Paul Chamberlin

Seems to be graded very easily... Prob 100+ pages of reading a week, of which you only need to do maybe 12 (skim for arguments). Each class begins by talking to your peers for 10 mins so if you didn't do the reading, you can catch up that way.

Probably about 100 pages per week. In Discussion section we tend to focus on a specific primary source, or approach lecture material from a different perspective. Midterm was extremely fair.

We learn research methods and writing skills. We also spent time learning about each other's theses and the different methodological approaches involved in history writing.

I learned about the various ways historians write international and global history. I also learned how engage in discussions about books' strengths and weaknesses.

Excellent class. Take it. Prof C is a treasure, you'll learn a lot of stuff you didn't know about WWII before.

Professor Chamberlin is a really great lecturer. He moves through material at the perfect rate, and raises provocative questions. His course US Foreign Relations 1890-1990 is the best course I have taken this term. The TAs this term, Micah and Peter, are also THE BEST. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in History, Ethics, Philosophy, International Relations, National Security, etc.

We learned about the scholarly work concerning international history, how undefined the field is and the problems it may present to us when doing our own research. However we have learned through several readings how different approaches may help us solve this in the long run.

Participation (25%): Good (but still manageable) amount of weekly reading plus a one line discussion question emailed before class Prospectus (10%): 2 Pages Outline (10%):2-3 Pages Historiographical Essay (15%): 2-3 Pages Research Paper (40%): 20 Pages Most of the work is packed in toward the back end of the semester - but it still by no means feels like you always have to be constantly doing work for this class

Professor Chamberlin is an absolutely wonderful instructor. This class was generally the highlight of my week partly because the reading material was some of the most interesting I've had to read for a class, and also because Professor Chamberlin is very good at facilitating an open and productive class discussion. He is extremely well read and I can't even recall a single moment where he needed to check back on the accuracy of some fact. The readings and class discussion were not necessarily helping you gear toward writing the research paper but they were helpful in generating a historiographical debate that was ultimately helpful for the research paper. The discussions are also helpful in honing what areas are most interesting to you. Prof Chamberlin was super helpful with the research paper - pretty responsive to emails, but more so very helpful in office hours. He doesn't see any question too basic and is helpful when it comes to just seeing things from an alternate perspective. Prof Chamberlin also got the Columbia librarians to come and meet with us to help sift through the massive databases available online. I personally found this particularly useful since prof Chamberlin would also jump in and suggest different uses of the databases depending on your proposed topic.

1 emailed discussion question/week Paper elements (prospectus, literature review, outline) -- all 1-2 pages Final paper (40% of grade)