HIS 394: Scholarly Review Paper

This discussion paper was the final for my history class: (HIS 394) Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. The assignment was to write a scholarly review of a peer-reviewed source that was correlated with one of the many topics we looked at in class. The history discipline was one of the “toss-up foci” of my degree and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to take 2 very unique classes as part of my degree. This class and my Appalachian History class (HIS 380) showed me 2 different sides of history that I did not have the pleasure of learning about in my educational journey, and they really broadened my horizons on how disciplines could connect.

I found connections across disciplines like the coal mine wars in the Appalachian region in the 20^th century, and how that correlated with the foundation and strengthening of labor unions in the US, which ties hand-in-hand with labor relations, which is a huge topic in HR management. Even in music, the connection between music and history is apparent and a huge part of the music discipline. Part of the music major and minor are classes on music history (to the dismay of many), but how you can find information in those classes that could apply to any historian is incredible.

This paper was actually one of the first papers I had to write after returning from a 3-semester break, and I was incredibly daunted by it. My previous major being music education did not focus on many papers, but rather performance so this was a huge test… which I did succeed to my amazement. I worked extremely hard on this paper, and I admit… I really thought this class was going to be so uninteresting and boring, there was so much I learned, and this paper shows my dedication to the subject matter towards the end of the class