TEXT:

Schmidt, Steffen W., Mack C. Shelley II, and Barbara A. Bardes, American Government and Politics Today, 2003 - 2004 Edition. Belmont, CA: West/Wadsworth, 2003.

    This textbook has two Web sites associated with it.  Both are provided free of charge by the publisher with purchase of the textbook.  They are:
http://politicalscience.wadsworth.com/amgov and
http://politicalscience.wadsworth.com/schmidt03

U.S. News and World Report

Optional:

Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th Ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)

    See my Web page on how to do a Turabian bibiography.

INFORMATION LITERACY:

All students at Union County College are expected to become "information literate" before they graduate and all college-credit courses are expected to have an information literacy component.  

Sophomore-level (200-level) courses have traditionally had a term paper requirement, which, indirectly, stimulates information literacy through the research process.  This course, GOV 201, has had a term paper requirement for the past thirty years, which continues.  Given the renewed emphasis on information literacy, this course will, however, make the research aspect of doing a term paper more explicit.  See the section on Terms Papers below on what is required.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Read each week's edition of U.S. News and World Report. Questions on this material may be asked at any time. Periodic Quizzes will be given.

Term Paper Outline is Due: Thursday, September 23

Annotated Bibliography is Due:  Thursday, October 14

Term Paper is Due: Thursday, December 2

 I: The American System.             Schmidt, Chapters 1, 2, & 3

FIRST HOURLY EXAMINATION: Thursday, October 7

II: State and Local Politics       Schmidt, Chapter 18

III:  Political Socialization, Public Opinion,
        Interest Groups                 Schmidt, Chapters 7, & 8

SECOND HOURLY EXAMINATION: Tuesday, November 9

III:  Political Parties, Elections, Campaigns, and the Media
                                                  Schmidt, Chapters 9, 10, & 11

THIRD HOURLY EXAMINATION: Tuesday, December 7

GRADING POLICY:

HOURLY EXAMS                              -- 40%

Annotated Bibliography                    -- 10%

TERM PAPER                                   -- 20%

ATTENDANCE AND QUIZZES           -- 10%

FINAL EXAM                                    -- 20%
                             ___________________________

COURSE GRADE                              - 100%

TERM PAPER INFORMATION

TERM PAPER: This course requires a research paper, 13 - 20 pages in length, typed with footnotes and a bibliography using the Turabian format. Please submit TWO typed copies, the original and a photocopy. The original will be returned with comments; the copy will be retained by the instructor. If only one copy of your paper is received, it will be graded but not returned.

TERM PAPER TOPIC:

Pick a State.  Describe the politics within that State.  Besides the Presidential candidates, who else is running?  How did the State vote in 2000?  What are the predictions for 2004?  Is it a red or a blue State?  Include polling data and analysis of who votes and for whom.  Conclude your paper with the actual election results for 2004 and evaluate.

Your topic MUST BE APPROVED IN ADVANCE by the instructor. One topic per student.

PAPER OUTLINE DUE DATE: After initial approval, a short one page OUTLINE, typed, and a short BIBLIOGRAPHY (four entries), using the Turabian format) must be submitted by Thursday, September 23

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:  Based on the initial bibliography, you are asked to submit a corrected and enlarged annotated bibliography on your term paper topic of at least ten entries.  Thursday, October 14

Your annotated bibliography requires the following references:

Seven Print Media entries.  You must go to the Library to get these sources. The internet is not acceptable for this part of the assignment. 
    a.  one encyclopedic entry
            Use a major known Encyclopedia like the Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier's Encyclopedia, World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of European Social History, Encyclopedia of World Cultures, etc.
    b.  two book entries
    c.  one scholarly journal article
    d.  two magazines or other articles
    e.  one original source
Three Web sources

Annotation.  A brief summary of two or three sentences should describe the content of each of the bibliographic entries. Who wrote the article?  Whose Web site are you using? Include the library where you did the research and the library call numbers of the resource in your annotation.

Check out the Information Literacy Pages for more information.
    

TERM PAPER DUE DATE: Thursday, December 2, 2004

PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism is a deadly sin and will lead you straight to hell. It is defined in the Student Handbook. It can easily be avoided by using quotation marks or paraphrasing AND then footnoting (giving credit) to the source of the information. Please guard against this kind of cheating.