Back to some History

It appears I have not performed as well as I would have expected for both my mid terms and take home essay. Nonetheless I have recorded below some pointers to take note with regards to such future essays (should I be given the chance to undertake again):

1) Open book exam essays: There is a need to give specific examples not simply mere rhetoric as I am used to for my GP essays. This means that when asked, I need to mention Abigail Adams, Thomas Peters and Thayendanegea by name which I failed to do, although I did mention the circumstances which surrounded them.

2) Take home discussion essays: There was no need to critique the sources at all and I was penalized for it. Forgive me for misunderstanding the instructions but here's what it said:

"The objective is not to do source critique or criticism per se (i.e. discuss and analyze whether the sources can or cannot reveal the experiences of African Americans, discuss whether they are biased and flawed etc)."

Ok, so it says above that I should not critique the sources. But take a look at the following statement:

"Of course, analyzing whether the sources can or cannot reveal these experiences is a first step (and source criticism is an inherent part of the historian's methodology) but your analysis should not end stop there."

Now you've got me.

But what's done is done. There is another lesson to be learnt: what was expected from this essay was quotes from the sources and not summaries, which I took too lightly. I gave direct reference to names yes, but I should have instead quoted directly what they said and not rephrase it.


Well, apart from all that sad and gloom, there is one major consolation: the mid term essay that I had written, had it been for the final closed book exam, would have scored A. Truth be told I hardly looked much at the books during the mid terms and hence my essay was more argument based than examples based, which Prof said is ideal for the finals. At least after so long I can finally be rest assured that the way I have been answering and tackling problems will score well in the finals, just that they were not ideal for open book and take home work.

What remains to be seen is how well this will play out next week.

Cheers!

RRR