Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Jason Romisher
Student Number 4174456

June 3, 2021

Re: Formal Appeal of grade of A Minus for HIST 825

To the Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Arts and Science

Introductory Remarks:
My name is Jason Romisher and this letter is a summary of my case for an appeal of a grade of A Minus in HIST 825. The primary reason I am appealing my grade is that it is my opinion that Dr. Chowdhury did not meet his professional responsibilities as the Professor of a graduate level course. I received a grade of 84 in the course and feel that Dr. Chowdhury's lack of attention to his responsibilities may have impacted his ability to accurately assess my performance in the course. I am filing this appeal only after multiple attempts to resolve my concerns with Dr. Chowdhury in which he provided no specific feedback that explained why my work was not deserving of an A grade or above.

Grade Summary:
Final Grade 84
Short Paper 1 (10) 82
Short Paper 2 (20) 82
Research Paper (40) 87
Weekly Responses (10) 82
Class Participation (20) 82

Class Participation and Weekly Responses:
I am very disappointed to receive low grades (82) for class participation and the Weekly Questions course requirements. Each week, Dr. Chowdhury consistently asked me to hold my responses to the end of a question period so that he could solicit responses from the less active students. This is an excellent teaching technique but did create situations where much of the main terrain in a conversation was covered before I had a chance to speak. I did the readings in full every week and volunteered to answer just about every question that Dr. Chowdhury posed. I am also a specialist in African American history and was able to make historiographic connections with some of our content that both my peers and the Professor were not versed in. I received no less than a 90 participation grade in the five other graduate classes I took in the 2020-2021 academic year. I have compiled the 71 posts I authored in our class discussion forum which demonstrate my close engagement with the course materials and enthusiastic participation in class discussion.

Weekly Questions:
We were required to post questions for seven of the eleven weeks in the course and I posted questions for ten weeks. I also spent a lot of time and effort responding to the questions of the other students which was an optional requirement. For example, I authored nine replies during weeks six and twelve and another eight replies during week twelve. I asked Dr. Chowdhury for detailed feedback on what I could have done differently to receive an A grade in participation and the Weekly Discussion Questions and he briefly explained his expectations without specifically addressing why my posts and class participation did not meet these expectations and without feedback on how I could improve as a student. I must also question whether he kept any data on his students' weekly contributions in class and if he took the time to read over the 71 posts I authored on the weekly discussion forum.

Feedback:
I was extremely disappointed with the feedback or lack thereof that I received in this course. Dr. Chowdhury announced in class that he would have our first papers graded and returned to us shortly after they were completed. The first paper was due on February 5th and I did not get my paper returned until April 3rd which was only after I finally prompted Dr. Chowdhury on April 2nd to ask for feedback. The course had two short papers and the second short paper had three possible topics with staggered deadlines. The deadline for the first two topics passed without feedback being received from the first paper and finally with a week to go before the third deadline, I was forced to ask for my first paper to be graded so I could have some idea what the grading expectations for the course were. I was considering writing a paper on the first topic but did not want to do so without getting my first paper back.

The only other feedback I received in this course was a meeting I had with Dr. Chowdhury to discuss my ideas for the major course paper. He asked all members of the class to meet with him to discuss our papers. I had two broad ideas and he suggested I look into the topic I eventually completed my paper on without providing any other sort of guidance or direction. After this conversation, he asked the class to submit an essay proposal which was a list of research questions and sources which he promised to provide feedback on within 48 hours. This requirement was not on the course syllabus and received no grade. I received no response from Dr. Chowdhury about this submission. On May 16th, four days after the deadline when final marks were to be submitted, the class received an email saying that our final grades had been posted. This is when I received my grades for my second short paper, my research paper, my class participation, and weekly responses. Both papers had no feedback at all and just a number grade. Dr. Chowdhury had said that it was customary in the Department of History that final papers did not receive feedback and that if students wanted feedback that we would have to ask. I firmly believe that graduate students should not have to ask to have their papers graded with descriptive feedback. I have taken graduate level courses at two other institutions and have always had my papers returned in a timely fashion with descriptive feedback.

I found the lack of feedback in this course and the long waits to receive grades to be injurious to my mental health. I logged in several times a day for months to see if my work had finally been returned. I also did not appreciate having to submit an essay proposal which was never assessed or commented upon. I have been extremely distressed by my final grade in this course and it did not help that Dr. Chowdhury took eleven days to respond to my May 20th email. I offered to resolve this matter with him by demonstrating my knowledge and understanding of the course materials in a meeting and he declined to give me this opportunity. I have never had a course experience at the Graduate or Undergraduate level where the Professor provided students with little to no descriptive feedback and took months to grade a paper. I am also disappointed that he declined to provide me with any means of raising my grade by just 1 percentage point so that I could achieve an A grade which I have worked very hard to achieve.

Attachments and Assessment Requests
I have attached a compendium of my Weekly Response posts. I ask that you review my posts and hopefully adjust my Class Participation and Weekly Response grades. If this adjustment results in an A grade, please disregard reviewing my papers which I have also attached. The one paper I received feedback on stated that I did not say anything original about Global History. I disagree with that assessment and also want to state that coming up with original contributions to the methodological field of Global History was not in the assignment instructions. My paper answered the major question posed in the assignment instructions and provided an analysis of two sources that were outside the course materials to demonstrate how these sources fit into a Global History methodology and how they could have been improved if the historians had used a Global History framework. After my name at the bottom of this letter, I have included the assignment instructions for the first paper and the final paper. I am unable to provide the instructions for the second short paper because the course materials were no longer viewable on ONQ as of June 3rd.

Concluding Thoughts
I sincerely believe that my efforts and achievement are deserving of an A in this course. According to Dr. Chowdhury, I received the highest grade in the class on the research paper component which was the most heavily weighted aspect of the course. Based on my preparation, enthusiasm, activity, and hard work, I find it unacceptable that my class participation and Weekly Response posts did not meet Dr. Chowdhury's expectations for an A grade both for the class participation and Weekly Response aspects of the course and my overall grade.

Thank you for your time and consideration in assessing my appeal.

Sincerely,

Jason Romisher


Assignment Instructions

HIST 825
Winter 2021
1
Short Paper I: 10 of the Course Grade
The Assignment:
In What is Global History, Sebastian Conrad argues that ¿¿Global history was born out
of a conviction that the tools historians had been using to analyze the past were no
longer sufficient.¿ Further, he states, ¿¿In particular, two ¿birth defects¿¿ of the modern
social sciences and humanities hinder our ability to achieve a systematic grasp of
processes that span the world.¿ He identifies the two birth defects with the facts that
¿¿the genesis of the social sciences and humanities was tied to the nation-state¿ and
that ¿¿the modern academic disciplines were deeply Eurocentric.¿ (p. 3-4).
Using the required and recommended readings from the syllabus and up to five
external sources write an essay to argue how global history is uniquely positioned
to address these two fundamental birth defects of the discipline of history. Further,
is it the case that the two birth defects identified by Conrad are, in essence, one and
the same
Thesis:
The essay will be thesis driven. You are allowed to disagree with Conrad or the
thought that global history addresses the fundamental inadequacies of the discipline
of history. If you choose to do so, the essence of your disagreement will form the
core of the thesis.
Analysis
Your treatment of global history should be attentive to some of the following
overlapping dimensions of historical scholarship:
- Spatial concepts
- Eurocentrism
- Agency
- Emancipatory ethics
- Problem space or zeitgeist
Be sure to cite from the sources for each analytic dimension.
Structure of the paper
Treat this as a regular thesis-driven essay with an Introduction-Body-Conclusion
structure:
Introduction ¿¿ the introductory paragraph should indicate a clear and strong thesis
statement. It can be devised as a problem or a hypothesis or simply as an
observation. Choose thesis statements that can be supported or tested through an
analysis. Choosing a good statement is the key to your success in this paper. Once
you have stated the thesis describe how you propose to support or analyze it. What
HIST 825
Winter 2021
2
will be your method for the rest of the essay What do you intend to achieve What
are the limitations
Body ¿¿ The supporting data and analysis is presented here. Do not only write a
descriptive account of the supporting materials, but also demonstrate how they fit
in within your larger frame of argument. In other words, do not include irrelevant
pieces of data just because you have found them. If you are using any data make
sure they are a part of the picture you are trying to paint. Let one argument lead to
another naturally so that the whole body of analysis is coherent. The body of the
paper can and should include a number of paragraphs. Try not to write paragraphs
longer than 250 words.
Conclusion ¿¿ conclude your paper by quickly summarizing what you have achieved
and argue how you have demonstrated an understanding and an analysis of your
thesis statement. What do you think is your major achievement in this paper Have
you been able to bring in any sense of originality Do not regurgitate your thesis
statement or just write a plain summary of the body. Write the implications of what
you have done for the field you have chosen to research. Do not end your paper with
a quotation. The conclusion should emphasize the importance of your thesis
statement and provide a sense of completeness to your work. Carefully frame the
final sentence; it should leave an impression on the mind of the reader.
Style and formatting:
Refer to the following webpage for a detailed discussion on aspects of writing
essays. It is an excellent resource and I suggest that you read it before writing the
paper.
https://www.queensu.ca/history/undergraduate/academic-resources
For citations, use the Chicago style. Refer to Kate Turabian¿¿s Manual for citation
practices in historical essays Multiple copies available in Stauffer:
https://qcat.library.queensu.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfobibId2536680
Page Length and formatting
The paper should be 4-5 pages in length double-spaced not including the bibliography.
Use footnotes and not in-text parenthetical citations. Do not use endnotes.
Use Times New Roman 12-point font aligned to the Left.
Provide page numbers. Leave at least 2.5cms on all sides.
Use a cover sheet.
Upload on OnQ. Use the following file name protocol: LastName825Short1.docx
Due date: Due on February 05 at 4pm.


HIST 825, W 2021
1
HIST 825: Final paper guidelines
The final paper (20-25 pages) is the most important assignment in this course, and it accounts for 40 of the course grade. The paper is due by midnight on April 23.
Before you begin the final paper, you must submit a short research proposal by March 26. The research proposal should clearly indicate whether you are planning to write a historiographical or a research paper. The research proposal should include the following components:
1. Proposed paper title
2. Scope of the paper: Historiographical or research paper
3. Guiding question: what is the historiographical question that you want to ask and how does it intervene with the existing literature Alternatively, state the research question that you want to explore in this paper.
4. Write a description of the historiographical or research question. You may write several paragraphs but the total length of the proposal (excluding the bibliography shouldn¿¿t exceed two pages double-spaced). If you have chosen to write a historiographical paper, please indicate what you aim your historiographical contribution to be. That is, what is your historiographical observation, critique, and intervention If you are writing a research paper, indicate why does the project matter and how you plan to respond to the research question.
5. Include a working bibliography. It may change and will definitely increase in size as you keep working on the paper.
I. Options
You can either choose to write an historiographical paper or a research paper. Irrespective of your choice, the paper must respond to the debates and directions of the field of global history.

Research paper: Identify a research problem and write a research paper woven around a central research question. You can choose, for example, a particular commodity, say coffee in world history, and ask a probing research question that allows you to explore the history of coffee in a world historical context. If you choose to write a research paper, you will be expected to delve into a few primary sources (electronic or otherwise) in addition to secondary sources. If needed, I will help you to identify and retrieve the primary sources best suited for the particular question at hand.
The following is a summary of my expectations. Some instructions may not directly apply to a historiographical paper.
II. Structure of the paper
The paper should have the following components:
Title page ¿¿ Title of the paper, your name, course number, my name, and the date of submission.
Abstract ¿¿ Think of the abstract as a concise description of your paper. Quickly describe the problem you are dealing with; your standpoint; and your method. Finally, in one sentence summarize the major conclusions of your paper. The abstract should be between 150 ¿¿ 200 words.
The main paper ¿¿ see below for details.
List of works cited (not bibliography) ¿¿ complete bibliographic information for all works cited in the essay. Do not include works that you have referred to, but have not cited. Do not cite class discussions.
The required page length (excluding the title and reference pages) for this essay is 20-25 pages.
Structure of the essay
The essay should have the following components:
HIST 825, W 2021
3
Introduction ¿¿ introduce the problem (historiographical or research), the context and the thesis statement
Body ¿¿ Indicate the road map, and argue your thesis
Conclusion ¿¿ outline the relevance and implications of your research for the larger field.
The Introduction
The main purpose of the introduction is to introduce and establish the key historical problem that you are about to analyze (this is the groundwork for the thesis), to catch the reader¿¿s attention, and to clearly state the central thesis.
The thesis: Typically, this is the last sentence of the introduction. Think of it as a one-sentence answer to the central historical question that you are exploring. Good theses should make a fresh scholarly argument and develop a new perspective on the historical question.
The thesis should be clearly identifiable and specific. The best thesis statements are not linear unidirectional statements. The thesis should answer the following question: why (or, more typically, how) did it happen
From this perspective, the introduction should answer the following questions:
a) What is the problem (What happened Establish the context)
b) Why should we care (The historical importance of the problem)
c) How did it happen or, why did it happen (This is the thesis)
Thus, the thesis has no meaning unless you establish a case for it. Theses have meaning only within the historical context.
The Body
This is where you argue your thesis and provide data to support your thesis. Ideally, although this depends on the specific thesis, the arguments will evolve from general to more specific ones as you progress.
The body is composed of paragraphs. Each paragraph serves as a small thesis that supports the main thesis. Set the topic of the paragraph in the first sentence. Provide both evidential support (data, arguments provided by other historians, quotations etc.) and analytical support. The evidential support finds meaning through the analytical support. Finally, provide a transitioning sentence that sets the context for the following argument/ paragraph. The transitioning sentence necessitates the writing of the next paragraph.
The Conclusion
Pull all the arguments together to reaffirm your thesis. Most importantly, the conclusion should argue the larger implication and importance of your research. Finally, where does this paper lead to Provide bigger questions, further avenues of research, deeper implications. The last sentence should leave a lingering ¿aftertaste.¿¿ The tone and tenor of the ¿aftertaste¿¿ will depend on the subject matter
III. Formatting guideline
HIST 825, W 2021
4
Pay attention to the following requirements while writing your paper:
Papers should be printed only on one side. Use only black ink. Do not include any frills and fancy decorations. Do not use images. You can use tables and charts if they lend support to your arguments in a meaningful way.
Typeface and font size: Use only Times New Roman (or, Cambria), 12 point throughout the text. Use smaller size for the abstract. Use 14 point bold for the title.
Line spacing: The entire paper should be double-spaced. Only the abstract should be single-spaced and double indented. The entire text should be left-aligned. Only the abstract should be justified.
Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides.
Pagination: Lower right hand side in simple numerals. Do not put page number on the title page. The first page of the essay should be numbered ¿1.¿¿
Footnote: Times New Roman (or, Cambria), 10-point size, single-spaced. Do not use endnotes.
Citation format:
Please follow the citation practices recommended in Kate Turabian¿¿s manual. In general follow the citation norms given here: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
Refer to the following resources on writing history papers:
Harvard Writing Center: The Harvard Writing Project (Google search)
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/hsb41/course_info/assignments/Paper_tips.pdf
Finally, proofread, proofread, proofread, proofread¿ and have fun