Introduction to American Government

All exams are by e-mail:

Fall, 2009
PS 201 Section 601 (Internet)
Commentary 1 due: Friday, Sept. 11 or earlier
Midterm: 5:30 - 8:30 pm, Tuesday, October 6
Commentary 2 due: Tuesday, Nov. 24 or earlier
Term paper due: Thursday, Dec. 3 or earlier
Final exam: 5:30 - 8:30 pm, Thursday, December 10

Spring, 2010
PS 201 Section 601 (Internet)
Commentary 1 due: Thursday, Feb, 18 or earlier
Midterm: 5:30 - 8:30 pm, Thursday, March 11
Commentary 2 due: Thursday, April 8 or earlier
Term paper due: Thursday, April 22 or earlier
Final exam: 5:30 - 8:30 pm, Thursday, May 6

Warning

What?

Note: For all students, regardless of term or Internet status, the weekly reading, homework, and test assignments are found by clicking on "Weekly Assignments" at the class website at http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/ps201/. Click here for an example of exam format, with answers. Warning! You will still be responsible on exams for the weekly readings even if the website is not operating on the day of the exams, so keep up with the readings and take notes.

Textbook The course textbook is Government by the People, Brief Edition, 8/e, by Magleby & Light, ©2009 Prentice Hall, Paper; 576 pp., published Dec. 2008; ISBN-13: 9780205666379

Schedule

The fall and spring semesters are fifteen weeks long, and since there are 15 chapters in the textbook, you need to be covering about one chapter a week, correlated with the 15 "Weekly Assignments" on the course web page main menu. Summer terms, however, need to cover approximately 2.5 "weeks" of work per actual week. The main thing is to have covered "weekly topics" 1 - 7 by midterm, corresponding to textbook chapters 1 - 5, and 12 - 13.

The midterm and final dates are at the top of this syllabus. The midterm is entirely by e-mail. Unless otherwise instructed, the midterm covers through "Weekly Topic 7" (this is not the same as Chapter 7, but refers to assignments on the class web page). You must be at your computer for these exams. If you do not receive the exam by email within five minutes of the appointed hour, call the instructor immediately at the special exam-only number 1-336-521-4093. Warning: You will receive a failing grade on the exam if you mail it back to the class listserv instead of to the instructor. Exams must be mailed directly to david_garson@ncsu.edu. Save a backup copy on your computer also!

Although the review questions are online, the textbook itself should be purchased as usual through the campus bookstore. Note the midterm and final are not limited to the review questions, but also may cover the readings, discussions, lectures, and other information encountered in the course.

Where?

During regular terms, there are no physical meetings. The instructor will be available by email or telephone to help with lab work questions.

How?

1. Successfully passing the midterm and final. Preparation for these examinations is best accomplished by completing the review questions found linked from the "weekly assignment" pages of the class website, and by doing one reading per chapter (summarize the main points and be able to relate it to the chapter). You must do the main listed reading unless unavailable due to the changing nature of the web, in which case you may do one of the alternate readings listed.
2. Completing and handing in electronic copy (a file attachment in Word .doc or generic .rtf format) of one term paper assignment on a topic to be selected by you but related to one of the chapters in the textbook.

   Paper due dates: A term paper of approximately 16 double-spaced pages is is due at the date listed at the top of the syllabus. Submissions wiill not be accepted after the due date. Submissions in the last 7 days of classes prior to the due date will be graded but will not receive written feedback unless specifically requested.

   Keep in mind the following paper criteria, which also apply to news commentaries, although commentaries are much briefer and can accomplish less.

   • Please indicate your topic clearly. The paper should have a clear question introduced in the first paragraph. It should be a question about which intelligent people might disagree.
   • Then, of course, you should organize your paper around this question, which should raise an issue in political science (not journalism, history, psychology, etc.). Do not, for instance, simply have a topic that you talk "around" without a clear focus. Rambling is one of the most common problems in student papers. Avoid the "look at this, look at that" or long-list-of-quotes approaches but instead be telling a "story" in a logical order. A description of Congress or some other political institution is not an analyis.
   • . The introduction should provide the "roadmap" for the paper; there should be internal headings to guide the reader along, with transitional paragraphs linking sections; and the ending should summarize the argument and conclusions.
   • Discuss both sides of an issue, even though you may be favoring one side. Discuss both pros and cons for your issue. Give quite a bit of attention to presenting arguments which run counter to your opinions. Avoid creating oversimplified "straw men" to attack but instead be fair about opposing viewpoints. It's good to have a point of view, but it is more effective if you anticipate and rebut the other side. Failing to do this is also one of the most common mistakes of beginning political science writers.
   • Include facts, analysis, and your opinion -- not just descriptive facts and your opinion. An analysis weighs evidence on both sides of an issue, so you must seek to have empirical evidence, not just opinions and ideological arguments.
   • Relate the paper to themes of the textbook and course. This is a political science course, not one in history, journalism, or creative writing. Do not let the bulk of the paper be an historical narrative or case account, but instead try to analyze a political issue or question.
   • If you have a quote, you should have a cited reference in the back. This should be a complete, formal citation.
   • Some research is expected, say half a dozen sources/citations. If you have direct quotes or tables, you must cite. Please also cite your sources for any assertions of fact which are in dispute between the pro and con sides of the issue.
   • This is a political science course; use political science literature in your citations for at least some of your citations.
   • Use of headings and subheadings for your points is a good idea.
   • Be careful: use a spell-checker and proofread too.

   Internet students should email the instructor if feedback is wanted about grading or their papers as Internet-submitted files are not returned to students with markup. Note: Save copies of all your work in case there are problems with e-mail!!!

3. Participating in the discussion sessions.

   Internet distance education section students: You must comment to the class listserv on a current newspaper or Internet news source topic, doing so at least two times during the semester. Please number your commentaries 1 or 2. In addition to your grade on the commentaries, you are encouraged to use the class list to comment on the commentaries of others. Substantive comments of this type will yield bonus points, raising your own commentary grades.

   Commentary due dates: Commentary due dates are listed at the top of the syllabus. Submissions will not be accepted after these due dates. Submissions in the final two days before due in summer sessions will be graded but will receive grade only, not comments, unless specifically requested. Likewise, submissions in the seven days before due or in the last two weeks of regular terms or last week of summer terms will be graded but will receive grade only, not comments, unless specifically requested.

   Note: With regard to news commentaries, you may find it helpful to look at real news commentaries by columnists. Any news topic is okay. A website linking to real columnists is http://www.blueagle.com/ (Blue Eagle). Your commentary should be about the same length as a newspaper columnist's commentary. However, unlike a news columnist, you should seek to relate the specific news story to a general theme in a chapter in our class textbook (ex., relating California's electric energy crisis to the general issue of deregulation) and also cite your sources. Thus, take a current event and relate it to a general theme in the textbook. I am looking for making this specific-to-general connection, for presenting both sides fairly, for insightful analysis, and general professional tone. Grading criteria to keep in mind: interesting topic, presenting both sides, having extended analysis, not just description or opinion weighing empirical evidence, relating to broad themes in the textbook, grammar, spelling; needs to be analytical (analytic means your topic has an issue about which people can disagree, you present both sides fairly, you get evidence on both sides -- not just opinion, you evaluate, you come to a conclusion); have full citation of source; extra research avoid factual errors.

   Note: Save copies of all your work in case there are problems with e-mail!!! The newsbreak commentaries are to promote discussion: this cannot be done if they are turned in at the very end of the course, hence these timed deadlines! Some bonus points will be given for commenting on the commentaries of others.

Grading

Grade components: Midterm 25%, Final 35%, term paper 25%, commentaries and discussion 15%. Discussion includes commentaries for Internet students and class presentations for regular students. Incompletes are not accepted except for written, verifiable medical reasons. Attendance is not graded. Makeup work, if any, must be arranged within two weeks of due date at the option of the instructor, prior to two weeks before the end of classes. Please note: Grade only, without markup, is assigned for papers and commentaries turned in at the last minute (that is, during midterm week or during the last week of class).

Privacy

Final grades are posted on MyPack Portal, with its built-in system for privacy and security. Commentary grades and midterm grades are emailed coded with your student id number. Instructor comments on selected commentaries are posted to the class list: this helps class members understand better what makes for a good commentary, but if you wish such instructor comments to be kept private in your particular case, notify the instructor in writing prior to submitting any commentaries.

Course Evaluations Course evaluations are now done online at http://classeval.ncsu.edu/. Help on course evaluations is by email at classeval@ncsu.edu..

Academic Integrity Statement

Please note the existence of the University policy on academic integrity found in the Code of Student Conduct (found in Appendix L of the Handbook for Advising and Teaching). Academic misconduct will not be tolerated in this class. Academic misconduct may be defined as "any activity which tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution, or subvert the educational process". I expect complete honesty in the completion of tests and assignments. It is my understanding that the student's signature on any test or assignment means that the student neither gave nor received unauthorized aid. Beyond cheating on quizzes or exams, academic misconduct also includes the submission of plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is "the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas". Thus each argument made in the research papers which is not completely the student's own, must be footnoted or otherwise referenced to indicate its source.

"Plagiarism, or presenting another's works or ideas as one's own, is a form of stealing. The instructor reserves the right to examine any source used by the student before giving a grade on a paper, and to give and "incomplete" in the course if necessary, to allow time to obtain sources. Students should be prepared to show source material to the instructor for the purpose of verifying information. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

Academic dishonesty includes the following offenses:

1. Claiming as your own work a paper written by another student.
2. Turning in a paper that contains paraphrases of someone else's ideas but does not give proper credit to that person for those ideas.
3. Turning in a paper that is largely a restatement in your own words of a paper written by someone else, even if you give credit to that person for those ideas. The thesis and organizing principles of a paper must be your own.
4. Turning in a paper that uses the exact words of another author without using quotation marks, even if proper credit is given in a citation, or that changes the words only slightly and claims them to be paraphrases.
5. Turning in the same paper, even in a different version, for two different courses without the permission of both professors involved.
6. Using any external source (notes, books, other students, etc.) for assistance during an in-class exam, unless given permission to do so by the professor." ---- Source: Kendra Stewart et al., Columbia College

Further details on academic integrity are in NC State University's Code of Student Conduct (http://www.ncsu.edu/student_conduct).

The faculty has agreed that violations of academic integrity must have consequences. Consequently, students who cheat (behaviors cited in point 1 and 6 or similar behavior) may receive at least an F in the course; other forms of dishonesty, similar to those covered in points 2 through 5 may result in at least a 0 for the assignment.

Statement Regarding Students with Disabilities

Every attempt is made in this course to conform to university policy on disabilities, as described at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/provost/info/hat/current/appendix/appen_k.html. If you have disability-related needs, please inform the instructor of them immediately.

Career Services.

Exploring career options with your major, making decisions about your major or minor, building resumes and cover letters, preparing for interviews, developing job search strategies, maximizing career fairs, and more. Make an appointment with your career contact: Sara Concini (A-H) or Woody Catoe (I-Z). Call 515-2396. University Career Center, 2100 Pullen Hall. www.ncsu.edu/career. While primarily serving undergraduates, they are happy to make individual appointments with graduate students.

Who?

Tel. 919-515-3067
Fax 919-515-7333
Email David_Garson@ncsu.edu