POL. 100: WRITING, RESEARCH & ANALYSIS FOR THE POLITICS MAJOR Fall 2013 / Instructor: Professor Mindy Thomas

INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Email: [email protected] or [email protected]. Office: 205 Garaventa; Telephone: 510 /815-4478; Office hours: MF 1:30 to 2:30, or see me after class.

COURSE PREREQUISITES: English 5 and at least one Intro to Politics course in any of the four major areas. In special cases, the instructor’s permission may be substituted for the Into to Politics course . TEXT AND MATERIALS: Writing Research Papers Across the Curriculum, Susan M. Hubbuch (5th Ed.). Class handouts, library materials, and on-line sources will also be used in the course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to help you learn research, analytical, and writing concepts and skills in the political science field. The course covers both objective and persuasive writing. The course curriculum is designed to make use of, adapt, and expand concepts, skills, and practices developed in English 5. This course will familiarize the student with analytical, research and writing skills in all four areas of the political science major: American Politics, Political Theory, International Politics, and Comparative Politics. The course methodology helps the student learn by presenting all of these skills and concepts in a “building blocks” system that presents basic skills and concepts in short assignments, and then builds on these basic skills and concepts to support their mastery in longer and more complex assignments.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After taking this course, the student will be able to demonstrate:

1. Clear and accurate understanding of political science writing in all four areas of the major; 2. Ability to produce effective written and oral communication in all four areas of the major; including competent citation, clear and careful organization around a competent thesis, professional format, grammatical presentation, analytical accuracy and intellectual depth; 3. Mastery of basic and more complex forms of argument in political science, including knowledge of types of political science writing, competent presentation of, and support for, both objective and persuasive analysis in all four areas of the major; 4. Effective engagement in the creative processes of intellectual political science writing, research, and analysis, including techniques for brainstorming, collaboration, revising, flexibility in thinking and research and reflecting on feedback, and 5. Competent, upper division level research skills in all four areas of the major. ATTENDANCE POLICY: There are no excused absences for this course except in the case of illness or urgent circumstances. This includes absences related to participation in athletic programs. At the instructor’s discretion, absences must be reasonably documented and the instructor reserves the right to lower the student’s grade up to one full grade for excessive absences or excessive tardiness.

GRADING POLICY All assignments are given a numerical score based on the number of maximum points possible for the assignment. Your cumulative number of points at the end of the course determines your grade according to the percentage of points you earn out of points possible in the entire course. For example, if you earn 95% of all possible points you will receive an A in the course; if you earn 80% of all possible points will receive a B in the course. The maximum number of points possible in this course is 870 points. Please see individual assignments below for maximum points available on specific assignments. Grading scale: 100%- 93% = A / 92-90% = A- / 89%-85% = B+ / 84%-80% = B / 79%-78% = B- / 77%- 75% = C+ / 74%-70% = C / 69%-68% = C- / 67%-65% = D+ / 64%-60% = D / 59% and below = F

THE SPECIAL NATURE OF THIS COURSE: Please note the following very important information. (1) late papers are not accepted unless there is an illness or urgent circumstance reasonably documented at the instructor’s discretion. All papers are due, on time, in print, when indicated below. (2) The course is based on weekly assignments and weekly feedback from your instructor and/or your peers. This requires complete cooperation among all of us. (3) Because this course is “scaffolded” (constructed on a building blocks system of increasing complexity) the course requires you to master basic skills, then develop and expand them on the schedule below. (4) The course schedule is designed to give you feedback on each already- submitted assignment before the next assignment is due in order to incorporate learned skills, concepts and feedback. (5) For all of the above reasons it is extremely important to stay current. If you think you are falling behind please see the instructor for help and support ASAP!

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS WITH MAXIMUM POSSIBLE POINTS: ● treasure hunt: basic traditional, and computer-assisted sources, with basic bibliography citation of 10 sources (20 pts) ● treasure hunt: expanded traditional and computer-assisted sources, with bibliography citation of 10 sources (20 pts) ● Basic open-universe problem to locate “best” sources: American Politics (40 pts) with bibliography ● 3-page paper using open-universe problem in American Politics and “best” sources located. (50 pts) ● 3-page closed-research problem with footnote citation: comparative Politics). (50 pts) ● Closed-universe analytical problem (American politics) with thesis statement and outline of major issues with sub issues. (50 pts) ● 4-page Midterm paper, using American Politics, closed-universe problem above, with footnotes included in text. (100 pts) ● Finding exercise in international relations (50 pts) ●Oral presentation of research findings in international relations problem (50 pts) ● Closed-universe analytical (“objective”) paper presented, and the student develops it into a persuasive statement (50 pts ) ● Rewrite the closed-universe, persuasive problem above (25 pts) ● 1-page personal reflection on what goes well for you in research and what frustrates you or is difficult (15 pts ● Final paper: research phase, tentative outline, thesis, issue statement, and tentative list of sources for final paper: American politics (50 pts) ● Final 8-page paper with footnotes in text and bibliography (due at scheduled time of final) (300 pts).

OTHER APPLICABLE COLLEGE POLICIES: Please be aware that this course is governed by the College academic honesty policy relating to students and that students with disabilities are entitled to accommodation as determined by the Office of Student Disability Services. Please feel free to ask the instructor, or make a private appointment for consultation, if you would like any help or information regarding these policies.

LIBRARY RESOURCES STATEMENT: Library staff members are available to help you as you find appropriate sources for your papers. The reference librarians are available to help you brainstorm strategies to search for sources, use appropriate databases, evaluate quality of sources, and answer your questions. Specifically, as political scientists we work closely with Sue Birkenseer. She should be the first person at the library you contact for help with locating sources. If she is not available there are other reference librarians waiting to help you when the library is open. Sue’s contact information is: [email protected], and 925-631-4255. You can also click on the “Ask Us!” link on the library home page for assistance. We will also participate in two workshops as a class at the library.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION: (1) Please feel free to eat or drink in class as long as you are not disrupting your colleagues or the class activities. (2) Please turn off your cell phone in class unless it is absolutely needed (e.g., internet research that might come up). Lap tops are fine for note taking, but any student who texts in class will receive an automatic absence for the day. (4) Please feel free to ask me to repeat or review material in class if you find yourself confused or lost; I am happy to do so. (5) I am also happy to go over course information privately on office hours, as well. (6) In a scaffolded course such as this, mastery of later, more complex skills and concepts depends upon mastery of earlier, basic skills and concepts. Please do not be shy about asking for clarification or help at any time! In or out of the classroom I am happy to support your learning efforts – not only is it my job, it’s my pleasure!

THE CENTER FOR WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM: Students in this course are welcome to drop in or make appointments for one-on-one sessions with a CWAC Writing Advisor. Students may request weekly or bi-weekly sessions with the same peer Student Advisor. The CWAC is in Dante 202, is open 5-8 p.m. Sunday, and 2-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The phone number is 925/631-4684. Students can visit the CWAC for a wide variety of purposes, including but not limited to, brainstorming, help with organization and writing style, critical reading skills, citation form, draft revision, and research methods. A student consulting with the CWAC should always bring his or her assignments, texts, and related material. The CWAC engages in a collaborative style of learning that supports intellectual effectiveness and the writer’s empowerment. Services of the CWAC are free to Saint Mary’s College students.

COURSE OUTLINE (M/W/F)

WEEK 1 September 2-6 Basic, commonly-used political science sources and how to cite them (M=Labor Day; W/F classes only) ● Text: Please see Index p. 445: under “CMS,” look up and read relevant references (for Wed. and Fri) and read p. 413-414. ●Introduction to course and the four substantive areas of the major ●Making the transition from lower division to upper division writing, research and analysis ●why we use citation in political science writing ●Transitioning to The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) for documentation ●CMS basic differences among bibliography, footnote, and endnote form ●Library tour, traditional and computer-assisted sources in political science, ● Proof reading your citation form, and basics to help you master both accuracy and reuse of citation form. Assignment: hands-on library “treasure hunt” for traditional and computer-assisted sources in international, comparative and American politics, and political theory. Find all 10 items in the treasure hunt, and correctly cite each as it would appear in a bibliography in “CMS” citation style. (40) Due Monday, next week. WEEK 2 September 9-12 Expanded political science sources and how to cite them ● Text, Please see Index, p. 445 under “CMS,” look up and read relevant references and read p. 413-414 ●TURN IN LIBRARY TREASURE HUNT ASSIGNMENT ● Return, review, and discuss political science sources treasure hunt assignment ●expanding your knowledge of types of political science sources with subcategories of the type of source (e.g., scholarly journals: peer reviewed vs. non peer-reviewed journals) ●Building your understanding of CSM citation form for “reference list” (bibliography) of sources cited in a political science work. Assignment: “treasure hunt” for practice and expansion of some specific sources (international, comparative, American politics, and political theory) Find all 10 items in the treasure hunt, and correctly cite each as it would appear in text in CMS citation form (40) Due Friday of this week.

WEEK 3 September 16-20 Basic, objective political analysis, research and writing ●Text, Section 1: What Is A Research Paper? Pp. 3-12; Finding the Evidence, p.49-52; p. 60-68. ●Return, review, and discuss second treasure hunt resources assignment ●What are “objective” or neutral” research, neutral analysis and neutral writing in political science? ●Taking into account the nature and identity of the “audience” ●Objective writing style, grammar, vocabulary, format, organization ●What is Political Theory? ●What is American Politics? ●Use of data to support objective assertions and analysis ●Dealing with ambiguities or conflicts in or among sources ● Different types of political science writing that are “objective” in all four areas of the major ●critical reading in the political science field. ●key concepts in researching political science: 1) professional vocabulary; 2) starting efficiently when you know an area; 3) starting efficiently when you don’t know an area; 4) what makes a source “relevant”; 5) what makes a relevant source “better” or “best,” and 6) the number of sources you need to support an assertion. ● Formation of an objective, analytical thesis using the four categories of the politics major Assignment: Basic open-universe research problems to locate “best” sources in American Politics problem. Briefly explain why you chose each source and cite each source in CMS bibliography form. (40). Due Friday of this week . WEEK 4 September 23-27 Basic, objective political science research, analysis and writing, con’t ●Text, Section 2, Where Do I Begin, pp, 13-42, endnote citation form, p. 244-248, Section 4, Writing Your Paper, p. 128-145 ●Return, review, and discuss “best” source assignment and bibliography ●Citation form in text: Endnote citation form and footnote citation form ● Formation of a more complex, objective, analytical thesis: class exercise ● Basics of the objective, expository introduction and conclusion ●outlining: adding subissues to the main issue outline: class exercise ●Adequacy of objective analysis: clarity, relevance of data and concepts, substantive rigor, level of appropriate detail, and responsiveness to question asked. ●cite checking as distinguished from citation form ●Writing organization: topic sentences and paragraph structure ●proofreading your work Assignment: 3-page paper using the sources you have decided are “best” (American politics) (60) Due Monday. PLEASE TURN IN 2 COPIES

WEEK 5 September 30-October 4 Expanding and applying objective analysis and writing to address more complex problems in political science ●TURN IN 3-PAGE AMERICAN POLITICS PAPER WITH ENDNOTES ●Text, Section 4, Writing Your Paper, pp. 128-145 ●Return, discuss, and review 3-page paper (Friday) ●What is Comparative Politics? ● Essay exam writing: the transition to upper division writing ● Differences and similarities in objective and persuasive essay exam writing ● Organization of essay, quick outlining and “labeling” as organizational techniques, substantive accuracy,” effective exam timing, appropriate level of detail, your instructor as your audience. Class exercise, “labeling” ●What is constructive feedback and what is its value for you and others? ● In-class exercise: learning from reviewing, assessing, and giving feedback on the work of others (with instructor “rubric” and using article summaries from last week. Assignment: closed universe problem in Comparative Politics: write 3- page exam essay responding to prompt. (50 pts) Due Monday

WEEK 6 October 7-11 Expanding objective research, analysis and writing in political science to more complex problems. ●TURN IN 3-PAGE COMPARATIVE POLITICS PAPER WITH ENDNOTES ●Text, pp. 409-412 (further info and review: end notes and footnotes) ●Return, review, and discuss American politics essay assignment (Friday) ●Continuing development of citation form for political science: endnotes, and footnotes in more detail ●Outlining skills con’t: analytical, objective writing: organization of major and minor issues in broad topic outline. ●Improving your use of data to support assertions: class exercise ●Dealing with ambiguities in sources in objective, analytical writing ●Flexibility in approach: letting research, text, and footnotes “inform” each other ●Use of external sources and plagiarism: academic honestly, proper attribution of data, quotations, ideas, and paraphrases. ● Assignment : Begin midterm project, phase 1: 3-page, closed-universe analytical problem (American Politics) requiring formation of thesis, analysis, and in-text footnotes. Due next Monday thesis, major-issue outline with tentative sub-issues included (50 pts.)

WEEK 7 October 14-18 Expanding objective research, writing, and analysis in political science to more complex problems ●AMERICAN POLITICS PROJECT DUE IN CLASS: THESIS AND OUTLINE ●Text, Section 3, Finding the Evidence: Review relevant parts ●Analytical objective writing and analysis continued: researching the more complex, open-universe problem in the 4 areas of the major. ●Understanding the directive and purpose of research ●Research methodologies and techniques ●Formulating a tentative research approach ●Review: sufficiency of research: knowing when to stop ● Verifying the reliability of data ● Keeping track of relevant sources ●Cite checking and citation form revisited ●Purpose and form for footnotes within text, revisited ●Producing the paper from the outline ●Flexibility of approach: relationships among research data, issues, thesis, and outline. Assignment : Midterm Project: 4-page paper with footnotes using closed-universe problem in American Politics, with footnotes included in text. (100) DUE NEXT MONDAY

WEEK 8 October 21-25 Expanding objective research, analysis, and writing to more complex problems in political science ● TURN IN MIDTERM PROJECT ●Text, Section 4, Reading Critically and Taking Notes, pp. 89-127 ●Analytical objective writing and analysis continued: importance and formation of the more complex topic sentence, relation to paragraph structure ●What is international relations? ●Flexibility in approach, con’t: developing thesis, issues, data, and outline. ●Filling in research gaps ●Review of citation form for text, footnotes, and bibliography ●Review of skills: statement of issues, analytical style, credibility, substantive accuracy, dealing with ambiguities, completeness of coverage ●Proofreading revisited Assignment: Research: Finding exercise on international relations issue, based on open-universe research problem, summary and bibliography for 5 best sources. (50) Due next Monday.

WEEK 9 October 28-November 1 Expanding research, analysis and/or writing into the oral presentation ●TURN IN 4-PAGE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FINDING EXERCISE ●Return and review Midterm Project ●Oral presentation of objective research: organizing and summarizing key points, selecting ideas for inclusion in oral presentation ● Presentation style, audience, and timing of oral presentations ● clarity, accuracy, use of data, and level of detail in oral presentations ● Fielding questions in oral presentations Assignment: prepare 5-minute oral presentation of objective, analytical research project in political theory from last week (35 pts) Oral presentation due this Wednesday, Friday, and next Monday, as assigned. Pls note: one student must ask a question from the presentation and the presenter must answer the question.

WEEK 10 November 4-8 Basic argumentative or advocacy writing in political science ●Oral presentations, due and continued as needed ●Return and review international relations finding exercise ● Text, Writing your persuasive paper: “Critical Papers,” pp. 145-155 ●Making the transition from objective to persuasive/advocacy writing and analysis, review persuasive exam writing ●Specific types of political science writing that involve advocacy or persuasive writing ●Why objective research and analysis are necessary to produce valid, credible, ethical persuasive writing ●Persuasive style, organization, vocabulary, word usage, and ethical considerations ●The nature and identity of the audience in argumentative or “position” writing. ●Developing the argumentative thesis Assignment: closed-universe problem in political theory presented objectively, and then requiring the student to identify the objective thesis, change it to argumentative/persuasive thesis and rewrite the analysis to be an argumentative/ persuasive expression of position (50 pts) Due this Friday . WEEK 11 November 11-15 Moving to more complex forms of persuasive or advocacy writing in political science ●Persuasive analysis and writing, continued ●Stating an issue in argumentative form as a rhetorical question ●Organization and development of the persuasive approach outline ●Dealing with ambiguities and conflicts in sources ● Dealing with sources that weaken or contradict the position taken ●Ethical issues revisited: arguing for a particular position ●Issues of credibility arising from arguing for a particular position ●Review of the argumentative purpose, thesis, style, and organization ●Return, review, and discuss persuasive problems assignment Assignment : rewrite argumentative problem. (25 pts) Due next Monday .

WEEK 12 November 18-22 More complex forms of persuasive or advocacy writing in political science ●TURN IN PERSUASIVE PROBLEM REWRITE ●Researching persuasive problems, con’t: intellectual honesty and examining both positive and negative sources or data ●Revisiting how to find and take into account data and sources that support the position argued. ●Revisiting how to find and take into account data and sources that weaken the position argued ●Revisiting how to take into account ambiguities in data and sources that contradict the position argued ●Developing more specific methods tor taking into account “negative” sources or data: distinguishing, discounting, acknowledging ambiguity or conflict, or demonstrating weak relevance or, demonstrating irrelevance ●Return and review the argumentative rewrite of persuasive problem Assignment: 1-page personal reflection on what goes well for you in the research process and what frustrates you and/or is difficult for you. (15) DUE NEXT MONDAY

WEEK 13 November 25-29 No class on 11/27 and 11/9: Thanksgiving break ●MONDAY: TURN IN 1-PAGE RESEARCH REFLECTION ●Text, Section 7, Polishing Your Final Draft, pp.194-205 ● Planning your approach to the complex political science problem

WEEK 14 December 2-6 The initial phase of working on the open-universe, complex argumentative or persuasive problem in political science. ●Text: Review all relevant parts you feel you need to understand better ●Return, review, and discuss personal reflections ●Research strategies revisited ●Development of the issues and outline for the complex argumentative paper ●Review of flexibility in approach, position taken, thesis statement, feedback received, and research data and information found ●Review keeping track of sources: citation form and format, footnotes, endnotes and bibliography ●Putting it altogether in the complex, argumentative paper: the final project. persuasive research paper on assigned topics, due on final examination date – student choice in any of the problems for the 4 areas of the major. ●Review of audience for the paper ●Review flexibility of approach for researching complex, argumentative paper Assignment : 8-page, open-universe persuasive paper. Initial phase: develop research strategy, do preliminary research, and submit preliminary thesis, issues, and topic outline (50 pts) Due next Monday

WEEK 15 December 9-13 Making the transition into the last phase of working on the complex argumentative or persuasive problem in political science ●TURN IN PRELIMINARY TOPIC OUTLINE FOR FINAL PAPER ●Putting it all together: the final project, continued ●Developing your draft from your outline, thesis, and issue statements ●Tuning up research and cite checking as necessary ●Review importance of minor and major issues, topic sentences, and paragraph structure in adapting skills and concepts for complex paper. ●Review of taking into account sources or data that weaken or contradict the position taken ●Individual instructor, and peer consultations about the final paper (M, W and F) ●Preliminary topic outlines will be returned, with comments, by Friday of this week. Assignment: continue with final project, develop and edit draft. Final paper is due in class, at time and date of assigned final exam time, and must include endnotes and bibliography. (The final version of the final paper is worth 300 pts)

♫♫ May you & your loved ones have a blessed & happy holiday ♫♫