My students’ expressions were blank when I asked how the research projects were coming along. The class, an upper-level hybrid course, meets face to face only once a week. Our limited time together has led to my wanting each meeting to be chalk full of content to prepare students for the readings, films, and independent work that follows online. On this day, however, I prodded them with questions about an assignment they were working on independently: have you found adequate primary and secondary sources? Have you met with the reference librarian? Are you comfortable with the assigned method of citation? A painful silence met each of my queries.     As an historian, I love research. I enjoy even the most general search of a library’s digital catalog -- all the better when I encounter an old-fashioned card catalog. Sometimes I will do a search “just to see” what the library has on a topic to satisfy my curiosity. My students, I’ve discovered, do not share my sense of excitement and wonder in the library. For a history professor this reluctance on the part of students to engage in research can be quite challenging.     In general, my students are very uncomfortable in the library. When I taught at a residential four-year college I could safely assume that the students had been through a library introduction as part of freshman orientation. At a community college, however, the students’ level of preparedness is dramatically uneven. As a result I have incorporated library instruction into every one of my survey-level courses. The knowledgeable reference librarians work with me to plan the class time. I share with them the goals of the assignment and together we brainstorm the kinds of questions and challenges the students might face as they begin their work. Critical to this class time in the library is my participation alongside the students. As they follow along with the librarian, I do as well. The benefit of my participation is that students see that I value what is being taught to them. If I leave them with the librarian and hang out in my office during their instruction then I lose the opportunity to share the experience and, more importantly, to watch them squirm in their library-induced discomfort; both are critical to my understanding of who they are as students. The students in this particular course should have had sufficient academic training to conduct the research projects on their own. Their silent response to my questions, however, told me otherwise. With only a couple weeks left in the semester I had to take a drastic step: for the following week’s meeting we would abandon content and conduct research in the library together. In future blogs for Macmillan Community I will offer suggestions as to what has worked and not worked as short research projects with my students. For now, however, I’ll end with this friendly reminder: research, like everything else we do, takes practice. I have come to accept that I cannot expect students in their early years of college to successfully (and comfortably) conduct research without a lot practice. To even the brightest first or second-year college student, a research project that comprises a large percentage of the final course grade can be incredibly overwhelming. With manageable assignments, patient instruction, and guidance, however, all students can learn to successfully navigate library research without fear. ... View more

According to Yale Daily News, History is back on top of the Majors list starting with the class of 2019! http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/04/06/history-returns-to-the-top-major-for-class-of-2019/  As I visit various history departments across the country, I often see elaborate displays on the department walls showing famous figures that students may be surprised to learn majored in History (Conan O'Brien, Steve Carrell anybody?) However, we can all learn from one another on how to convey these applications to our students.   How are you and your department showing students the relevance of majoring in History? ... View more

Originally posted on November 8, 2016 on TIME. The political divisions throughout the U.S. haven’t always been so black and white (or red and blue). TIME’s electoral history maps dating back to 1824 shows how some elections ended in a landslide, while others were surprisingly close. ... View more

Originally posted on September 30, 2011 on Here and Now. Associate professor of history at Washington State University Matthew Sutton debates a New York Times opinion piece depicting Christian apocalypticism as a driving factor in shaping conservative political thinking. ... View more

Originally posted on November 10, 2016 on TIME. Since it’s inception, the electoral college was designed to balance the interests between highly populated and less populated states—but the biggest political issues exist between the north and south, as well as coastal and middle states. Controversy surrounding the reasons why the electoral college exists isn’t anything new—since its founding era, the electoral college has been stirring up political elections. ... View more

Originally posted in The Journal of American History. Professor Suzanne McCormack discusses her positive journey through adopting technology into her history courses to engage and educate community college students. ... View more

Originally posted on October 20, 2016 on Process: A Blog for American History. Community College of Rhode Island History professor Suzanne McCormack shares her thoughts and challenges on teaching history in the digital age in this short interview. ... View more

Originally posted on March 31, 2016 on On Top of the World. This podcast features a review of Robert Strayer’s Ways of the World, discussing its use of visual sources and representations of nomadic peoples and Western imperialism. ... View more