HIST 104:
World History I
Prof. Lisa Wolverton – University of Oregon
– Fall 2012
ADVICE FOR STUDYING
Head spinning after lecture?
Feel like you are drowning in information? Not sure how to put the pieces together and beginning to
worry about the exam? Since
students invariably ask me these questions after class, I thought it might help
to put it in writing.
A detailed description of the exam and a study guide will be available
as we get closer to the exam date.
This page is just for those who feel they are trying valiantly to stay
on top of things but are not quite sure how. What do I look for when I review my notes? How do the readings fit in?
Above all: look for patterns in time, space, & social/economic developments, and compare & contrast between regions.
You do not need to memorize everything. This is especially true of dates and of the Atlas. You do need enough concrete specifics
to be able to answer short-answer and essay questions meaningfully. For instance, if asked to compare and
contrast the teachings of Confucius & the Buddha and the social conditions
that gave rise to them, you must be able to enumerate the central tenets of
their teaching, to define key terms (filial piety or nirvana), and to describe
some basic features of the society in which they arose.
Make sure you understand how everything fits together. Use the questions on the first slide of
the lecture to think back on what I said.
If this were an essay question, how would you summarize the lecture to
answer it (formulate a one-sentence thesis) and what specific details help
flesh out that answer (memorize these).
With regard to dates, you simply need enough sense of chronology to
have things in the right order, to notice what kinds of things are happening at
the same time, and where developments in different regions are out of
sync. Make time-lines!
Textbooks often provide these; you’ll learn more by doing it
yourself. This will also help you
keep things in relative proportion:
what developments occur over thousands of years, which over hundreds of
year, which within a century? Did
the Buddha’s teachings become widespread 20 years after his death or 200
years? Did this or that dynasty or
empire survive for 500 years or only 15?
There’s a difference and it’s important. Where is the pace of change fast, where slow, and why?
The maps in the Atlas and lecture allow you to fix everything
concretely in space. How big was
the empire, where was the capital in relation to the rest, what is the nature
of the terrain & what are its resources, who are its neighbors, where are friends/enemies? Also ask yourself how issues of
geography and environment contribute to historical circumstances and outcomes.
Then there are themes that are beginning to repeat by now: the importance of agricultural surplus;
the problem of administering an empire; the causes and consequences of
urbanization; the function and social position of kings, warrior elites and
religious leaders; the role of the individual in the social order, etc. Basically, when you hear me repeating
myself, there’s a reason! Figure
out what the pattern is:
geographic, chronological, developmental, all three?
____________________
The readings have all been chosen to illustrate key points made in
lecture as well as general themes of the course. When you review them after lecture, you should hear the
primary sources echo things I described more schematically. Empires are about controlling and
redistributing resources: the
inscription from Ashurnasiripal’s new palace demonstrates this principle in
very concrete terms, as well as in the language of the time; so too does
al-Tabari, more subtly and in different terms appropriate to his time.
Don’t read passively. The
readings are comparatively short, so you can read them closely and more than
once if necessary. Listen to what
the author is saying, whether to himself, his god, his subjects, his followers,
his community, his audience, his judge, his descendants, or posterity. Resist the urge to pass judgment, or to
be shocked or surprised; ask yourself why you feel this way and what you can
learn from these initial reactions.
You should be sufficiently familiar with each primary source text and
its place in the course that you are able to identify it on the basis of
internal evidence alone. In other
words, given a few representative sentences, you should be able determine
whether you are reading, say, the Ramayana or Hymn to the Nile, from clues in
the content (names, terms, themes, emphases).
____________________
Finally, you might want to consider your study habits and skills
overall (i.e., not just as they relate to this class). The Teaching and Learning Center is a
great resource. They have
handouts, workshops, and tutors.
Don’t wait until you’re in trouble to visit them and see how they can
help, especially as you make the transition from high school to college. You can start by clicking here.