Marion B. Lucas
Professor of History and
University Distinguished Professor
Office CH 224-B
Office Ph. (270) 745-5736
Office Fax: (270) 745-2950
Home Ph. (270) 843-8580
E-mail: marion.lucas@wku.edu
WKU History Department Home Page

Raleigh Tavern, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

    EACH STUDENT is expected to spend at least six (6) hours in preparation for each class assignment. During study, certain purposes should be kept constantly in mind. (1) Facts must be mastered. The study of history is hard memory work. Names, dates, terms, and similar data are basic. It is assumed that the student will master the facts in each text assignment and lecture. It is impossible to draw correct conclusions about events in history if you do not know the facts of the event. (2) The idea or theme of each chapter should be acquired. Be sure that the material in each paragraph can be written in your own words before leaving it. (3) These steps, however, are merely preliminary to the final purpose of the course which is to allow each student to become his or her own historian. That is, you must learn to interpret America's past for yourself. To accomplish this end, the student should constantly keep in mind how the most important institutions and ideas have originated, and how our strong points and weaknesses have developed.
    Students often ask me, "How is all this to be accomplished?" Frankly, there is no one way for a professor to tell a student how to study. Yet, there are certain methods that students might employ to enable them to do their best on each assignment. First, it is suggested that the student go through the assigned pages rather hurriedly, reading each heading. Secondly, the student should read each heading and the first and last sentence of each paragraph. The purpose of this scanning is to give the student the scope and content of the entire assignment. This can be accomplished in about five (5) to ten (10) minutes! Thirdly, the assignment should be read thoroughly, with proper attention to maps and pictures. Important facts and the theme of each paragraph should be noted by underlining, or writing in the book margins or on a separate piece of paper. This third process can be completed in forty-five (45) to seventy-five (75) minutes per assignment.
    This brings us to the fourth step, that of study and reflection. You should not pass on to the next paragraph until you are able to summarize what you have learned in your own words. This will consume thirty (30) to forty-five (45) minutes per assignment. The remaining fifteen (15) to thirty (30) minutes of the time allotment should be spent on the parallel reading or studying for the hour tests.
    Each student is required to take lecture notes in class; the hour tests and the final are based upon the lecture material. You must develop your own method of taking notes. Do not try to take down every word, but rather train your ear to hear the main points. Remember, the better your notes, the better you will do on the hour tests. If you miss something, leave a blank space in your notes to be filled from the textbook after class. The lecture notes should be reviewed regularly and preparations for an hour test should begin at least a week before the test.
    It is the student's responsibility to know the location of the professor's office and posted hours. If you encounter any difficulty which cannot be solved by application, consult with the professor, either during regular office hours or by special appointment. Do not wait until the end of the semester or until you receive an invitation to the instructor's office.

French Huguenot Church, Charleston, South Carolina

    Language is essential, even vital for the study of history.  Purchase a good dictionary.  I recommend Webster's New World Dictionary (latest edition).  I also recommend that you purchase, and keep with you when studying or writing, Shirley M. Miller, comp., Webster's New World 33,000 Word Book (latest edition).  This book will give you the correct spelling and dividing of most-used words.  To improve your vocabulary, I recommend purchasing a vocabulary study book such as Norman Lewis, Word Power Made Easy (latest edition) or Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis. 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary (latest edition) and, of course, retain your English grammar book for reference.  Such works will enable you to improve your vocabulary significantly.  I suggest that you approach vocabulary study systematically.  Decide on a plan such as learning one new word a day, or perhaps more practically, three words a week.  Once you develop a plan which works for you, stick with it.
   One more tip.  Learn the key rules of grammar this semester.  Know the difference between plurals and possessives.  Know what a comma splice is.  Learn the proper use of the apostrophe. And remember: commas and periods are always inside quotation marks, [," or ."] and colons and semicolons are always outside quotation marks ["; or ":].  Learn these simple rules and you will eliminate 90 percent of the most typical errors made in grammar.  One more suggestion.  Look up "topic sentence" in your grammar book and review the ideas suggested for writing them.  And by
the way, "a lot" is two words, not one!

abated, abrogate, acrimonious, adamant, adulation, aegis, aesthetics, affable, affluent, aggrandize, aggregate, alleviation, amiable, ambiguous, ambivalent, amenable, amoral, amphibious, analogy, anonymity, antebellum, antediluvian, anti-clerical, antipathy, appeasement, articulate, assiduous, assuage, astute, austere, autonomous, avarice, baroque, bellicose, blatantly, bombastic, bulwark, capitulate,capricious, caricature, cataclysmic, cause célèbre, cholera, clandestine, cogent, collaborate, complicity, conciliation, concordat, condoned, congenial, consternation, contiguous, convivial, coterie, coup d'état, covenant, credibility, crucible, dauphin, dearth, debacle, debilitated, debilitating, decorum, defame, deistic, delineate, demographic, derisively, despot, détente, deterrent, devotion, didactic, diffidence, diffusion, dint, discursive, disparage, doggedly, dogmatism, dogmatist, doldrums, dole, dragoons, duplicity, egalitarian, egregious, electorate, elegy, elucidate, emanate, emancipate, empirical, emulators, enigmatic, enmity, entities, enunciated, epitomize, eschewed, estrangement, ethereal, ethics, euphemism, euphoria, exchequer, expropriation, extralegal, fait accompli, feints, fetters, flagrant, fledgling, flout, fluctuation, foment, freemason, galvanize, garner, hegemony, hierarchy, ideological, impecunious, imperious, impetuosity, impetus, impinged, inculcate, incumbent, indelible, indemnification, indemnity, indigenous, ineptitude, ineptitude, ineptitude, ineptly, inequities, inexorable, inextricably, inimical, innate, insidious, instigators, interregnum, intransigent, intrusion, intuition, irony, irrational, laissez faire, lucrative, ludicrous, machinations, maldistribution, melee, mercurial, metaphysics, meticulous, monograph,
moot, mundane, neoabsolutism, nominal, oligarchy, opulent, oscillated, palatable, palpably, paradoxical, paternalism, patriarch, patronage, paucity, pecuniary, penchant, perfidy, perfunctory, prerogative, perquisite, philanderer, pietist, pilloried, pinnacle, plausible, plebiscite, pluralism, plurality, polemics, posthumous, postulate, preclude, preemptive, prerogative, prig, pristine,
prodigy, profligate, promulgated, propound, proscribe, protectorate, protracted, purveyor, putsch, quelling, rabid, rapprochement, rationality, recalcitrant, recapitulate, refractory, refractory, reminiscent, remunerate, residue, resilience, retrograde, reverberations, rigid, rudiments, sagacious, scandal, sectarian, secularism, seminal, servitude, sovereignty, spawned, spurn, status quo, sumptuary, superannuated, supranational, syllogisms, syndicates, synonymous, tantamount, technocrats, tempering, temporize, tercentenary, titular, touchstone, transcendence, transcendental, trauma, traumatic, tremulous, truculent, tutelage, ubiquitous, ulterior, unabashed, unicameral, unpalatable, usurpation, vagrancy, veneer, verbiage, verve, vilify virile, vituperate, virulent, vociferous, volatile, waning, waxing, writ