Y103 Course Syllabus
Spring 2009
What is this
course about?
What will I do
in this course and how will I be graded?
How will this
course be run?
Do we have
review sessions?
What will we
read in this course?
What topics
will we cover and when?
What
will I do in this class and how will I be graded?
Grades in the course will be based
on 4 50 minute exams (worth 20% each) and attendance in lecture and in-class
exercises. (20%.) ***Exams The exams will be held in class on
Wednesday, March 25, Wednesday, April 8, Wednesday, April 22 and during our
scheduled exam period during finals week, which is on Friday, May 8, from
2:45-3:45 p.m. All exams, including the
final, will be held in WH 003. For the Wednesday exams, we will hold the
exam during the first 50 minutes of class, take a short break, and return for
lecture. These exams will be multiple
choice, true/false and I.D. type questions, drawn from the readings, the
lectures, and current events. The exams are designed to keep you current in
the reading and to help you keep track of the detailed material that you will
learn in this class. These questions will be descriptive and analytic. That
is, they may ask something as simply descriptive as how many members are in
the House of Representatives, or they may ask you to draw some analytic
conclusions about the respective functions of the House and the Senate, or to
determine the importance or significance of an institution or policy.
Memorization alone will not suffice for these exams; you will have to think
about the material as well. Old exams will be on available on this Web site.
I used different text books in previous semesters so old exams will only give
you an idea of the kinds of questions I ask - THEY ARE NOT STUDY GUIDES! To minimize distractions for your
fellow students, exams will start promptly and once admitted you will remain
seated until the end of the class period. Please do not wear hats or headphones
to the exams. There is to be absolutely no talking from the time exams are
handed out until they are collected. It is indistinguishable from cheating
and it disturbs other students. Anyone who talks during an exam will receive
a F for that portion of the final grade. Cheating is an endemic problem at
I.U. If I find it to be an issue in this class, we reserve the right to spot
check IDs when you are turning in exams. Be prepared. Always bring your
Indiana University picture ID to class with you on exam days. Failure to do
so may result in 0 for the exam. ***Makeup
Policy For Exams There is a very specific make-up
policy for these exams. If you cannot take an exam at the assigned time
because of health, scheduled exam conflicts, or personal reasons, you may
arrange to make it up at the end of the semester, on Friday, May 1 at 5:00
in WH 111. The format of the make-up exams is all IDs. People tend to do
less well on them because the material is out of context. It is hard to go
back and study material you first learned months ago. Do not take the make-up
option unless you need to. There is a different policy for
make ups if you must miss an exam due to observance of a religious
holiday. If this applies to you, you must notify us by filing out this form within the first two weeks of the
semester. ***In-Class
Activities Attendance in class is essential
to learning. Among other things, we know that students who attend class
regularly do much better than those who do not. It is especially
important in a shortened semester like the eight week session, where if you
get behind, you may not be able to catch up. We will not take attendance in
class, but we will do in-class exercises daily that will, among other things,
let us know if you are attending. These in-class exercises
will take various forms, but will consist largely of reaction papers, short
essays and current events quizzes. There is no make up for these exercises
unless you miss class due to the observance of a religious holiday, in which
case you must notify me at the start of the class. Otherwise, everyone can miss one day
without any impact on the grade, but with only 14 class periods, any more
absences than that will probably affect your grade. Even if you are sick and have a doctor’s
note, you can only have one excused absence from class because there are so
few of them. ***An Important Note About 8-Week Classes Eight week classes are a
challenge to teach and a challenge to take.
We need to cover as much material as we would in a 16-week semester,
but we have only half the days in which to do it. That makes this an intense experience for
everyone. We read about 100 pages or
more a week, and we have exams every two weeks. Our class meetings, at 2 ˝ hours, can feel
grueling and unending, and as tempted as I might be to let you go early, I
can’t do that and also do my job. That puts pressure on all of us, and the
best way to survive is to know it will be difficult, and to keep a sense of
humor. |
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|
How
will this course be run?
***Office
Hours This is a large class. I will
never learn most of your names, I won't grade most of your papers, and
chances are that if you are having trouble with class or if you find some
element of it really exciting or even (hard to imagine) if it bores you to
tears and you think it's the most irrelevant course in the world, I will
never know anything about it. To the extent that I don't know about these
things, my ability to teach you is impaired, and your ability to get the most
out of class is limited as well. I encourage you now, and will remind you
throughout the semester, to TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OFFICE HOURS -- both your AI's
and mine. There is no substitute for this and it is the only way for you to
really get the maximum amount of learning (not to mention your money's
worth!) out of this class. ***Grading Grading in this course will be
done mostly by machines and Ryan Brasher, your AI. If you have any questions
about your grade, please talk first to Ryan. Naturally, in case of
disagreement, I will be happy to read the exam or assignment. ***Class
Notes It is against the rules of this class
for anyone to sell his or her notes, and if I catch you doing so, you will
receive an F for the course. We reserve the right to collect and check notes
in class if we find that notes are being sold. ***Cheating I am sorry it is necessary to have
a policy on this but plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated in this
class. If using words which are not your own -- whether a sentence, a
paragraph or a longer passage -- put them in quotation marks and attribute
them to the proper source. Quizzes and are closed book, closed notes. *If
necessary I will conduct spot checks of IDs on exam days so bring your ID
with you to class! Collaborative work on the exams or the exercises is
considered cheating -- you may study together if you like but think for yourself.
Duplicate papers or essay answers will be assumed to be the product of
cheating. Any student caught plagiarizing or cheating will receive an F for
the entire course and I will report it to the Dean. This means, among other
things, that you will be unable to FX the course. |
Do
We Have Review Sessions?
Yes, we do! Come prepared to
ask questions about things you don't understand. If no one asks questions,
we'll all go home. Rooms to be
announced. Review for Exam 1 -- Tuesday,
March 24 -- 7:15 p.m., WH 111 Review for Exam 2 – Tuesday, April
7 -- 7:15 p.m., WH 111 Review for Exam 3 – Tuesday, April
21 -- 7:15 p.m., WH 111 Review for Exam 4 – Thursday, May
7 |
|
Required reading for the class
comes from:
For the textbook, be sure you get
the paperback Essentials edition, not the hardcover. (If you have a
deal on the hardcover version and want to use it, go ahead. It’s the
same book with a couple of extra chapters we won’t use. But it costs
more so if you are buying new, get the Essentials.) The book is
required and available for purchase at the bookstore. The fourth
edition has been changed considerably. Exams will be based on the
fourth edition. Since I am one of the authors of
this book and I am not comfortable making money from book sales to my
students, all royalties we make from the sale of new books to our
class are be donated to IU and to Project Vote Smart. You will also be responsible for
keeping up with current events in American national politics. We will discuss
the happenings of the day in class, and you are responsible for following a
major national newspaper such as the New York Times, the Washington
Post, or the Los Angeles Times. In addition, you
may find the Today’s Papers feature in Slate,
and I blog about current events for users of KTR here. . Both of the latter choices offer
links to current stories. Current events quizzes will form
part of the in-class exercise portion of the final grade. |
What Topics Do We
Cover and When?
|
Week |
Date |
Topic |
|
1 |
March 9, 11 |
Introduction to the Course:
Politics, Citizens, and Culture |
|
2 |
March 16, 18 |
Spring
Break!! |
|
3 |
March 23, 25 |
The
U.S. Founding and the US Constitution Read:
KTR, Ch 3 and 4 March
25 – Exam # 1 (Covers Chs 1-4) |
|
4 |
30, April 1 |
Civil
Liberties and Civil Rights KTR
Chapters 5 and 6. |
|
5 |
April 6, 8 |
Congress
and the Presidency April
8 Exam #2 (Covers Chs 5-7) |
|
6 |
April 13, 15 |
The
Bureaucracy and the Courts |
|
7 |
April 20, 22 |
Public
Opinion Political Parties Read:
KTR, Ch 12 April 22 Exam #3 (Covers Chs 8-11) |
|
8 |
April 27, 29 |
Interest
Groups Elections Read:
KTR, Ch 14 |
|
|
May 8 |
Final Exam, 2:45-3:45 p.m., WH 003 (Covers
Chs 12-14) |