History Capstone Rubric

Adapted from American Historical Association Perspectives Jan. 2015

This rubric has been modified by John Williams and Jane Murphy.

Argument

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Rationale/Motivation	No clear rationale or a weak rationale for the project	Some rationale presented, begins to motivate the work	Provides and discusses a suitable rationale	Persuasive and creative rationale
Scope/Dealing with Complexity in Framing a Topic	Frames complex questions as simple ones	Invests questions with some complexity; may oversimplify or overextend	Reasonable balance between focus and complexity	Frames the topic with a full appreciation of its complexity while retaining appropriate focus
Approach	Not clear what was done or why, or an inappropriate method	Approach is generally appropriate and properly executed	Well chosen and appropriate, and well executed	Creative and sophisticated methods
Historiographic/ Theoretical Context	Author does not demonstrate awareness of the scholarly literature, may overrely on too few sources	Author demonstrates a reasonable awareness of the literature	Author demonstrates broad awareness and situates own work within the literature	Author is aware of scholarly literature, situates own work within the field, and makes a contribution to the field, or identifies a new direction for investigation
Position/Thesis	Does not take a clear or defensible position or draw a clear conclusion	States and/or critiques a position that may already exist in the literature	Thoroughly and effectively supports, tests, extends, or critiques a position that may already exist in the literature	Develops a clear and defensible position of his/her own; draws a significant conclusion
Argumentation	Weak, invalid, or no argument, perhaps a simple assertion	Some arguments valid and well supported, some not	Main arguments valid, systematic, and well supported	Arguments both well supported and in conversation with conflicting explanations

Sources/Research

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Location	Sources located too few or inappropriate for stated project	Sources located of reasonable range, but may be limited in number or kind	Source base wide ranging and thorough; demonstrates effective use of bibliographic tools	Source base complex and extensive, and compiled using creative and sophisticated methods
Selection	Selected sources inappropriate for investigation of stated problem	Some sources address stated problem but others are inappropriate; source base may lack key or relevant sources	Sources selected are appropriately relevant and extensive enough to allow exploration of stated problem	Creative and sophisticated source selection that brings new sources to bear on question, or brings new questions to better-known sources
Analysis and Interpretation	Draws on little or no evidence, treats related evidence as unrelated, or draws weak or simplistic connections	Some appropriate use of evidence, but uneven; begins to establish connections and implications of source material	Feasible evidence appropriately selected and not overinterpreted; brings together related sources in productive ways; thoroughly discusses implications of sources	Fully exploits the richness of the sources and is sufficiently persuasive in analysis; develops insightful connections and patterns that require intellectual creativity

Writing Mechanics

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Grammar and Spelling, Usage	Significantly impairs readability	Frequent or serious errors	Some minor errors	Virtually no errors
Organization	Needs significant improvement	Structure is of inconsistent quality; may be choppy and/or have redundancies or disconnections	Structure supports the argument; clearly ordered sections fit together well	Structure enhances the argument; strong sections and seamless flow
Clarity, Style, ­Readability (as Appropriate to Genre and Discipline)	Gets in the way of reading for content	Beginning to be comfortable with appropriate conventions, though style is inconsistent or uneven	Effective prose style; follows relevant scholarly conventions; emergence of voice	Mastery of the genre, including elegant style, established voice

AHA History Tuning Project: History Discipline Core

History is a set of evolving rules and tools that allows us to interpret the past with clarity, rigor, and an appreciation for interpretative debate. It requires evidence, sophisticated use of information, and a deliberative stance to explain change and continuity over time. As a profoundly public pursuit, history is essential to active and empathetic citizenship and requires effective communication to make the past accessible to multiple audiences. As a discipline, history entails a set of professional ethics and standards that demand peer review, citation, and toleration for the provisional nature of knowledge.

Core competencies are numbered and learning outcomes are listed as bullet points below.

History students can:

1. Engage in historical inquiry, research, and analysis.
   • Develop a disciplined, skeptical stance and outlook on the world that demands evidence and sophisticated use of information.
   • Understand the dynamics of change over time.
   • Explore the complexity of the human experience, across time and space.
   • Evaluate a variety of historical sources for their credibility, position, and perspective.
   • Read and contextualize materials from the past with appropriate precision and detail.
2. Practice historical empathy.
   • Value the study of the past for its contribution to lifelong learning and critical habits of mind that are essential for effective and engaged citizenship.
   • Develop a body of historical knowledge with range and depth.
   • Recognize the ongoing provisional nature of knowledge.
   • Interpret the past in context; contextualize the past on its own terms.
   • Explore multiple historical and theoretical viewpoints that provide perspective on the past.
   • Recognize where they are in history.
3. Understand the complex nature of the historical record.
   • Distinguish between primary and secondary materials and decide when to use each.
   • Choose among multiple tools, methods, and perspectives to investigate and interpret materials from the past.
   • Recognize the value of conflicting narratives and evidence.
4. Generate significant, open-ended questions about the past and devise research strategies to answer them.
   • Seek a variety of sources that provide evidence to support an argument about the past.
   • Develop a methodological practice of gathering, sifting, analyzing, ordering, synthesizing, and interpreting evidence.
   • Identify and summarize other scholars’ historical arguments.
5. Craft historical narrative and argument.
   • Generate a historical argument that is reasoned and based on historical evidence selected, arranged, and analyzed.
   • Write effective narrative that describes and analyzes the past for its use in the present.
   • Understand that the ethics and practice of history mean recognizing and building on other scholars’ work, peer review, and citation.
   • Defend a position publicly and revise this position when new evidence requires it.
6. Practice historical thinking as central to engaged citizenship.
   • Engage a diversity of viewpoints in a civil and constructive fashion.
   • Work cooperatively with others to develop positions that reflect deliberation and differing perspectives.
   • Apply historical knowledge and analysis to contribute to contemporary social dialogue.

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Sample Tasks for Demonstrating Competencies: This broad list is intended to give instructors, programs, and departments a wide range of items through which the competencies above might be demonstrated.

• Describe your own position in history in written, oral, or other forms.
• Generate class discussion questions from primary and secondary sources.
• Engage the ideas of others constructively in oral or written conversation/dialogue/discussion.
• Explain in written or oral presentation the difference between primary and secondary sources.
• Explain in written or oral presentation the different perspectives (such as author, audience, and agenda) between two or more primary sources.
• Explain in written or oral presentation the different perspectives (such as author, audience, and agenda) between two or more secondary sources.
• Demonstrate how various sources may be synthesized.
• Find appropriate materials online, in a library, or in the community and know how to cite them.
• Demonstrate the relationship between primary and secondary materials by assessing a historian’s work and recognizing the tools used to construct that historical argument.
• Contextualize a source; demonstrate in written or oral presentation what historical detail a source needs to be understood.
• Narrate, in written or oral presentation, an event from the past.
• Present and analyze, in written or oral presentation, different perspectives on an event from the past.
• Have a transcript that shows courses whose content ranges over time, space, culture, and methods.
• Use specific primary and secondary sources in examinations, discussions, and oral presentations.
• Select appropriate primary source(s) as evidence.
• Select appropriate secondary source(s) as evidence or in support of a position or argument.
• Identify existing and compelling questions about the subject.
• Pose appropriate research questions and assess the range of materials necessary to answer them.
• Write a proposal for the development of a work of history in any medium.
• Identify and cite sources and points of evidence appropriate in number and type for exercises such as an annotated bibliography, paper proposals, a semester paper, or a capstone exercise.
• Write a successful capstone research paper with appropriate citations.
• Participate in internship and/or field experience, and also the creation of an e-portfolio/blog/website that demonstrates the creation of a historical narrative and an argument for public use.
• Complete a substantial historical project autonomously.