HIST 3400

Modern Italy

Taught by Steven Soper


How does your course utilize writing as a mode of learning to cover course topics?

This semester in HIST 3400 (Modern Italy), I have used writing assignments to cover topics including the creation of a united Italian nation-state in the nineteenth century, and the extent of popular support for the Italian Fascist regime in the 1930s.

How does your course support writing as a process?

Together with my Teaching Assistant, Victoria Do, I have been working on using a series of small-scale (one-paragraph) writing assignments to build up to a larger (four-page) essay assignment.

What is one writing assignment in the course you are particularly excited about? 

I am especially excited about a forthcoming four-page essay assignment, based on sources that appear to offer conflicting perspectives on the Fascist regime in the 1930s.  I am calling this particular writer’s challenge, “dealing with tensions and contradictions.”    

What is one writing convention specific to your discipline that students need to know to write effectively in your class? 

I am a strong believer in the convention of writing a good paragraph, beginning with a clear topic sentence and ending with careful, critical analysis of supporting examples or illustrations. 

Why is writing critical to this course?

Writing is the key to processing large amounts of information; to developing arguments and drawing conclusions; and, above all, to communicating what we have learned to other people.   


Updated Fall 2020