Political Science PLS 101 Resources in Political Science

Course Description:

This is a course for new political science majors (whether beginning college students or transfers to Cal Poly Pomona). It is designed to introduce students to the resources available for careers in, and the study of, political science. This course seeks to develop skills in research, writing, test taking, oral presentations, etc. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of what is involved in being a successful political science major at Cal Poly Pomona and the scope of the discipline.

Objectives:

At the completion of the course, students should be able to:

1. identify members of the political science faculty and their core areas of specialization,
2. explain the areas of study in each of the disciplines subfields,
3. complete course assignments
4. make effective use of the library for academic research,
5. write an academic paper using appropriate citation format and analysis
6. demonstrate basic computer skills including web-based classroom tools, power point, etc.
7. explain the key elements of an effective oral presentation, and
8. identify career possibilities for political science majors.
   

Readings:

Texts:

Baglione, L. 2007. Writing A Research Paper in Political Science. Belmont, CA.: Thomson Press

Handout

Scott, Gregory M. and Stephen M. Garrison, 2000. The Political Science Student Writer’s Manual, 3rd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Hall.

Articles: [on-line hyperlink connections in course schedule below]

Abramowitz, Alan I. 2008. Is Polarization a Myth? Journal of Politics 70 (2), 542-555.

Diamond, Larry. (2003) Universal Democracy. Policy Review 119, 3-25.

Thies, Cameron G. (2001) A Social Psychological Approach to Enduring Rivalries. Political Psychology, 22 (4), 693-725.

Course Activities:

This class meets weekly and there are assignments due in 8 of the 10 weeks. One of the objectives of this course is for students to learn to manage time. Consequently promptness, completeness and quality are equally valued. Unless otherwise stated the assignments are due as you enter class on the date specified.

Class Policies:

• Academic Honesty : Students should review the University regulation concerning academic honesty. Those regulations will be enforced in this class. In particular students should avoid plagiarism. See the following site if you have questions about plagiarism. A student who engages in plagiarism will receive a failing grade. There are no exceptions to this rule.
  
• Attendance : Students are expected to attend every class. They should arrive before the lecture begins and leave when the class is over. Five (5) points are deducted for every absence. You will get a name tent on day one of the class. PLEASE display the name tent to ensure credit for attendence.
  
  No makeup exams or assignments are available . Assignments are posted well in advance and may be submitted on the due date or earlier. Missing a class is not an excuse for submitting a late assignment.

  However, a student that has an extended illness, hospitalization or is incapacitated may contract with the faculty for alternative dates and times for completing assignments. Documentation of illness or incapacitation is required.

• Disabilities: A student with a disability (physical, learning, etc.) that requires special consideration should notify the faculty in the first week. Appropriate accommodations will be made for the classroom portions of the course.
  
• Civility : Permission to remain in the class is dependent on demonstrating respect for the faculty and students. This includes (but is not limited to) listening to presentation, treating persons with respect, and not disrupting class activities. Consistently arriving late and/or leaving early is disrespectful of students and faculty alike. Disagreements and arguments are expected but should not devolve into personal attacks or exchanges. Falling asleep, surfing the net, text messaging and related behaviors will be treated as an absence and accounted for accordingly.
  
• ENGLISH. All written and oral assignments should be prepared in standard English. Misspellings, poor grammar, incorrect syntax will lower your grade by 10 points or more. Please write clearly, concisely and with care. A paper that looses more than 5 points for English usage may be resubmitted ONCE for reconsideration. No text messaging spelling will be accepted.
  

Course Schedule

WEEK	TOPIC	READINGS	DATE* (indicates due date unless otherwise noted)	Assignments	POINTS
	Introduction	Syllabus and Degree Curriculum Sheet [handout]	9/24
1	PLS Topics: Sources of inspiration CBS Wasteland	Baglione, Chapter 1 and 2	9/29
	Internatilonal Study Abroad_ T. Ansley	GHANA See above.	10/1	Letter to future - Degree Curriculum Documentation	10
2	Discipline of Political Science	Scott and Garrison, Intro: Disciplineof Political Science [handout]	10/6	Pop Quiz 15 item Scantron	10
	Faculty Definition of PLS Issues	See above.	10/8	Notes of PLS faculty interview 3X 5 topic card	10   [0 to -5]
3	Furlough	----	10/13
	Plagiarism and Acadmic Citations Citation Help	Baglione Chapters 3 and 4 Career Center: David Craig	10/15	Pop Quiz Extra Credit Draft Statement of Topic Importance	5 10
4	Pro/Con: Identifying the Scholarly Debate	Abramowitz, IsPolarization a Myth?[on -line]	10/20
	Library Session: Meet in Building 15 Room 2907.	Baglione Chapter 3	10/22	BRING Citatations for PLS 101 Exercise
5	Pre Reading BRING Diamond's Universal Democracy	Baglione Chapter 4	10/27	Submit Citatations for PLS 101 Exercise -- Citations ONLY	5
	"Contentious Statements"	Read Diamond's Universal Democracy Read 2-3 scholarly articles on elected topic	10/29
6	Qualitative Analysis	Baglione Chapter 7 -read for understanding of qualitative analysis in literature. Thies, A social psychologiccal approach to enduring rivalries [on line]	11/3	Submit Citations for PLS101 3-4 SENTENCE summaries for each article	15
	Thies and Diamond	Thies, A social psychologiccal approach to enduring rivalries [on line] Read Diamond's Universal Democracy	11/5
7	Quantitative Analysis	Baglione Chapters 6 and 7 Abramowitz, IsPolarization a Myth?[on -line] ANES DATA	11/10
	Science of Political Science	See above.	11/12
8	Criteria for Conclusions of Literature Review		11/17	Pop Quiz on Qual and Quant. Analysis 15 item scantron required	10
	Furlough	---	11/19
9	Power Point Pro and Con	HOW NOT TO USE POWER POINT	11/24	Intro Paragraph and lit. review subheadings	5
	Thanksgiving Holiday	Happy Holiday	11/26
10	Student Literature Review Presentations	---	12/1	All sections of literature review due on 12/1 10 student presentations 10 student evaluations	20   10 5
	Student Literature Review Presentations	---	12/3	Balance of presentations and evaluations	[Same as above for balance of presenters]
Total	---	---	---	---	100 points out of 115

Grading:

A = 95 and above		A- = 90 to 94
B+ = 87 to 89	B = 84 to 86	B- = 80 to 83
C+ = 77 to 79	C = 74 to 76	C- = 70 to 73
D+ = 67 to 69	D = 64 to 66	D- = 60 to 63
Plagiarism or any value less than 60 is F

Plagiarism, the presenting of other’s work as your own, is an F in this course. There are no exceptions. Plagiarized papers will be forwarded to Judicial Affairs Office for adjudication.