Course Description

This course surveys the history, theory, and methods of the discipline known as American Studies. Unlike your other American Studies courses, this one requires you to think consciously about the ways you undertake the analysis of cultural and social phenomena. We will address such questions as: What is American Studies? What is its history? What is the proper subject matter of American Studies? How should we look at or engage with that subject matter? What methods of analysis might help us understand this thing called "America" or "American culture and society?" How do these methods enable us to turn mere "information" in to meaningful "knowledge?" Finally, what could or should we do with this "knowledge" once we have it? The course will be reading and writing intensive and will require a significant amount of time for both preparation and assignments. You will have a lot of flexibility, however, to examine subjects of particular interest to you and to put the theories and methods we discuss into practice.

Evaluation for the course will be based on a series of on-line discussion postings and response papers designed to teach you the critical thinking skills necessary to be a successful "organic intellectual," that is, a person capable of learning about, evaluating, and explaining the contours and contexts of American culture. The culminating project for the class will be the construction of a research project related to a cultural topic of your choice.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Recognize and recall the main authors, ideas, methods, and movements of the American Studies discipline.
• Analyze primary source materials to determine their messages in relation to a particular historical context.
• Ask compelling questions about American culture, questions that go well beyond the “who, what, where” of reportage into the “how, why and what for” of critical thinking.
• Read and evaluate secondary source materials to determine their messages and merits.
• Negotiate differing academic opinions.
• Carve out an intellectual space for yourself in academic debates about a subject.
• Utilize the library and its electronic databases to aid in your research.
• Integrate and cite source materials using proper technique and adhering to the citation style manual put out by the Modern Language Association (MLA).

Required Texts

• Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
• Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
• Susan Douglas, Where the Girls Are
• Richard Horwitz, The American Studies Anthology (available at campus bookstores)
• A selection of readings available in the “Readings” section of the Desire2Learn (D2L) website <https://oc.okstate.edu>. You may read these on-line, or download and print the essays so that you can make notes and comments in the margins as you read.

Course Policies and Requirements

Attendance and Participation:Students are expected to attend every class and participate actively in class discussions.

Excessive absence may result in a failing grade for the course, and more than one unexcused absence is excessive! Absences will be excused only for dire illness and family emergency, both of which must be substantiated by documentation (a Dr's note, a funeral notice, etc.). For each absence over one, you will be docked 10 points from your participation grade; you will also forfeit the right to earn any extra credit.

Active participation means:

• You will have read the materials and completed any writing assignments, including on-line assignments, before you arrive in class.
• You will bring the day’s reading materials with you to class so that you may refer to them.
• You will engage with and respond to your peers during both large and small group discussions and during on-line assignments.
• You will listen attentively to every speaker and respond respectfully to the ideas of others.
• You will exhibit a deliberate effort to apply, extend, and challenge concepts we discuss in class. Ask questions, make comparisons, and share your observations in every class.

Homework: You will write 5 brief analyses of the primary sources assigned for reading during the course of the semester. These are "homework" exercises designed to enhance your comprehension of course materials and your critical thinking skills. There will be 8 opportunities to complete these 5 assignments, and I will use the 5 best responses to comprise your grade. If you have good attendance (no more than 1 absence), you may receive extra credit for doing ONE additional response (i.e. the 6^th best response). Responses should be 1-2 pages in length and will count for 20 points each (100 Total). Details for each assignment will be provided in the "Assignments" section of D2L. 

Response Papers: You will write four 4-6 page response papers in which you apply insights about American history and culture gained from the assigned secondary source readings to one or more primary texts. The specifics of each assignment can be found in the “Assignments” section of D2L. Deadlines are listed on the Schedule of Readings. No late response papers will be accepted. Each response will be worth 100 points (400 points total).

Wiki Project on "America": The class will contribute to a "wikipedia" site devoted to American Studies topics. The "wiki" can be found at http://americanwiki.pbwiki.com. The content of these entries will be created by and modified by YOU but seen by ANYONE. Over the course of the semester, you will become the "expert" in a topic of your choosing relevant to the study of "America." You will compile an annotated bibliography of 7-10 sources related to that subject. You will then share your knowledge and resources on the "americanwiki" site and in an oral presentation to your classmates. Your classmates will critique, revise, and extend your "wiki" entry using their knowledge and experience (as you will contribute to and refine their sites). At the end of the course, we will have a knowledge database that demonstrates the collective intelligence of our classroom community and that can be shared with students in other AMST courses at other Universities. The project is designed to demonstrate the dynamic nature of culture: how it is an on-going, ever-changing, process of shared intelligence. Instructions will be posted in the "Assignments" section of D2L. See the Grade Breakdown for the value assigned to each phase of the project. Wiki.doc

Academic Honesty: All work you turn in for this class must be your own work. Incidents of plagiarism—including failure to cite your sources properly—will result in a failing grade for the assignment. Any more egregious violation (turning in someone else's paper as your own, or copying content from the internet, for example) will result in a failing grade for the course. Consult OSU’s Office of Academic Affairs for more information on the University's new, more stringent Academic Integrity policy.

Course Schedule

• Do all assigned reading before you come to class and be prepared to discuss with questions or comments in mind
• Selections starred with an asterisk can be found in the “Readings” section of D2L.
• Selections that are hyperlinks (bright blue and underlined) can be found by clicking on the link.
• Selections marked with (RH) can be found in The American Studies Reader