Comparative Civilization – HIWD 370

Course Description

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to fully integrate a biblical worldview into a comparative understanding of the history of world civilizations, to teach and reinforce scholarly research and writing skills, and to prepare students to be responsive to the Virginia World History Standards of Learning (SOL) test.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussion: Class Introductions

Each student should introduce themselves on the Discussion and respond to at least two other students’ introductions.

Short Essay: Worldview Assignment

The student will read and view materials presented from an evolutionary perspective, as well as materials presented from a creationist perspective. The student will use these materials to consider the implications of worldview, and to write a short essay on this topic.

The student will write an essay of at least 600 words. The essay must specifically and appropriately reference the required reading materials, including both of the required articles, and outside research as appropriate. It must include a bibliography in Turabian format with all used materials, and references to to sources must be in Turabian format footnotes. (CLO: A, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CGE 1, 3, 4, 5)

Article Assessment Assignments (4)

In Weeks 2, 4, 5, and 7, students will choose one scholarly article related to the week’s theme they are researching, and related to the week’s main topic. The student will create an entry in their Article Assessment Journal in which they provide a Turabian format citation for the article, a 1-2 sentence statement of the author’s thesis, and a 3-4 sentence discussion of how it fits into the material covered in that week’s reading. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CGE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Research Assignments (2)

Over the course of the semester, the student will complete two research assignments. These assignments will develop research and writing skills and provide an opportunity to do mini research projects on topics of interest, in a variety of formats.

Research Design Assignment

The student will complete a Research Design Assignment related to a topics addressed in Module 1, 2, or 3: Weeks 1, 2, or 3. These sources may not include any of the articles or materials assigned as readings in the course, but they may include an article addressed in the student's Article Assessment Journal. The student's topic should be focused on a non-Western topic--something not traditionally addressed in U.S. History or Western Civilization course. This will be approximately 300-500 words, plus a bibliography of at least 4 sources, and must be in Turabian format. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3; CT 1, 2, 3; CGE 1, 3, 4, 5)

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

The student will create an annotated bibliography for a research project related to one of the topics addressed in Modules 4, 5, or 6: Weeks 4, 5, or 6. The bibliography will require at least 10 scholarly sources, with annotations of 3 paragraphs, written in Turabian formatting. These sources may not include any of the articles or materials assigned as readings in the course, but they may include an article addressed in the student's Article Assessment Journal. This should be a different topic/civilizations/eras than that addressed in the previous assignment. No more than two of the articles included may be related to US/European topics. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3; CT 1, 2, 3; CGE 1, 3, 4, 5)

Short Essay: Reflection Assignment

The student will write a second short essay. In it, the student should discuss the things we covered in the course that they found the most interesting, enjoyable, or challenging and why. This could be things the student found in his/her own research, in required readings or videos, or in his/her work with the other students.    

The student will write an essay of at least 600 words. The essay must specifically and appropriately reference the required reading materials and outside research as appropriate. It must include a bibliography in Turabian format with all used materials, and references to to sources must be in Turabian format footnotes. (CLO: A, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CGE 1, 3, 4, 5)

Research Timeline Assignment

Over the course of the term, each student should create a timeline on a topic that is of interest. It should be something that is relevant to the course: it should cover a range of civilizations and a range of history. The number of dates required is somewhat variable, but should include at least 24. (CLO: B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 3, 4; CGE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 

Quiz: Textbook Chapters (8)

Each quiz will cover the textbook readings for the assigned Module: Week. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 30 multiple-choice, true/false, and multiple-answer questions, and have a 60-minute time limit. There will be a 1 point per minute penalty for going over the time limit. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 1, 2, 3, 4; CGE 1, 2, 4, 5)

Quiz: Module Materials (8)

Each quiz will cover all the non-textbook materials for the assigned Module: Week, unless otherwise indicated. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 15 multiple-choice, true/false, and multiple-answer questions, and have a 30-minute time limit. There will be a 1 point per minute penalty for going over the time limit. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E; FSLO: CIL 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; CT 1, 2, 3, 4; CGE 1, 2, 4, 5)