Student Learning Objectives:
1) To encourage students to think critically about concepts such as democracy, politics, freedom, and ideology;
2) To enable students to see the strengths and weaknesses of the American political system, and to understand that there are alternatives;
3) To educate students about different political perspectives, so students may then better understand their own perspectives.
4) To enable students to demonstrate knowledge of political institutions, actors, and processes in at least one other context than the United States
5) To enable students to show the stakes involved in different modes of political action, organization, and thought
Course Required Readings:
1) Van Belle, Douglas A. A Novel Approach to Politics, 5th Edition. Los Angeles: CQ Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-5063-6865-8. This book is required in order to successfully complete the course. In the Reading Schedule, this book is referred to as VB.
2) Poloni-Staudinger, Lori M. and Michael R. Wolf. American Difference: American Politics from a Comparative Perspective. Los Angeles: CQ Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4833-4435-5. This book is required to successfully complete the course. In the Reading Schedule, this book is referred to as PW.
NOTE: Both Van Belle and Poloni are available as a package through the Campus Bookstore at a discounted rate, but you may also purchase them separately elsewhere.
3) Any additional readings will be available online through Blackboard.
You will need to have, and READ, both books to have a chance to be successful in this class. I think it would be very difficult for you to succeed without them.
Graded Course Work:
• Three midterm exams worth 100 points each
• One writing assignment worth 100 points
• One final exam worth 200 points
• There are 600 points available in the course.
Extra credit will not be offered in this class. Instead, do well on the coursework assigned and you will earn the good grade you desire. There will be NO exceptions to this policy.
Your course grade is based TOTALLY on points. There is no curve or other alteration of the point system. Your grade will be based on points as applied to the scale below:
A = 600-558 B+ = 536-525 C+ = 476-465 D+ = 416-405 F = 356 or less
A- = 557-537 B = 524-498 C = 464-438 D = 404-378
B- = 497-477 C- = 437-417 D- = 377-357
IMPORTANT! This grade scale is a “hard-point” scale, meaning that I do not change people’s grades because you came close to the next higher grade. If you “missed it by one,” then you missed it by one, and will not get the higher grade. No exceptions. Just as I do not knock people down a grade because they “just made it by one,” I will not raise anyone’s grade either. You earn whatever you earn in this class, for better or worse. That is life. Trust me that I am serious about this. Even if you need this to graduate, get off academic probation, avoid getting kicked out for academic probation, have a wedding to attend, want to get elective surgery and need this to show your doctor, wish to transfer to another university, want to get into law school or any of the other myriad of circumstances that I have been approached with over the course of my career, the answer is no. Believe that.
Classroom Requirements:
This class will utilize Blackboard as a course management tool. The syllabus will be available, assignments will be submitted and grades will be posted, and announcements made using the Blackboard interface. Make it a habit of checking the website regularly for updates (preferably before each class but at least more than once per week).
Please note: You will have 24-hour access to Blackboard. However, you will not have 24-hour access to me. This is only one of many courses I am teaching this semester. I have scheduled office hours that you are welcome to use for questions. I also have my email account where you may send questions, but I do not check my email, or respond to emails, after 5:00pm during the week or at all on weekends. Within those parameters, I will try to respond to any emails within 24 hours if possible.
Attendance is important, required and expected. If you are not in class, odds are high that your grade will suffer. I will take attendance by passing around sign-in sheets at the beginning of each class. It is your responsibility to get your name onto those sign-in sheets before the end of the class period, or as far as I am concerned, you were absent that day. You may miss three class periods without penalty. Every missed class after that may result in a 10-point penalty from your course total. I generally do not “excuse” absences. You get to miss three for free, and after that, there is a penalty to be paid.
Punctuality is important to me. I expect to be on time, and I expect to use the whole class period. I expect you to do the same. If, for some reason, I am late in arriving, please stay in class unless an official from the department tells you I will not be there. Otherwise, I will show up eventually and I expect you to be there. If you arrive late, please enter the classroom quietly and sit as fast as possible. If you must leave early, please let me know in advance, and again try to avoid causing a disruption.
Do not ask me for copies of the notes. I will not give them to you. Getting the notes is your responsibility. You may post a request on Blackboard in the Discussion Board, and trust in the generosity of your classmates. Their notetaking skills may not be the same quality as yours, either, so it is better to be in class, taking your own notes.
If you decide to drop the class, you must take the necessary steps yourself, including filing any required documents with the school. Do NOT rely upon me to drop you, because I might not, and you do not want to get stuck with an “F”. Finally, you must attend the first class session of the semester. If you do not, I MAY drop you from the class.
Class format will rely upon lecture, discussion and participation by the class. It is vital that you keep up with the course readings, since we may or may not cover everything in the book during the class sessions. You are responsible for all materials in the textbooks, for the chapters listed in the reading schedule below, as well as any material we cover in class. There may be, on occasion, additional readings in the form of handouts or on the web, for which you are also responsible.
Examinations:
All exams will be taken in class in our assigned room. The midterm exams will be 50-question multiple choice exams with each question worth two points. The exams will each cover a quarter of the class. The first midterm will cover all of the material from the start of the semester until the first exam. The second midterm will cover everything we do from the first exam until the second exam. The third midterm will cover everything we do from the second exam to the third. These are not cumulative exams. The final exam will be of similar format as the midterms and cover everything since the third exam, but it will also contain a comprehensive element.
The comprehensive part of the final exam will be based on the key terms at the end of each chapter in the Van Belle book only and will be part of a matching section of the final exam, composed of 20 matching questions. Questions in the comprehensive matching section are worth five points each and are the only cumulative element on any exam.
I do NOT give study guides for the tests. There are study questions at the end of each chapter in both books, and being able to give a quality response to those is a good indicator of mastery of the concepts in question. The Van Belle book publisher also has a companion website with practice quizzes and e-flashcards that you may use. This companion website is link in our Web Links in Blackboard. Other than that, I expect you to know all the material that is presented in the class, including readings and lectures.
For each of the exams, including the final exam, you may bring in one 8.5×11” (letter size) piece of paper (front and back) with whatever notes you can HANDWRITE to use during the exam. You may study together, but your “cheat sheet” must be your own original work, and you are turning it in with your exam for review. You may not photocopy, cut-and-paste, or otherwise duplicate anything onto your “cheat sheet,” and you may not share your “cheat sheet” with another student during the exam. Any of these will be considered cheating.
For each exam, you should have plenty of time to complete each exam. You will be allowed 75 minutes to take each midterm and two hours for the final exam. You need to bring, for each exam, one Scantron Form #882 and a #2 pencil. Don’t forget!
For the midterm exams, make-ups will be allowed in certain situations, at the discretion of the instructor. For the midterm examinations, exception may be made for emergency situations. However, I must approve the request prior to the exam. Otherwise, no exception will be made except in cases of hospitalization or incarceration which prevented you from requesting a make-up exam. Requests must be made in writing and must be accompanied with appropriate documentation to verify the absence. For the final exam, exceptions will be made at the instructor’s discretion, but only in emergency situations. Medical emergencies, incarcerations, or EXTREME travel scenarios may legitimately allow for your final exam to be rescheduled but having multiple exams on the same day will not. And, again, you must make arrangements BEFORE the exam (as early as possible). If you have not made prior arrangements, you must take the final exam on the date and time scheduled for this section if possible.
Writing Assignment:
There is one writing assignment for this course. Details for the assignment are available under the Assignment link in our Blackboard course. The assignment is due March 24 by 11:59pm.
Prompt: For your paper, I want you to discuss how you were socialized to think the way you do about a fundamental issue. First, I want you to select a political topic/issue (abortion, war, legalization of marijuana, climate change, economic inequality, etc.) that is important to you and tell me how you feel about this topic/issue. Second, I want you to discuss why you think you think this way about this issue. What agents of socialization were particularly influential in shaping your view on this topic. Discuss at least three agents of socialization. Third, I want you to discuss how your view has evolved over time, based on the impact of these agents of socialization. So, in essay format, you should write a five-point (not necessarily five-paragraph because I don’t want to limit you, but five-point) essay where your introduction is the first question, then your discussion of the three agents of socialization make up the middle three points, and then your final point discusses the evolution of your view on the issue in question. You must cite your sources in the text of the paper and on a Works Cited page at the end of your paper. Your Works Cited page does not count against your page limit.
Your assignment will be submitted to Turnitin.com as part of this submission process, to be verified for potential plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review by Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. You may submit your assignment in such a way that no identifying information about you is included. Another option is that you may request, in writing before the due date of the assignment, that your assignment not be submitted to Turnitin.com. However, if you choose this option, you will be required to provide documentation to substantiate that the paper is your original work and do not include any plagiarized material. Please let me know if you have any questions in this regard. Otherwise, I will assume you understand the proper citation of sources and the avoidance of plagiarism.
Important: If you do not use Microsoft Word, be sure to save your file as a .pdf file or a .doc file or I will not be able to open it.
To submit your assignment, in our Blackboard course, click on Assignments, scroll down to Paper #1 and click View/Complete. Then, fill in the required information, select your file from your computer/Dropbox/Google Drive and then, very importantly, click UPLOAD! Once you have uploaded your file to Turnitin, you will get a confirmation from Turnitin that your paper was submitted. You will also get an original Turnitin digital receipt with a paper ID# sent directly to the email account you have listed in Blackboard. YOU MUST KEEP THIS RECEIPT AS PROOF OF YOUR TIMELY SUBMISSION in case there are any questions about meeting the deadline later in the semester. This digital receipt is your ONLY proof of submission. Screenshots of your file “save date,” or any other “evidence” is not evidence of proper timely submission. The receipt, with the original paper ID#, is your ONLY evidence. So, if you do not receive one after submitting your paper, you did not submit your paper properly. If you claim you submitted your paper on time, but Blackboard does not have it, then you must forward me the email with the original Turnitin receipt, or you will receive no score for the writing assignment.
Very Important: Do not wait until the last minute to submit your writing assignment. If you wait until a few minutes before the deadline, Blackboard may not have enough time to process your submission, which means it will be late, and papers submitted after 11:59pm on the deadline will be penalized 10 points for each hour or part of an hour that it is submitted after the deadline!
Email me if you have questions regarding the assignment. Good luck.
The CSU has affirmed its commitment to ‘protecting access, affordability, intellectual freedom, inclusivity, and diversity for all students . . . including supporting DACA students.’ Discrimination, harassment, or retaliation against students, faculty, and staff on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, nationality, immigration status and other categories of identity is prohibited. If you have concerns about your status at the university, please visit http://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/EOP/ for information or contact the Dean of Students or the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in your College.
Please review SDSU’s Student Conduct Code that prohibits for example:
- Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, or harassment.
- Participating in an activity that substantially and materially disrupts the normal operations of the University or infringes on the rights of members of the University community.
- Unauthorized recording, dissemination, or publication of academic presentations for commercial purposes.
Recording Lectures:
Students have permission to record a class lecture for academic purposes only. The recording may only be used by the student who recorded the lecture, and used only for the purpose of studying for this class. Posting, dissemination, and distribution are strictly prohibited. Likewise, students may not post, disseminate, or distribute the PowerPoint slides used in class for any reason.
On cheating and plagiarism:
All sources of reference from which students take quotations, theories or concepts for papers must be properly cited. This includes anything that you have cut and pasted from the Internet. Plagiarism (or other forms of cheating) will not be tolerated. Such action will result in your failing the class and referral to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities for possible suspension or expulsion. To be clear, if you use any outside sources for ideas, themes, text, analyses etc., you must cite them. In addition, using another student’s work upon which to base yours is not allowed. Finally, if you are found to be cheating during an exam (e.g. by using notes or chatting with another student) you will fail the class. All cell phones must be turned off during exams. If you are seen using one, we will assume you are cheating. For more on the University’s policy on academic dishonest please see http://csrr.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/srr/conduct.aspx
Examples of plagiarism include but are not limited to:
• Using sources verbatim or paraphrasing without giving proper attribution (this can include phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and/or pages of work)
• Copying and pasting work from an online or offline source directly and calling it your own
• Using information you find from an online or offline source without giving the author credit
• Replacing words or phrases from another source and inserting your own words or phrases
• Submitting a piece of work you did for one class to another class
In addition:
1) For disruptive behavior, such as outbursts, name-calling, obscenity, cell phone ringing, sleeping or snoring, or talking to other students during class, I will issue a verbal warning. Subsequent offenses will result in student being suspended/ejected for the rest of the class period, and possibly longer at my discretion.
2) If another student is disrupting your learning environment, please let me know. To avoid “guilt by association,” distance yourself from chronic talkers. Otherwise, you may receive consequences for their behavior.
3) I will do my best to show respect for you at all times. I expect the same in return. I consider disrespectful behavior to include late arrivals, repeatedly coming and going from the classroom, early unexcused departures, and “early packing.” This is subject to the same consequences as behavior in #1 above.
4) Students may bring laptops to class, so long as they are used for class work. Distracting behaviors involving computers will result in laptops being banned from the class. Texting which results in students becoming distracted will also not be tolerated.
If you have comments or concerns about the course, first address them to me so that we may work out a mutually acceptable solution. This option is risk free (and likely to bring results) since I do not hold anyone in disregard that has a complaint. If that fails, please address your complaint to Dr. Ronnee Schreiber (619-594-5208), the department chairwoman. She will give your complaint a full and fair hearing.
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Please visit this link to view the range of campus resources available to you:
http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/srr/resource-links.aspx
Sample Solution
