QUIZZES

In the second, third, fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth weeks of the quarter there will be a ten question, twenty point objective quiz based on assigned readings. Typically, these quizzes will take place before the material is discussed in lecture. Five quizzes will count toward the total number of points for the quarter. Therefore you may miss one quiz without penalty. If you take all six quizzes, the lowest score will be automatically dropped. There will be no makeup quizzes. You must supply your own scantron.

The quizzes are designed to be completed in ten minutes, however they will be distributed on the hour, so as to provide extra time for those who desire a little longer. The quizzes will be collected promptly at 20 minutes after the hour, so if you are late, you will have less time for the quiz.

The assignment for each quiz can be accessed from any page on this website via the button "Today" in the left-hand frame.

STUDY TIPS

The quizzes are usually on the reading and occur before the material is discussed in lecture. Therefore it is important that you read carefully for content. I would suggest that you first scan the assigned reading so that you can identify the major topics covered and the vocabulary used. On your second reading, use the guides that your textbook provides. For example, your textbook always divides the chapters into sections introduced by headings in heavy black print. I would suggest that you then read by section and after you are done, formulate questions for that section based on the heading. For example, in Chapter 1, the first major section is "Global Interrelatedness." Make sure you understand what is meant by this. The authors state that this system "took shape slowly." Know when it started, what was the situation before it started and what caused it? This section has a number of terms that are emphasized by using italics. Take note of these, these terms make good questions to test your reading skills. E.g., Industrial Revolution, political revolution, nationalism. Pose questions to yourself about what the significance of these terms is? Do the same thing in the next section, Identity and Difference. This section concentrates on the systems that have given human beings identity and permit them to differentiate themselves from one another. Upon what have world historians concentrasted to explain identity and difference. (See Findley-Rothney, p. 15, lower-left.) What stages of development have there been and why has change occurred? What are the modern systems that provide identity? The next section is The Rise of the Mass Society. When did it arise and what contributed to this. What are the the political implications of a mass society? What kind are there? In the last section, why is Technology pitted against Nature? How have nature and technology interacted over time? What shifted this equilibrium? What have been the consequences.

If you pose these kinds of questions to yourself and then answer them, you are becoming an active reader which is the key to making yourself master of the material. It might be wise to make notes to yourself for review at the time of the mid-term and the final, but if you can trace the arguments used in the textbook in your head, then you have learned the material.

I follow much the same process when I am writing quiz questions. That is, I ask what the textbook is emphasizing and formulate questions on these topics. Always pay attention to what is in bold-face type, what is italicized and to the pictures and maps in the text. Another tip is to be on the lookout for when your textbook says something was "not" this way, "but" that. Or when it emphasizes something that is out of the ordinary, not to be expected or runs against conventional understanding. E.g. the definition of nation-state in chapter one and in the Readings which is different from what is commonly thought, or liberalism on p. 12 of Findley-Rothney, which is distinctly different from how liberalism is understood in the contemporary U.S. and particularly by people who describe themselves as conservatives.


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