· The courses emphasize cultural, rather than diplomatic, military, political, or social history. However, other kinds of history ought to provide context for a focus on the cultural. The courses contextualize cultural creations within a historical continuity; chronological and geographical perspectives are mainstays of the courses. Cultural artifacts (e.g., poems, operas, paintings, temples) should reside in a course's foreground.

· Instructors should find occasions and material to relate Western to non-Western cultures; the courses are to be Western-oriented but global in scope.

· History, literature, philosophy, performing and visual arts should all be considered.

· The courses are designed to inculcate critical thinking, primarily through the study of primary materials.

· The courses are to be writing- and reading-intensive. They are therefore to operate under the assumption that writing is a mode of thought, a means of clarification, and they are to include a multi-staged research paper (at least three stages--see a possible model for this project here), that is, a multisourced and analytical research paper, and exam essays; in-class writing is an option, as are other writing assignments.

· There will be at least two exams, one of them a final exam, each including essay writing.

· Some group work should be encouraged in the course, possibly with several individual projects as outcomes (i.e., a group might work together on a broadly related set of topics but each group member would produce an individual report, paper, or website).

· The courses ought to include some oral reporting; for example, the documented paper project might well include an oral report.

· The courses are to culminate in a portfolio of student work. Teachers will engage in group readings of student research papers.

· There is a common text  for each respective course. For Hum 211 the text will be a customized version of Janetta Rebold Benton, and Robert Di Yanni, Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, Custom Vol.. I Package (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2005), a special version of the normal first volume, specifically designed for NJIT (ISBN 053646281x); when this book is ordered with this ISBN, the book will automatically come with a student study guide, a Signet edition of Hamlet, and a Signet edition of The Odyssey (thesethree books are free with the Benton and Di Yanni volume 1). For Hum 212 the text will be Janetta Rebold Benton, and Robert Di Yanni, Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, Vol.. II Package (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2005); the ISBN for this book is 0536463050. In addition, it is recommended, but not required, that a history text be adopted, such as:  Bulliet, Richard W., et al. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. Brief 2nd Ed. (Boston / New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003); or, Anglin, Jay Pascal, and William J. Hamblin, World History to 1648 (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) and Allen, J. Michael, and James B. Allen, World History from 1500 (New York: HarperCollins, 1993). Another text that may prove useful is: Mack, Maynard, ed., The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), or other texts with complete primary sources. It is also expected that other sources such as novels would be used in the courses. Below please find a list of Penguin editions that are discounted when ordering the Benton and Di Yanni books. See also specific respective requirements for each course.

List of discounted Penguin editions when ordering one of the above Benton and Di Yanni books: