Turn in on the day for which the reading is assigned, at the beginning of class.  Graded check/check-plus/check-minus.
  • Secondary sources:  Turn in at the next class;  you may use knowledge or ideas gained in class.  Graded with letter grades.
You are strongly encouraged not to wait until the very last assignments permitted.  Don't let the midterm or the end of the semester creep up on you.
Journal Essay You will examine the earliest significant scientific journal published in the U.S., the American journal of science and arts (sometimes called Silliman's journal, after its editor). UC Berkeley's holdings go back to the very first issue, published in 1818.  Multiple early issues of the journal have been placed on two-hour reserve (library use only) in the Earth Sciences Library, 50 McCone Hall.  Go to the library circulation desk, borrow any issue before 1850, and see what you make of it.

This is an open-ended assignment in analyzing a primary source.  You may zero in on particular articles, but also try to get a sense of the periodical more generally.  You might ask questions like:

  • Who publishes the journal? Who authors its articles? Who might read or subscribe?
  • What range of subjects do the articles deal with?
  • How does the subject matter map onto what we today would count as science?
  • After examining the journal, what is your overall impression of American science in this period?
PLEASE treat the journal gently. Ask the librarian before photocopying. This is a piece of history.

The 3-page essay is due in class on Monday, September 16.  You will be ready to start on this assignment as soon as the second week of class.  To avoid a rush for the journals, go before the last minute.  Also check the Earth Science Library hours, which are shorter than the Main Library's.
Review Essay To start thinking about pulling the semester together, write up a formal essay in response to the following question:

Pick one of the following three figures:

  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Benjamin Silliman
  • Alexander Dallas Bache
Now imagine him time-transported to the present. Were he to survey the way science is pursued in our day, what would strike him as most importantly different? Pick out the two or three most significant features. Keep your mind open to very broad answers, the ones that get most pointedly at how science as changed from his day. You may frame your answer either as a straightforward essay or, if you prefer, a report from your time-transported figure back to his contemporaries.

The 3-page essay is due on the last day of class, Friday, December 6.
Presentation All written assignments are to be typed, double-spaced in normal-sized fonts with reasonable margins.  No cover page or title is necessary, but put your name and the assignment at the top of the first page.  Number your pages.  For the reading responses and the journal essay, parenthetical references of the form (Franklin, 229) or (v. 10, 47), respectively, will suffice.  For the review essay, citations are not necessary.

Proper writing (grammar, organization, citation format) definitely counts.  All assignments for this course are formal pieces of writing, including the reading response papers.  Your thoughts may be tentative or exploratory, but your writing should be polished.

Written assignments may not be submitted by e-mail or in any other electronic form.  Papers are due at the beginning of class and late papers will be penalized:  each day (or fraction thereof) that a paper is late will reduce its grade by 2/3 of a mark (e.g., A to B+, B- to C).
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Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2002