Outline

Overview

This unit examines the United States from 1865 to the present. We will consider changes and continuities by exploring topics such as: race relations, urbanisation, industrialisation, economic crises, immigration and domestic migration, social reform movements, consumer culture, electoral politics, gender relations, foreign policy, and mass incarceration.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	History
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit units at 1000 level in the History major
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	HSTY1076
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Thomas Adams, thomas.adams@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Final exam (Take-home extended release)	Final Exam Essay Questions Short essays based on prompt(s)	35%	Formal exam period	96 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Small continuous assessment	Tutorial Participation Group discussion, annotation, and participation	10%	Ongoing	regular & informed contrib to activities
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay Proposal Proposal for final essay involving outlining and bibliography of research.	10%	Week 07	500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research Essay Essay involving a topic of student's choosing in consult with instructor.	45%	Week 13	2,500 words
Outcomes assessed:
= Type E final exam ?

Assessment summary

Proposal, Final Paper, Exam, and Tutorials

Assessment criteria

Result code	Result name	Mark range	Description
HD	High distinction	85 - 100	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
DI	Distinction	75 - 84	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
CR	Credit	65 - 74	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
PS	Pass	50 - 64	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
FA	Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.
AF	Absent fail	0 - 49	When you haven’t completed all assessment tasks or met the attendance requirements.
CN	Cancelled	No mark	When your enrolment has been cancelled.
DC	Discontinued not to count as failure	No mark	When you discontinue a unit after the relevant census date but before the DC deadline.
DF	Discontinue – fail	No mark	When you discontinue a unit after the DC deadline but before the DF deadline
FR	Failed requirements	No mark	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes to a satisfactory standard, for units which are marked as either Satisfied requirements or Failed requirements.
SR	Satisfied requirements	No mark	When you meet the learning outcomes to a satisfactory standard, for units which are marked as either Satisfied requirements or Failed requirements.
WD	Withdrawn	No mark	When you discontinue a unit before the relevant census date. WD grades do not appear on your academic transcript

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

5%/day for proposal and final paper. Exam cannot be late without formal special consideration. Nonattendance in a majority of tutorials will result in a failure for the unit.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity	Learning outcomes
Weekly	Seminar style discussion of lectures, readings, and historical problems related to major problem in post-Civil War US history and their relationship to the contemporary context.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Weekly	The major contestation of power and major moments of contingency in US history will be highlighted and discussed in regional, national, and historical context.	Lecture (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

With the exception of Week 1, all lectures will be pre-recorded and all lectures will be uploaded by lecture time the day of the scheduled lecture. Lectures must be watched by the tutorial the week follwing the lecture. For instance, lectures for Week 2 will be discussed in tutorial during Week 3 and so on. Each week’s lectures will generally consist of between 2 (60 minute each) and 8 discrete lectures modules (15 minutes each) with a total of 2 hours of lecture for each week.

During Week 1 lecture will be live and will be used to introduce the class, our collective mode of inquiry, and survey students on various questions they may have about the unit and key topics they may wish to cover.

Tutorial attendance is mandatory and online each week. In the interest of creating some general ongoing group dynamics I strongly discourage attending a tutorial that is not your normal one. Should you have an unavoidable conflict please email me in advance.

During certain weeks tutorial time will be replaced by small group activities, some of which will have in-person options. Please consult the elearning site for more information on these times as the semester progresses. Both because of ongoing public health advice and the changing timeline of one of these activities (“The Renaming Project”) more information on these specfic activities will be forthcoming at the beginning of the Semester.

Finally, during lecture time each week I will have open zoom time. Please feel free to drop in to chat about any issues you might be having or discuss questions you have from lectures/tutorials/readings. Additionally, I am generally available during mornings for pre-scheduled zoom meetings—just email me to set up a meeting. When dropping into open zoom office hours you will first be placed in the waiting room. I will then let folks in on a first come, first serve basis to one on one chats. If you leave the waiting room you will lose your place in line.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Readings to be noted, distributed and linked on Canvass site.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the variety of cultures and contestations of a variety of forms of power in the U.S. since the Civil War
LO2. Demonstrate an understanding of the variety of approaches to interpreting the US past and the deployment of a variety of forms of power since 1865 including political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual, biographical, and transnational history
LO3. Critically analyse and interpret primary evidence in the broader, regional, national and global context of U.S. history and in relation to bodies of secondary literature
LO4. Identify a complex historical problem centered around the major contingent moments of post-Civil War U.S. history (for instance, a multicausal change or counterintuitive continuity) and devise a research strategy to solve it.
LO5. Demonstrate capacity to integrate non-elite perspectives on the past and understand how axes of inequality have been historically constructed
LO6. Apply historical perspectives and skills (such as the ability to relate asymmetrical bodies of evidence, and an understanding of contingency and the timeframes of different processes) in relationship inter- and multidisciplinary contexts and knowledge production.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This is the first time the unit has been offered as an advanced unit rather than an introductory survey/

Disclaimer

Important: the University of Sydney regularly reviews units of study and reserves the right to change the units of study available annually. To stay up to date on available study options, including unit of study details and availability, refer to the relevant handbook.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

HSTY2712: American History from Lincoln to Trump

Semester 2, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links