Download Political Science Syllabus 2023 and more Papers Political Science in PDF only on Docsity!
Introduction to American Government: Political Science 180 Spring Semester 2023 Professor: Dr. Patrick Coaty Email: pcoaty@occ.cccd.edu Office: Social Science 390 Office Hours: 8:00-9:30 a.m. Tuesday Thursday; Friday 11:05 a.m.-1: p.m. Friday’s office hours will include online meetings. Please read this Syllabus carefully; it will answer many of the administrative and class structural questions you may have about the course. Student Learning Outcomes and Course Objectives: The Student Learning Outcomes for this class are:
- The student will be able to explain basic structures of the political system and how some of its institutions, procedures, actors’ function.
- The student will be able to demonstrate critical thinking through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of course content.
- The student will be able to effectively communicate the knowledge and skills gained in this course. Assessment of the achievement of the student outcomes will be done by midterm examinations, final examinations, a paper, and extra credit essay which will be explained later in the syllabus. The course objective is to provide information and analytical assessments to increase the student’s understanding of the American system of government. Academically, it is the objective of this course to provide students an experience in reading, writing, and thinking to increase their skills and provide a sound base for further academic and professional achievement. In order to achieve these outcomes and objectives students need to perform the following study skills. In the diagram below there are four interlocking circles representing the activities students usually have to perform to be successful in college. They are: Reading the assignments before class, attending class either online or on campus and taking notes, soon after class re-read or review before the next class, and finally, coming to my office hours to ask questions, discuss the material when needed.
If a student commits themselves early in the semester to actively engage in these four activities, it is more than likely, they will achieve the merger of the circles—student success. One may see this diagram as simple and it is, however, it may not be easy to do day in and day out. W.W. Sawyer in his book: Prelude to Mathematics writes about the difference between ends and means, he writes: “It has been said that most young [people] would like to be able to sit down at the piano and improvise sonatas before admiring crowds. But few do it; to desire the end does not provide the means; to make music you must be interested in music, as well as (or instead of) in being admired. And to make mathematics you must be interested in mathematics.” (Stewart, 17) Now I am not saying one has to be interested in the American Government or in Political Science. One must, however, if they are in college be interested in improving their skills regarding reading, writing and thinking. This is my assumption, that all students, no matter their level of skill, would like to improve. But how? One can improve their reading skills by learning how to read smart. Stephen McGlinchy explains this process in his International Relations Textbook. He writes:
page so that you can identify the source you took the notes from if you need to reference it later in any written work.”^1 Now, that we have discussed a strategy for reading, what are the types of things we are going to be reading. This class has no textbook to purchase, all the reading are available inside the Canvas environment. The reading assignments as reflected in the student learning outcomes are mostly original documents that have influenced the establishment and continuing administration of the United States. The source of the documents comes mainly from: Classics in American Government by Jay M. Shafritz and Lee S. Weinberg 3rd^ Edition. Please remember, I am supplying the documents, and the purchasing of a textbook is not required or even suggested. Reading the assignments are an essential part of the class, however, as we have said earlier. The Elements and Organization of the Course in the Canvas Environment This class is an asynchronous course inside the canvas environment of Orange Coast College. The course has two components; the first, is reading the assigned essays and documents which are inside each learning module. The second component are videos which can be accessed through either the learning module or YouTube. If a student types in “Patrick Coaty” inside the search bar in YouTube the video may be seen. The student will be tested for the content that are in both components of the class. Furthermore, I will be available through student connect inside the canvas environment from 8:00-9:00 a.m. on days we have class except on exam days. I have found a short video- call connection is much more useful than e-mails. So please take advantage of this resource. Plus, emails will be answered inside a forty-eight-hour time limit, this is why I prefer to meet with students during office hours. Since this class is taking place online, it is important not to fall behind, create a routine where you stay ahead of your work. In order, to measure if a student is successfully achieving the skills outlined by the Student Learning Outcomes, there will be a number of assessments and evaluations in which the student will be asked to perform in exams and written assignments to show they have personalized the information of the course. These assessments will be graded according to the next section of the syllabus. 1 Stephen McGlinchey, International Relations (Bristol England: E-International Relations Publishing,
- 6
Grading to Measure the Student’s Progress Students achieving success entails the student to complete all the requirements of the class. A student must hand in a paper and complete the final exam to fulfill the requirements of the class. I will follow the Social and Behavioral Science Division guidelines on grading. The course and the grading structure are designed so everyone can succeed and later assignments are weighted more heavily than earlier assignments. This is done with the assumption the student is more familiar with the content later in the semester than in the beginning of the semester. Grading Formula Midterm Exams 3 at 100 points each = 300 points We drop the lowest midterm score= 100 points Total Midterm possible= 200 points Paper 500 points* Final Exam 1,000 points. Total Possible Points: 1,700. The paper is a credit/no credit, if the student fulfills the assignment they will receive full credit. If they do not, they will not receive any points. Letter Grading Scale Total Points Possible 1700 90% and above 1530 points A 80% and above 1360 points B 65% and above 1105 points C 50% and above 850 points D 49% and below 849 points F These percentages are only a guide, I reserve the right to lower the criteria; however, I will not raise them. Please ignore any letter grades that might be automatically posted on the canvas grade book. They are irrelevant to the criteria that may be used at the end of the course. Midterm Exams Each midterm exam is 50 questions multiple choice/True False. The Final exam is 100 questions multiple choice/True False which is cumulative. It is my policy to not give the answers to the midterm exam questions in order to repeat them on the final exam. I have found students favor this policy instead of reading them the answers to the
Class Schedule WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE Essays are in Modules, numbers are essay numbers not page numbers. Spring 2023 Week Assignment Reading Essay Number 1/30-2/3 Syllabus, Introduction; Constitutional Framework U.S. Constitution 2/6-2/10 Constitutional Framework Constitution and Marshall Essay 2/13-2/17 Constitutional Framework Constitution and Marshall Essay 2/20-2/24 Civil Liberties 14 ,15, 16, 22 2/27-3/3 First Midterm Exam on March 2 3/6-3/10 Civil Rights 23, 24, 25, 26 3/13-3/17 The Supreme Court 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 3/20- 3 /24 Public Opinion 27 3/27-3/31 Spring Break 4/3- 4 /7 Second Midterm April 6 4/10-4/14 Political Parties 32 ,33,34, 4/17-4/21 Elections and Voters
4/24-4/28 Lobbyist and Interest Groups
5/1-5/5 Mass Media 47, 48, 49, 50 5/8-5/12 Third Midterm
5/15-5/19 Congress—Paper Due 5/
5/22- 5 - 26 Presidency- Cumulative Final Exam 5/
End of Semester 5/ IMPORTANT DATES First Day of the Semester Monday, January 30, 2023 Lincoln’s Birthday (Holiday) Friday, February 17, 2023 Washington’s Birthday (Holiday) Monday, February 20, 2023 Mandatory Flex Day Thursday, February 23, 2023 First Midterm Exam Thursday, March 3, 2023 Spring Break Monday, March 27, 2023 – Sunday April 2, 2023 Second Midterm Exam Thursday April 6, 2023 Third Midterm Exam Thursday May 11, 2023 Paper and Extra Credit Thursday May 18, 2023 Cumulative Final Exam Thursday May 25, 2023 Last Day of the Semester Thursday May 25, 2023 This schedule is designed as merely a guide. The Professor reserves the right to change the topics and reading assignments. The exam dates, however, will not be changed unless there is an emergency which makes the administration of the exam impossible.
