ATS2617: American Civil War

"Free Writing Task": Worth 5%. Due in the first tutorial. This is a simple task which simply asks
you to write about 250 words on why you are studying the subject, what
you hope to learn etc. Easy marks basically.

2 x Film Reviews: Worth 10% or 5% each. You MUST submit both reviews to receive credit.
The first review is based on Birth of a Nation and the second is based on a
movie of your choice (e.g. Cold Mountain, Django Unchained) which is taken
from a given list. It sounds easy and to some extent it was. However, the
tight word limit of 250 words is incredibly restrictive. The lecturer screens a
number of the listed films as a class at Caulfield at night which was handy.

Convention Response: Worth 10%. Part of the course is a counter-factual role play in week 6.
Basically, in the lecture we have to complete a role play in which we pretend
we are negotiating to avoid the secession of the South from the US. This
response is based on this event and you are required to answer one of
about 4 or 5 questions.

Essay: Worth 35%. The essay topic is your choice of 12 given topics which included
the home front, the global civil war, women in the war, soldiers' experiences
etc. You are provided with some starting sources in the unit reader and the
unit guide. You only have 2000 words at 2nd year and 2500 at 3rd year and
you will find this incredibly hard to stick to as block quotes take up a lot of
words, especially when the lecturer does not allow for the +/- 10% rule.

Exam: Worth 20%. Comprised 50 questions at 2nd year level and 60 at 3rd year
level. It was an online exam of 2 hours and therefore was essentially
open-book. It was also multiple choice/ true or false questions in its entirety
and so was relatively easy as long as you attended the lectures and did
some basic study.

Tutorial Participation: Worth 20%. Participation marks were based upon your attendance at
tutorials and completion of the weekly reading guide questions which were
based on the weekly readings.

This course is definitely one of the most interesting I've taken so far. The course content can be heavy at times but the lecturer is great and makes it easy enough to follow. In comparison to previous years, Taylor additionally looks at the "West" as opposed to only the North vs. South idea as well as incorporating "the Global Civil War" where he looks at the effects of the civil war on places as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The course covers the antebellum US, the war years and the Reconstruction era which followed.

The Convention in week 6 is a great experience in which you have to work together as a lecture group to try negotiate and avoid war. Each tutorial takes on the role of a particular group such as the free blacks, the abolitionists or staunchest supporters of slavery. It's a fun experience, especially if you have drama students in the class who put their all into the performance as we did!

Assessment is good in that if you fail one piece of assessment it doesn't necessarily mean you will fail the class as there are many small assessments rather than one or two high percentage ones.

Tutorials are good with Taylor, the lecturer, and two other tutors taking the classes. Each tutorial was a mix of second and third years.

I would particularly recommend this course to anyone interested in military history, strategy and the like as Taylor Spence is particularly interested in this area and includes a lot of this type of information in addition to the social, cultural and political facets of the war.

Taylor Spence. He is an American lecturer who only started at Monash last year. He is a hard marker and doesn't allow the +/- 10% rule which can be a real pain in terms of essays.

No and no sample exam.

5 Out of 5

Yes, with screen capture.

There is no textbook and instead you are required to buy the course reader. You must buy this as all readings and course info is found in this book.

1 x 1.5 hour lecture + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Semester 2, 2013

TBA