History 498: Watergate Arizona State University Fall, 2007 Tu & Thursday, 1:40-2:55 p.m. Staffer Comm A -- Rm. 417 Dr. Wendy Plotkin Lattie Coor Bldg. – Room. 4547 Office Hours:  Thursday: 12:30-1:30 p.m. wendy.plotkin@asu.edu Version 2 August 23, 2007 Office Hours Corrected 2nd Assignment 5 in schedule changed to Assignment 6

1. Goals

   This course aims to improve your knowledge of historical methods and content.

   In terms of methods, it will

   1. expand your understanding of how historians write history, and
   2. improve your ability to write a short (15-20 page) historical paper of your own.

   In terms of content, it will

   1. increase your knowledge and understanding of Watergate, the scandal that dominated the Nixon administration, which was in office from 1969-1974.
   2. increase your understanding of Watergate's place in U.S. history and historiography.
      
2. Topics

Methods

We will investigate the following questions:

1. What IS a historical research paper? How is it different from a book report, a journal article, or a book?
2. What is the process for writing a research paper?
   1. Selecting a topic.
   2. Identifying & evaluating sources
   3. Taking notes & preparing an outline.
   4. Developing a research question and a thesis.
   5. Writing in a way that expresses your ideas and is easy for others to understand
   6. Writing with correct grammar, spelling & punctuation
   7. Citing your sources in the proper places and with the proper methods

   Most of you have probably written a historical research paper of some sort during your undergraduate years. While that will serve as useful experience, in this course we will look at "state of the art" methods for researching and writing papers, including expanding the types and numbers of sources you use, and examining the rich array of electronic sources that are now available.

   Content

“Watergate” is the term given to a whole host of illegal and questionable legal practices in which the Nixon administration engaged from its inception in January, 1969 until the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Complex on June 17, 1972 -- and the cover-up by President Nixon and his associates that occurred afterwards, until his resignation on August 8, 1974. Many Americans think of Watergate as the break-in and the subsequent cover-up, but it applies to a much broader range of activities that, some asserted, would have undermined American democracy irreparably if they had gone undiscovered.

Using Watergate as the main theme, students will be asked to investigate such topics as:

o Was Watergate unique? To what extent did previous presidents engage in similar practices?
o What was the CIA’s role in Watergate? the FBI’s?
o What was the role of the press in uncovering Watergate?
o What was the role of Congress in uncovering Watergate?
o What was the role of the federal judiciary in uncovering Watergate?
o What was the role of the Supreme Court in uncovering Watergate?
o What was the perspective of individual participants in Watergate: Richard Nixon, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Gordon Liddy, John Dean, Charles Colson and others?
o What were the short- and long-term impacts of Watergate?

3. Books & Readings

• Keith W. Olsen. Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003)
  
• Patrick Rael, "Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students," Bowdoin College, November, 2004, at
  http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/


• Wendy Plotkin.“The Internet, the Electronic Media, and Historical Research” (a/k/a the "Plotkin Guide) at http://www.public.asu.edu/~wplotkin/History300/Resources.htm (Always use on the Internet, so as to be able to access links!!)

4. Grades

   Assignment/Work	Points
   Assignment #1: Home Page	5
   Assignment #2: Paper Descriptions	5
   Assignment #3: Research Log 1	10
   Assignment #4: Research Log 2	10
   Assignment #5: Outlines	10
   Assignment #6: Primary Document Assignment	10
   Notecards	10
   Class Participation & Attendance	10
   Presentation of Paper in Class	5
   Final Paper	25
   TOTALS	100

The final grade will be determined according to the following scale:

A+ 97% and above
A 93%-96%
A- 90%-92%
B+ 87%-89%
B 83%-86%
B- 80%-82%
C+ 77%-79%
C 73%-76%
C- 70%-72%
D+ 67%-69%
D 63%-66%
D- 60%-62%
E Less than 60%

V.Assignments

        A. Submission

             All assignments must be submitted via the Blackboard site, under Assignments, in the correct place. The instructor will not accept assignments sent by e-mail or in paper form.

         B. Format

            All assignments must be submitted using Word or an electronic word processor acceptable to the instructor. All should include your name, the date, and the number and title of the assignment, and have page numbers.
            All assignments will be graded using Word's (or other) commenting features, and students must be or become familiar enough with these features to be able to read and interact with these features. I will demonstrate this in class, and you should feel free to visit me during office hours or at another time to review this if you are not familiar with it.

        C. Standards

           Assignments will be graded based on quality of content, writing, and presentation.

           Quality of Content

           o How well does the author understand and comply with the tasks required in the assignment?
           o What is the level of effort revealed by the work? An engaged effort to learn as much as possible, or a weak effort to comply minimally?
           o Is the author accurate in factual information, and logical in analyses?

           Quality of Writing

          o Comprehensibility -- is it easy to understand the author's arguments and the presentation of evidence? Is the material organized in a logical fashion?
          o Style -- is the language simple enough to read easily but sophisticated enough to present complex thoughts?
          o Grammar, spelling and punctuation -- are there grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors?
          o Are the citations correctly formatted?