The assignments are listed here in the following order. If you require some guidance on how to approach your essay assignment please click here.

There are two precise assignments this month. You will read articles from Readings in Canadian History: Post-Confederation and write a 1.5 to 2 page précis/critique of the article. Your assignment will be typed in 12 pitch font. It can be single spaced if you wish. Do not, however, manipulate margins.

Precise Assignment #1: 

You may choose one of the following articles:

In your précis you are required to do the following:

1. Identify the author’s thesis
2. Summarize the article’s content
3. Assess their sources (i.e.: What type of sources did they use? How did the author use the sources to support his/her argument?)
4. Offer your opinion of the article. This must be more than you did or did not like the article. Consider the following questions when writing your critique:

Because this is not a formal essay you can use first person references and contractions (i.e.: didn’t, isn’t, etc.)

Your grade will be based on:

1. Identify the thesis correctly
2. Providing a concise summary
3. Offering a suitable critique
4. Writing effectively, clearly and properly
5. Not exceeding 1.5 pages ( a précis that exceeds 1.5 pages will lose marks)

Remember that this is a précis (defined as "A summary or abstract, especially of a text or speech"). You cannot include everything in your assignment; therefore, you must be critical in assessing what to include and what to leave out but still provide the reader (me) with a complete summary of the article's thesis, content, and your critique.

The University of Toronto web link on the Resources page has information about précis writing

Seminar Participation

Seminar participation includes both your participation in seminars, and in the hands-on portion of the class.  You will be graded then on the following:

E-mail me a comment

In order to help you prepare for in class discussion of assigned readings students will e-mail me a comment or question that they had regarding the assigned reading. Your comments should be sent to me by 8:00 am (the day of class) to provide me with time to read them. The nature of your question and comment will form part of your seminar grade.

A question sheet will be given out for each article reading. You may answer one of these questions as your e-mail comment to me, or make a comment that occurred to you as a result of your reading.

Final Essay

Please click here to go to the essay assignment page.

Final Exam

A copy of the final exam will be given to you on the class prior to the exam date 

While the exam questions will not be noted here, I can provide you with the following advice

1.  You are being assessed on your ability to learn information, and use it to formulate a credible argument.

2. Do not simply provide a narrative of an event (i.e.: this happened first, then this, etc.). Your answer must be argumentative.

3. Remember, again, that you are being assessed on your ability to write a solid essay, using relevant information and content to support your argument.

You are required to take the exam home (or somewhere), and answer it as per the exam instructions. You are not required to do any additional research to answer the questions -- you need only use the lectures, textbooks, and readings that were used in class.

Your essay must be returned to me on the assigned date. Failure to do so will result in a grade of zero (0) being assigned unless you can provide an excuse suitable for missing an exam (as per the rules outlined in Nipissing University's course calendar).