Commonalities

Since the department does not mandate a prescribed syllabus but rather seeks to ensure students have comparable experiences in American Studies, instructors adhere to these shared practices, which are driven by the Vision and Learning Outcomes outlined in this document, expectations from Academic Programs, and the NCSSM Student Handbook. All course sections offer students considerable instruction and practice in academic writing, and instructors use the NCSSM Rubric for Academic Writing as a tool for teaching and evaluation. The NCSSM Rubric for Academic Writing will be revised during the 2024-2025 academic year by Humanities faculty.

Shared Texts

All sections of American Studies use the following texts:

• Concise Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volumes I and II

• Major Problems in American History, Volumes 1 and 2

Each campus agrees to determine its own set of at least four common “touchpoint texts” for the first semester of American Studies. These shared primary sources allow for some baseline reference points to facilitate continuity across sections and semesters. Touchpoint texts will be annually reviewed and approved by a majority of American Studies faculty on each campus every Spring. Each campus may decide as a group to agree upon additional touchpoint texts for the Spring Semester.

Instructors will teach at least one complete, longer work, such as a novel, play, or memoir, in at least the Spring Semester. This longer work may be selected at each instructor’s or teaching team’s discretion.

Guidelines for Content Selection

While there is no single narrative of American experiences, and complete “coverage” of all of American history or literature is neither possible nor expected, American Studies instructors agree to the following content conventions:

• AS4051 American Studies I begins by ensuring students’ exposure to indigenous peoples’ experiences prior to European arrival in the Western hemisphere. AS4051 concludes in 1865, ensuring students have opportunities to learn about the causes and implications of the American Civil War.

• AS4052 American Studies II begins with 1865 and the end of the Civil War, ensuring students’ familiarity with Reconstruction. AS4052 concludes in the present day. 

• While contemporary works that reflect on the events of the Fall Semester (Indigenous Origins - 1865) may be assigned, the topics covered and the majority of primary sources must be from that time period.

• Across both semesters, instructors of AS4051 and AS4052 will seek to include diverse perspectives toward any event or topic, including historically marginalized groups such as women, indigenous peoples, racial and ethnic minorities, disabled people, and queer people. 

• Instructors of AS4051 and AS4052 will use a range of United States founding documents to facilitate critical inquiry into American conceptions of the value of the individual, the role of community, freedom and equality, access to citizenship, and the rule of law.

• Instructors of AS4051 and AS4052 will incorporate a range of sources that allow for exploration of attitudes and values that impact individual and community relationships with and access to land, resources, and the promise of the “American Dream.”