A Murder Trial
as Social History:
AMH 3930
Keene-Flint
113
© Elizabeth Dale 2005
Professor:
Elizabeth Dale
Office hours: Wed 10-11 AM (at law school)
1:30-3:00 PM (at Keene-Flint)
Thurs 10-11 AM (at Keene-Flint)
and by appointment
Offices: 224 at Keene-Flint
240E
at
Phone: 392-0271
Email: edale@history.ufl.edu
Required
texts:
(course pack, available at
Bardaglio, Reconstructing the Household
Bynum, Unruly Women
Ayers, Vengeance and Justice
Lebsock, Murder in
Assignments:
Since
this course is designed to teach you about historical research and have you do
a significant research project, there are two types of assignments. The first
type (research practice) are short assignments intended to introduce you to
various tools in the library and on line. The second type (paper projects) are
geared towards helping you define a paper topic and prepare your paper. The
different projects and the percent of your grade they represent are listed
below.
Your
final paper for the class should be a research paper on a trial (a list of
possible trials and some other resources are below). It should be 20 pages
long, double spaced 12 pt type, with a bibliography and proper footnotes.
Research practice (each of
these assignments is worth 2 points)
1. Journal project, due week 2
2. Book review project, due
week 3
3. Case project, due week 4
4. Primary source project, due
week 5
5. Article project, due week 6
Total points for these assignmetns: 10
points
Paper projects (these assignments are worth different
points, the number is in the parenthesis):
1. Preliminary topic proposal,
due week 3 (2.5 points)
2. Specific topic proposal, due
week 5 (2.5 points)
3. Bibliography, due week 7
(worth 5 points)
4. Oral presentation, due week
10-11 (worth 15 points)
5. Draft paper, due week 13
(worth 15 points)
6. Final paper, due Tuesday
December 17 (worth 50 points)
Total points for these assignments: 90 points
Total points
possible: 100
points
Recommended
paper topics:
Students
should pick a trial transcript from this list of
materials in the UF library, or from the online resource at Harvard Law Library (for
access to the Harvard collection follow the link, at the bottom on the page you
are sent to, you will find a button
marked “connect,” click on that button. You will be sent to another page, on
the left hand side click on the link for Advanced Search. When you are
redirected, at the pull down “search for” menu select “Document type” and click
search. On the next page, you will see a number of options, check the last two:
trial accounts and trial records. This will give you a list of trial materials,
which you may review and use for your assignment.)
It
is best if only one student do research based on a single trial, so I will
approve trial topics on a first come, first served basis.
First week
Introduction to the course
Journal
assignment given out (due by 8PM
Tuesday)
Second week
Journal assignment returned
Book review
assignment given out (due by 8PM Tuesday)
Discussion of preliminary topic proposal
You
may wish to consult Blackstone on homicide
and accessories
(if you have problems accessing the site, the URL is
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/blacksto.htm#book4
(look for the sections on homicide and accessories there)
Third week
Book review project returned
Preliminary topic proposal due
Case assignment
given out (due by 8PM Tuesday)
Fourth week
Case assignment returned
Primary
source assignment given out (due by 8PM Wednesday)
Discussion of specific paper proposal
Fifth week
Wayne, Death
of an Overseer and website http://www.deathofanoverseer.com/
Specific paper proposal due
Primary source project returned
Article project
given out (due by 8PM Tuesday)
Sixth week
Article project returned
Discussion of bibliography assignment
Seventh week
Bardaglio, Reconstructing the Household
Bibliography due
Eighth week
Individual conferences on papers, no
class
Ninth week
Bynum, Unruly Women
Tenth week
Oral presentations
Eleventh week
Oral presentations
Twelfth week
Ayers, Vengeance
and Justice
Thirteenth week
Drafts of papers due
Discussion of
Fourteenth week
No class, Thanksgiving
Fifteenth week
Lebsock, Murder in
Individual conferences on papers
this week and next
Sixteenth week
No class
Individual conferences on papers
Final papers
due
December 9