Canadian and World Studies

The World – Social Sciences Department

This department at Earl of March includes courses in Geography, History, the Social Sciences and Family Studies courses. Students obtain 2.5 compulsory courses from our department. These include grade 9 Canadian Geography, grade 10 Canadian History and grade 10 Civics. Due to the excellence of our program and the dedication of our teachers, the vast majority of EOM students choose to take optional courses with us in grades 10, 11, and 12. Thus we provide the most extensive senior Canadian & World Studies, and Humanities & Social Sciences programs in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. In addition, EOM is the only high school in Ontario that successfully offers two Advanced Placement history courses in European and American history. These enriched courses allow our students to obtain university credits while in high school. Lastly, the World – Social Sciences Department offers five French Immersion courses leading to the French Immersion Certificate.

The quality of our program is reflected in the educational trips that our teachers offer on an ongoing basis. Field trips to local sites include visits to the Parliament Buildings, the Supreme Court, the Bank of Canada, the Courthouse, the Museum of Civilization, and to firms in the fashion design industry. International destinations have recently included Boston, Washington D.C., Italy, and Central America.

To further the goals of our program, EOM’s history teachers have developed a partnership with Carleton University’s Department of History. Professors have provided their expertise in lectures to our students both at our school and at Carleton. Assistance also has been provided to our students as they produced historical documentaries and many learning materials have been donated to our department.

A key characteristic of our department is our team’s teaching of an extensive skills continuum from grades nine to twelve. Over the last decade, we have developed a unique approach to the process of researching and writing essays in the independent study unit. Beginning in grade nine, students write a short geography report and by grade 12 they produce a sophisticated, analytical essay. Incorporated into the grade 12 process is a visit to Carleton University which exposes students to the organization and resources of a university library. Our firm belief in developing transferable skills such as time mangement, research techniques, essay writing skills, and critical thinking provides our graduates with clear advantages in their post-secondary studies.

Our skills program has two tracks. The details are presented in chart form.

Comments from Recent Earl of March Graduates

Megan Boate
Having taken a first year Politics course at Queen’s this year, I can certainly say that the Earl of March essay “progam” gave me a competitive edge when it came to writing my first university level research papers. While my professors and tutorial leaders spent what I thought was a tiresome amount of time covering proper research and documentation methods all I could think was: “Doesn’t everyone already know this?” Apparently not! In fact, many people seemed to believe that two to three sources were sufficient to draft an entire paper, and that among these select sources was Wikipedia. Having graduated from Earl of March, I knew this was not the case! I knew that many sources should be used when writing a credible and knowledgeable piece, where to find this information, what to document and source, how to select relevant points, and to perform an analysis on the information I was using rather than slap it down in quotations. So while many of my fellow classmates were able to collaboratively achieve a class average on the paper of around 63% I was able to score much higher than this without all the hassle of trying to branch away from poor research and writing habits. I simply did what I did in high school and hoped for the best – and it worked! So, although it may seem a long and drawn out process now, trust me- its highly effective and will allow you to breeze through first year university essay writing.

Earl of March, Class of 2008
Queen’s University – Class of 2012

Stewart Catroll

As a history and political science major I am required to write essays on a weekly basis. Thus, in order to succeed at university it is absolutely essential that I am able to properly research and construct an essay. Fortunately, the Social Sciences Department at Earl of March Secondary School does an excellent job of teaching students to write at the university level. I cannot emphasize enough the advantage that being a graduate of Earl of March has given me in university; in fact, I still keep a copy of Earl of March’s essay style guide in my desk. I have seen a staggering number of my colleagues, some of whom are graduates of Canada’s most prestigious private schools, struggle because of their complete inability to research, write, and format an essay. I want to take this opportunity to illustrate two specific areas where I feel Earl of March distinguishes itself from other schools that are trying to teach their students how to write. Firstly, the Social Sciences Department at Earl places great importance on teaching students how to conduct research. During my time at Earl of March I was taught how to use important research tools such as university libraries, online databases, peer-reviewed journals, and periodicals, as well as how to distinguish legitimate information from faulty information. My ability to effectively research my topics has allowed me to write far superior papers than most of my peers. In addition, the emphasis that Earl of March places on properly formatted essays has allowed me to avoid many potential pitfalls in university. Several of my friends in university have received failing grades because they were never taught how to properly cite a paper using accepted styles for footnoting and bibliographies. Overall, my experience with the Social Sciences Department at Earl of March has allowed me to achieve a remarkable degree of success in university.

Earl of March, Class of 2008
Dalhousie University – Class of 2012

Scott Liang
After taking many courses in the social sciences department at Earl of March, the process of writing essays has become almost effortless. If your program of study is in a social sciences or arts faculty, your ability to produce quality essays will be essential for the rest of your university career. So far I’ve obtained excellent marks on research papers that I’ve written for my university courses. The research process and formalities of writing an excellent essay will be ingrained in you by the World-Social Sciences Department. They don’t teach you how to crawl or walk; they teach you how to run! The formula that is taught at EOM (PEP, research notes, outline, and rough drafts) will surely line you up for success when writing papers at the university level. I’m glad that I learned the foundations of producing an excellent paper while I was at Earl of March because it has made my transition to university so much easier. There are so many things to stress about when entering university, it is good to know that writing quality essays is not one of them.

Earl of March, Class of 2007
University of Ottawa – Class of 2012

Helena Liu
“I never thought writing an essay hard – I mean you just throw a few words together, right? Then I met Mr. Talarico, my grade 10 history teacher. I had Mr. Talarico again for grade 12 Ecomomics, and this time I was prepared for the game. I produced an essay that satisfied him. I now realize that he’s trying to prepare students for university, and he did a great job of preparing me. I survived my first English class at Queen’s because I knew how to organize my thoughts clearly. Being able to get my messages straight got me decent marks. Learning skills such as footnotes and citations will place you one step ahead of the crowd at university. Having written three social sciences summatives during my high school career really does give you the writing skills that you need for university. ”

Earl of March, Class of 2008
Queen’s University – Class of 2012

Edward Dodsworth
“Writing is key to a good education, and by extension, structured writing is key to an advanced education. At Earl of March Secondary School, strong writing is fundamental to the learning process in the social sciences department and is a source of pride amongst both students and teachers. When I began my instruction at Earl of March, I regarded the process of writing preached by the teachers there with significant scepticism, however, upon entering university, the somewhat arduous tasks such as the Preliminary Essay Proposal and essay Outlines that I had been introduced to in high school became not only useful but necessary tools to my everyday writing. I found that not only was this expertise in writing an unexpected gift but a unique one as well. Few students from other schools were privileged enough to receive the same attention to essay writing that I had received at Earl of March and it has given me the ability to step above and beyond my colleagues and achieve easily where others have difficult.”

Earl of March, Class of 2008
Carleton University – Class of 2012

Ashley Neale
“Starting university this year, I feel that I have been well prepared by the essay skills taught by the Earl of March World-Social Sciences Department. In my first year history course, our first assignment was to learn how to critically read a periodical article, a skill that I have good experience in handling because of the essay and reading skills I developed at the Earl. In writing essays for my history and politics courses, I have been using the outline format I learned at the Earl which has been a great help in developing my ideas and writing essays. Also, part of my grade in history depends on learning how to do proper research and using periodicals which are both skills I learned how to do properly at the Earl. Overall, I feel that the essay format and research skills work done at the Earl have helped me at university and will continue to help me succeed at Trent University.”

Earl of March, Class of 2008
Trent University – Class of 2012

Scott Matys
“Firstly I wanted to extend my thanks to you and the social science staff for the excellent teaching. The skills I learned from the ISU papers put me so far ahead of the other kids it was almost unfair. (When everyone else is asking what to cite and how to form a thesis… it fosters confidence.)”

Earl of March, Class of 2006
Carleton University – Class of 2010

Laura Kingston
“I think that the most important aspect was the emphasis that the World-Social Sciences Department placed on reading and writing. Especially with AP, I found the amount and difficulty of the reading in university was no different than high school. I found most other students overwhelmed with the amount of readings, especially when you have to take the initiative to do it yourself.
In terms of essays, most people did not even know where to start. My Sociology TA actually had to spend a class explaining the difference between a scholarly article and a popular magazine article. I found the library sessions at Carleton to be particularly useful because I had no problem finding the research I required. However, many people in my classes did not even know how to use a library catalogue.
I was talking to Matt S. at U of T the other day and he felt much the same way. He said that in terms of constructing a thesis and arguments, he felt way ahead of the majority of the people in his classes.
Also, in my Canadian history seminar, I had to lead a seminar each semester…. All the other students simply paraphrased their articles and were unable to lead discussion…
Overall, yours was the most extensive preparation I received throughout high school in reading, preparing seminars, and writing essays that was most helpful.”

Earl of March, Class of 2006
Queens University – Class of 2010

Nathan Abdelnour
“The Earl of March World – Social Sciences Department prepared me for university in several very positive ways. The method of handling essays taught me the values of time management and the need to respect deadlines. The department’s teachers also taught me the importance of keeping up with class readings as well as how to write a well structured and effective essay – a key component of university success. Finally, you made the course material interesting and exciting, thus, bringing me to where I am today.”

Earl of March – Class of 2004

Meghan Chanter
“I have decided to do a double major in History and English and become a high school teacher. I just wanted to say thank you to each of you for being such wonderful teachers…. You prepared me so well for university (I am receiving As and A+s on all of my papers so far) and I feel very confident in my writing skills because of the preparation I received when I wrote essays for you. Thank you so much for introducing me to my love of these subjects which are now leading me towards a new career path.”

Earl of March – Class of 2003

Emad Hussein
“During my time at the Earl, I gained a variety of skills from the World-Social Sciences Department. The most important has been the ability to craft a quality research paper. The steps that students go through teaches them to be efficient and organized. As a second year student, I can honestly say that had it not been for this particular skill learned from the teachers of this department, I would not have survived first year and I do have the confidence to write strong papers.”

Earl of March – Class of 2003

Dayna Hawkins
“I’ve had to write many essays in first year and compared to other students from different high school backgrounds, I’ve done pretty well on all that I’ve written. I’m doing better than others because of the World – Social Sciences teachers at the Earl. The department’s independent study process really prepared me for what university professors expect. I feel that because of your teaching methods, I have a great advantage over many other students who are frustrated with their marks…. I just wanted to say thank you and keep up the good work – it does not go unnoticed!”

Earl of March – Class of 2003

Joanna Elliott
“As a university history student, much of my time over the last four years has been spent writing term papers. The World-Social Science Department essay process was definitely the most important thing I took away from high school. It showed me how to organize my research and how to come up with a solid thesis statement. Furthermore, without the essay guide I would have been completely lost trying to make footnotes and endnotes. Learning this process in high school made all the difference for me. I have completed four years of university and I definitely would not have been able to achieve the same level of success without my experience at the Earl.”

Earl of March – Class of 2002
University of Ottawa – Class of 2006

Jennifer Lim
“My studies at Queen’s in History and Geography required excellent writing and research skills. At Earl of March my teachers worked diligently to ensure that I left high school with the ability to write analytically and to use a variety of sources during the research process. They carefully oversaw every step of the process and spent a considerable amount of time to address any concerns/problems. This process that was developed at EOM was applied throughout my university studies. Without the training and methods that my high school teachers taught me, I would not have been prepared to meet the challenges of my university program.”

Earl of March – Class of 2001
Queen’s University – Class of 2005