Objectives: By the end of the semester students should be able to:

• Define Western Civilization and explain the development of its major elements
• Think comparatively about Western Civilization by situating it in a global context
  
• Understand basic historical concepts such as causality, context, complexity, contingency, and chronology
• Read and interpret historical sources critically and analytically
• Discuss the changing place of the individual in modern history
  

• Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages (Penguin)
  
• Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano (Dover)
• Emile Zola, Germinal (Penguin)
• George Orwell, 1984 (Signet)
  

• Four Reading Worksheets (15% each), due Sept. 9 (Columbus), Oct. 2 (Equiano), Oct. 28 (Zola), and Dec. 2 (Orwell). Worksheets will be handed out a week in advance.
• Regular in-class participation using the iClicker classroom response system (10%). You may purchase your iClicker along with your books at the Matador Bookstore. You must bring your iClicker to class every day beginning Thursday, August 28. You can register your iClicker at www.iclicker.com/registration
  
• Final Exam (30%), scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 16, 10:15-12:15. Combination of essays and short answers that will cover the lectures and readings. No early exams or make-up exams. Optional review session on Thursday, December 11, 11-12:15, Bayramian Hall (Student Services Building) Room 315.
  

Course Policies:

• You are expected to attend class and arrive on time. I reserve the right to lower the grade of anyone who misses a substantial proportion of the classes or who arrives late repeatedly. Please turn off all pagers and cell phones when you enter the classroom. There should be no text messaging during class!
  
• The final exam must be taken as scheduled. There will be no make-ups except in case of your own hospitalization. Late assignments will be marked down one-third of a grade per day. All missed assignments will be entered as a zero.
• Any student caught plagiarizing (copying or borrowing someone else’s work, whether on paper or from the internet, without crediting them fully) or cheating (copying from another student or using unauthorized notes during an exam) will receive a failing grade for the course, and will be referred to the Office of Academic Affairs for disciplinary action.
• There are no extra credit assignments. Life does not come with extra credit; why should college learning? You should spend your time trying to do the assigned work better, rather than taking on even more work.
• The instructor reserves the right to modify the course schedule or assignments. Students will be given adequate notice of any changes.