The exam must be 6-7 pages in length, double-spaced, numbered, include 1 inch margins, use 12 point Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, and include a cover page that identifies who you are, the title of the course, the name of your instructor, and state Midterm Exam.
The exam must include footnotes or endnotes and a Works Cited or Bibliography page. The citation style must be Chicago/Turabian. Your instructor will provide instructions on how to cite a source using Chicago/Turabian style. You may also consult the short guide linked to in this sub-module at the bottom. The selected sources must be appropriate to the exam topic, the citations must support the assertions made in the exam, and footnotes or endnotes must be used in each instance where detailed explanations would distract from the argument.
The exam will include three main parts—the Thesis/Introduction, Argument, and Conclusion.
The Introduction section should clearly state the thesis within the first 1-2 paragraphs. The thesis must be relevant and appropriate to the argument and demonstrate an accurate and complete understanding of the question(s). It should do more than restate the question(s) and offer a brief response and it should be free of grammar & spelling errors.
The Argument section should incorporate pertinent details from assigned coursework and outside readings when permitted. Please make sure to ask your instructor for approval. Do not assume that you can use outside readings. The section must provide relevant historical evidence to support the thesis and the key claims made in the argument as needed. It should maintain focus and avoid getting sidetracked. It should present your answer(s) to the question(s) asked clearly and concisely in an organized manner and it should be free of grammar & spelling errors.
The Conclusion section should be in the last part of your essay exam within the last 1-2 paragraphs. It should briefly restate the thesis and summarize the main points of the argument. It should also demonstrate insight and understanding regarding the question(s) asked and it should be free of grammar & spelling errors.
A scoring rubric for the exam is included in the syllabus. Click on the blue Midterm Exam link below to see the exam questions.
Midterm Exam Questions (pick one to write on):
- Select two groups of female reformers we have studied thus far, for instance suffragists and settlement workers, and compare and contrast the two. (You may choose others. Please do not feel limited by this choice.)
- How would you describe the field of women’s history today? Be sure to give examples from the course readings. How does the field differ from Gerder Lerner’s 1975 essay?
- Using course readings for the past four weeks, write about the role of the local, state, and/or federal government in the lives of American women. Historically, how has the institution helped women gain rights or freedoms? By contrast, how has the state controlled the lives of women or prevented women access to freedom or democracy? What role has gender, sex, race, or ethnicity played in expanding or limiting access to freedom? (If you answer this question please focus on the years of Reconstruction through the Great Depression.)
Course reading:
Week 1:
Placing Women in History: Definitions and Challenges. Authors: Lerner, Gerda Source: Feminist Studies, 1975 Oct 01. 3(1/2), 5-14. ISSN: 00463663. DOI: 10.2307/3518951. Access URL: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/stable/3518951
The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field. Authors: Dayton, Cornelia H.
Levenstein, Lisa. Source: The Journal of American History, 2012 Dec 01. 99(3), 793-817. 00218723
;19360967. Access URL: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/stable/44308391
“Are they not in some sorts vagrants?”: Gender and the Efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau to Combat Vagrancy in the Reconstruction South. Authors: Farmer-Kaiser, Mary. Source: The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 2004 Apr 01. 88(1), 25-49. 00168297. Access URL: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/stable/40584704
Hull House in the 1890s: A Community of Women Reformers. Authors:
Sklar, Kathryn Kish. Source: Signs, 1985 Jul 01. 10(4), 658-677. ISSN: 00979740; 15456943. Access URL:
Week 2:
“Against Their Own Weakness”: Policing Sexuality and Women in San Antonio, Texas, during World War I. Authors: SHAH, COURTNEY Q. Source: Journal of the History of Sexuality, 2010 Sep 01. 19(3), 458-482. ISSN: 10434070;15353605. Access URL: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/stable/40986335
Chinese Women Entering New England: Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files, Boston, 1911-1925. Shauna Lo. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 3 (Sep., 2008), pp. 383-409 (27 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/20474653
A “Test of Chiffon Politics”: Gender Politics in Seattle, 1897-1917. John Putman. Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 69, No. 4, Woman Suffrage: The View from the Pacific (Nov., 2000), pp. 595-616 (23 pages). https://doi.org/10.2307/3641226
Week 3:
Women in the 1920s’ Ku Klux Klan movement. Authors: Blee, Kathleen M. Source: Feminist Studies. Spring91, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p57. 21p. ISSN: 0046-3663. DOI: 10.2307/3178170
https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft9k4009m7;brand=ucpress (Chapter One)
A Higher “Standard of Life” for the World: U.S. Labor Women’s Reform Internationalism and the Legacies of 1919. Authors: Cobble, Dorothy Sue. Source: Journal of American History. Mar2014, Vol. 100 Issue 4, p1052-1085. 34p. ISSN: 0021-8723. DOI: 10.1093/jahist/jau005
Week 4:
Challenging “Woman’s Place”: Feminism, the Left, and Industrial Unionism in the 1930s. Author:Sharon Hartman Strom. Feminist Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer, 1983), pp. 359-386 (28 pages). https://doi.org/10.2307/3177497
Rural Girls in Fargo during the 1930s. Author: David B. Danbom. Agricultural History, Vol. 76, No. 4 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 659-668 (10 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/3744957
Women, workers, and community: Working-class visions and workers’ theatre in the 1930s. Authors:
Hyman, Colette A. Source: Canadian Review of American Studies. Fall1992, Vol. 23 Issue 1, p15. 23p. ISSN: 0007-7720. DOI: 10.3138/CRAS-023-01-02