Carnahan Hall    Russell Renka

PS103 Syllabus - Summer 2004
Professor Russell Renka

Internal links:
° Introduction
° Online Instructor Suite (OIS)
° Course Textbook and Readings
° Course Requirements and Credits
° Source Citations and Source Locations
° What is Expected of You
° How to Reach Me
° Weekly Readings and Examination Itinerary

Introduction                               Top; Next Down 

    This course covers the government and politics of the United States and its states, including the State of Missouri.  Governments have special authority granted to no other organizations--the power to make laws and regulations and to enforce them, and to collect taxes from all of us.  Government is a nearly universal way human beings regulate themselves and their fellows. This course introduces the fundamentals of American politics and government in a university studies context.  Coverage of topics is by national standard reflected in any competent introductory textbook.  Included here is state-required coverage of our federal and state constitutions.  There are no formal course prerequisites beyond standing in this university.  The course fulfills the "Political Systems" requirement of the University Studies Program.

    Politics has been defined as "the art of the possible."  To understand politics is to get beyond the dry civics and legal formalities of government structure and function.  A formal diagram of "how a bill becomes law" exists in every textbook.  Politics explains why a particular bill becomes law and another falls short, by injecting the motives and assets of politicians to gain insight.  For example, the Republican-majority 104th Congress passed a minimum wage increase in 1996 despite the traditional Republican disdain of such measures and the ardent hostility of many Members of Congress toward it.   Politics explains how that could happen--as we shall see.  Many Americans in 2004 deeply dislike politics and politicians, but it's impossible to understand government without politics.  And any effective citizenship in a democracy requires some real knowledge of politics along with the formal principles of its governance.

    This course is taught at three levels.  Some material is basic description, such as an outline of the trimester system set forth in the Supreme Court's highly controversial Roe v. Wade abortion decision, or a specification of what the First Amendment says about freedom of speech.  Some is analytic; once you know basics, you can interpret whether the distinction in law of first and second trimesters makes sense based on what we know from medical research, or whether public tobacco advertising should be classified as commercial speech.  And ultimately you confront the evaluative or judgmental; you ultimately decide what if anything to accept in Roe v. Wade or in tobacco advertising.  All have the objective of enabling you to understand what you read or hear in the public realm, and to react as an informed consumer and citizen.

    This course emphasizes two core university studies objectives (see Objectives of the University Studies Program).  First is effective citizenship.  The course should enhance your ability to be an informed participant and knowledgeable consumer.  This does not mean I promote an automatic acceptance of the American status quo; quite the contrary, blind acceptance is a fool's path.  The second, equally important objective is to master locating and gathering information.  Few things are more confusing to the average American than to figure out sources of the myriad effects our government has upon our lives.  Website access is a great help, but one must still learn navigation and acquisition skills.  Some assignments are therefore designed to ensure that you become conversant in web usage beyond the simple use of search terms in your favorite search engine.

Online Instructor Suite (OIS):                Top; Next Down

    OIS gives you access to a class bulletin board (Forum), locale to post for posting papers and assignments (Drop Box), and personal grade and assignment record (Gradebook).  OIS is run by Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning.  OIS uses automatically generated Southeast e-mail addresses that you activate by using the Southeast Key (at Student Activate SE Key).  More details are shown at www6.semo.edu/infotech/sekeyfaq.  I'll have to use your Southeast e-mail address to communicate with you, so be sure to check that e-mail box regularly.  To ensure that your off-campus PC does work with OIS, use Checker to confirm that.

Course Textbook and Readings:                 Top; Next Down

Textbook:  Kernell, Samuel, and Gary C. Jacobson.  2002.  The Logic of American Politics, 2d ed.  Washington, D.C.:  CQ Press.  For supplemental assistance, use the textbook website at Logic of American Politics (URL is logic.cqpress.com).  Don't forget to try out their multiple choice examinations for each chapter.

Readings:  The Itinerary contains other readings, at web locations specified there.

Reference Source:  Paul M. Johnson of the Department of Political Science at Auburn University has an extensive website with fundamental terminology used widely in political science, economics, and policy analysis classes, at A Glossary of Political Economy Terms.

Course Requirements and Credits                  Top; Next Down

Examinations:  The 4-week course has four weekly sections, each ending with an examination worth 100 points.

    These multiple choice questions cover all readings, classroom materials, and other materials we may address during the week.  On the proportion of questions taken directly from reading, v. those taken from lecture:  I don't know, since both are important, and single items often blend both.      Net Value:  100 points per exam, 400 points in all

Polling Assignment:  I teach about polling because it is such an important technique in modern life for learning about people.  It's also a very attractive way to lie or mislead.  The web has opened the polling world to millions of people, many of whom have no idea how to tell among The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling.  Value:  50 points

On-line Forum:  My PS103 classes share a Forum discussion site for material pertinent to this class.  This Forum covers material from class on which I make a post and request that you respond to it.  It's also designed for addressing what the lecture and readings are about, and for exam preparation.  And there are current events on matters related to this class.  You get credit for meaningful responses, not for cursory or "me too" statements.  From time to time I may cite a specific question to which all are required to reply, at a specified point value for that activity.   Value:   up to 100 points.

In summary, points are allotted by:

Examinations - multiple choice sections: 400 points (100 per exam)

in-class quizzes:  10 points per quiz

Polling Assignment: 50 points

Forum:  up to 100 points

Grades:   The Gradebook posts interim grades and the eventual course grade.

Source Citations and Source Locations               Top; Next Down              

  Essay writing in PS103 means using and citing sources, including but not limited to those cited as reading in this Syllabus.  Use any style guide you wish, but do not fail to cite the source when copying or paraphrasing a source.  If you have an established major, use the style guide from that profession.  I don't care which one you use in PS103; just pick one and be consistent in its use.  As a time-saver, whenever you use class readings as sources, you can copy the formal citation straight from this syllabus Itinerary and paste it to your paper.  For assistance with writing, go to The Writing Center in Kent Library 412.  Or use the Center's OWL, Online Writing Lab, with policies outlined at The Writing Center Site Map.  Tutorials on source use and plagiarism are included at BU Tutorials.  For PS103 paper links in APA style, go directly to Poly-Cy Guide to Internet Resources for Political Science - Style and Web Site Citation Guides.
    Elsewhere, Kent Library's Web Searching Tools includes "Deep Web Tools" with links to many databases.
    For extensive links on American government and politics, see Grace York's University of Michigan Documents Center and click on appropriate categories, including Federal Government Resources on the Web.

What is Expected of You                     Top; Next Down

Attendance:  Those who attend typically do well in my classes.  Those who don't attend, do poorly.  Attend each class session unless there’s a valid reason to miss (i.e., personal illness, ill child, death in immediate family, motorcycle wreck, full blown Midwestern blizzard, New Madrid Fault disturbance of 6.0 up on the Richter Scale, Armageddon witness).  We often use class discussion for short writing assignments and/or assignments to find relevant information from journals, the library, or websites (per Miscellaneous assignments, cited above).  Some of these are impromptu, and it’s often difficult or impossible to compensate by asking later that I email you the assignment details.  Use email or telephone voice mail to advise me if you will miss or have missed class.

Breaks:  It's 2 hours and 40 minutes daily, so we'll break right in the middle at around 12:00 noon for 10-15 minutes.  But don't forget to return after break, since that's when I take attendance and issue the assignments.

Lateness to class:  Just come in quietly.  I don’t encourage deliberate lateness, but traffic, weather, and professors in earlier classes all can cause you to arrive at five after the hour.   If you routinely amble in ten minutes late without a reason, then you should find a new class.  On my part, we have a clock in class, and I'll try to close on time.

Cheating and Plagiarism:    See Southeast's Academic Honesty brochure on this subject.  I had a certain nasty little cheater in 2003, haven't forgotten that, and have since studied some methods for catching and docking offenders.  If a student cheats on an assignment, it's an automatic zero grade on that work.  If there's evidence of cheating on more than one assignment, it's a zero on each affected assignment.  Once I have documented evidence of cheating, then I first confront the offender to elicit an explanation of the behavior, after which I file a report with the Department chair.  If I catch the evidence post hoc and cannot confront the offender, I proceed directly to the report.

    Plagiarism is a common form of cheating and a chronic plague of the academic community.  It refers to someone taking the work of others and passing it off as his or her own.  It can be as simple as taking a quotation and failing to show it properly, to lifting an entire piece verbatim and pasting it to one's own paper or exam.  The common element of this noxious practice is always the same, namely that of falsely claiming for oneself that which another person has created.  In the commercial world, plagiarism brings lawsuits for copyright violation.  In the academic world, it brings verdicts of both moral and academic failure on the offender.  For insight on what it is, see Southeast's Academic Honesty brochure, or Professor Hamner Hill's Policy on PLAGIARISM.  Each has helpful links. 

    I do not tolerate plagiarism.  I check for it--and know from bitter experience and plenty of web-smarts how to find it.  If the plagiarism is intentional, I report that as a violation of the University's academic integrity policy while assigning that paper or exam an irreversible grade of zero.  If it is not, I return the paper without a grade to its creator for immediate and thorough correction.

    The best method of avoiding plagiarism is to acquire the habit of properly citing your source material as you go along.  I do so above on the listed books for this course.  The books do so as well.  See those, or see Strunk and White's guide.  I do not stipulate a particular source guide, but will expect you to cite one in your References section of any term paper.  See Kent Library's final touches - tools for citing sources for proper use of MLA, APA, Chicago Style, and others.  I usually employ APA myself, but any of them are fine.  The core rule is really very simple.  It's this:  cite your stuff so that anyone who reads your paper can easily track its sources.  So give full citation to all sources, including names of all authors, the book/article/website file name or name and position of an interviewee, and all publication information (publisher's location, publisher's name, year of pub, volume and issue of journal, URL of a website plus date of its access).  If you got specific information from one page of a 900-page tome, do the reader the courtesy of citing that page so they can avoid poring through 899 superfluous pages.  Simple.

**On guns and cell phones**:  One of these is a serious irritant, and the other has that potential.
    Cell phones may attend class ONLY when turned off.  Should one somehow ring anyway, please silence it immediately and avoid a repeat.  If you must be on phone alert, use only its visual signaler for that purpose.  Any cell phone who disobeys these rules will be ejected and not allowed to return.
    That brings us to guns.  Real guns may not attend any of my classes.  The State of Missouri passed a 'concealed carry' gun statute in 2003, leaving many unanswered questions on when and where it's permissible to pack concealed heat.  My rule is simple:  no firearms of any kind are permitted in any of my classes, or in my office, under any circumstances.  Should there be a violation, I will not confront the offender.  Instead I will contact the university's legal authorities and have them press action to ensure that the offender may not continue this practice.  There are no exceptions to this rule unless the student is:  a) a law enforcement authority authorized to carry a gun in the normal performance of duties, and b) this student gets my advance clearance to carry in class.  Note:  None of this refers to minor weapons such as Swiss Army knives, Gerber tools, nail files, or the like.  I refer to guns.

Services and Special Needs:  Just advise me directly if you have specific difficulties that I can help you handle.  For example, I'll do oversized-print handouts if someone is visually impaired so that the usual 12-point type doesn't work; or you can use computer-assisted expansion of hypertext.  The Learning Assistance Center offers tutorial assistance.  And special needs or not, I urge everyone to freely use The Writing Center, including their Proofreading.

How to Reach Me                    Top; Next Down

    I have an open door policy, and can very often be found at or near my office computer.  My office is Carnahan 211-L in the suite next door to the Carnahan 202 classroom.  I hold office hours daily from Tuesday through Friday starting at 9:30 a.m. up to the 10:50 a.m. class time. You can reach me in the following ways:
        a) Leave a message at my Department mailbox, or in the Department office in Carnahan 211.
        b) Leave a message at the mail drop outside my door at Carnahan 211-L.
        c) Leave a voice mail message at my office telephone number, (573)651-2692.
        d) E-mail me at rdrenka@semo.edu.
        e) Post a query on the Forum.
        f) If you’re out of town and cannot send a paper or assignment by e-mail, deliver it to the OIS Drop Box.  If that fails, then FAX it to 573/651-2695 (the departmental FAX location).
    Consult Renka's Home Page (URL: http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka) for other details about myself and my courses, including this syllabus.
PS103 Weekly Readings and Examination Itinerary--Professor Renka - Summer 2004      Top

Master Calendar - click at upper left corner for Academic Calendar

Week 1 - Tuesday, May 18       Politics, Public Goods, and Government
Readings:
    ºKernell and Jacobson (textbook), Chapter 1
ºThe Declaration of Independence - textbook Appendix 1, or on-line: NARA The National Archives Experience - Declaration of Independence; general source is NARA The National Archives Experience - Charters of Freedom at www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters.html.
    ºon-line reading:  Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention Time Line, 1776-1789

Week 1 - Wednesday, May 19      Constitutional Foundations of Democracy
Readings:
ºText, Chapter 2 - The Constitution
ºThe Constitution of the United States - text Appendix 2, or on-line: NARA - The U.S. Constitution (with internal links from original document to later amendments thereof) and its Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10); or you can use The Avalon Project: U.S. Constitution.
ºJames Madison, The Federalist No. 10 in text, Appendix 3 or at www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm
ºColonial Maps - Federalist and Anti-Federalist Areas, 1787-1790; and Ratification of the Constitution; both from Colonial Maps by CU Department of History

Week 1 - Thursday, May 20     Federalism; U.S. and State Constitutions
Readings:
ºText, Chapter 3 - Federalism
ºJames Madison, The Federalist No. 51 in text, Appendix 4 or at www.constitution.org/fed/federa51.htm
    ºwebsite reading - Renka, Russell D.  2000.  Madison and Federalism.

Week 1 - Friday, May 21     Civil Rights
Readings:
ºText Chapter 4 - Civil Rights
ºwebsite readings:  Rosenberg, Gerald.  2004.  Substituting Symbol for Substance- What Did Brown Really Accomplish?  In PS:  Political Science and Politics, April 2004, pp. 205-10.
** Exam no. 1 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 2 - Tuesday, May 25     Civil Liberties
Readings:
ºText Chapter 5 - Civil Liberties

Week 2 - Wednesday, May 26      Public Opinion and Polling
Readings:
ºText Chapter 10 - Public Opinion
ºwebsite reading - Renka, Russell D.  2004.  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling.

Week 2 - Thursday, May 27     Political Participation and Voting
Readings:
ºText Chapter 11 - Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
ºKropf, Martha, et al.  2003.  The 2000 Missouri Senate Race.  In PS:  Political Science and Politics, July 2003.

Week 2 - Friday, May 28         Political Parties
ºText Chapter 12 - Political Parties
** Exam no. 2 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 3 - Tuesday, June 1       Florida in the 2000 Election
Readings:
    ºwebsite 1:  Henry Brady et al.  2001. Law and Data:  The Butterfly Ballot Episode.  In PS:  Political Science and Politics, March 2001.
    ºwebsite 2:   See the infamous Palm Beach County Ballot itself.
ºwebsite 3:   Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Election Results - 2000 Presidential Election Results - with each state shown county by county for the 3000-plus U.S. counties; Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - State Data - Florida 2000 for that state, including Palm Beach County

Week 3 - Wednesday, June 2      Interest Groups and the News Media
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 13 - Interest Groups
    ºText Chapter 14 - The News Media

Week 3 - Thursday, June 3      The U.S. Congress
Readings:
    ºText, Chapter 6 - Congress
    ºwebsite:  Renka, Russell D.  Presidents and Congresses.

Week 3 - Friday, June 4         The Congress
Readings: 
    ºSinclair, Barbara.  2001.  Bipartisan Governing: Possible Yes; Likely No.  In PS:  Political Science and Politics, March 2001.
**Exam no. 3 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 4 - Tuesday, June 8    The Presidency Readings:
ºText Chapter 7 - The Presidency
ºwebsite reading:  Renka, Russell D.  Presidential Elections through 2000.

Week 4 - Wednesday, June 9     The Presidency; The Bureaucracy
Readings:
ºText Chapter 8 - The Bureaucracy

Week 4 - Thursday, June 10     The Judiciary
Readings:
ºText Chapter 9 - The Federal Judiciary

Week 4 - Friday, June 11    The Judiciary
Readings:
ºText Chapter 9 - The Federal Judiciary
ºDevins, Neal.  2004.  What Brown Teaches Us about the Rehnquist Court's Federalism Revival.  PS:  Political Science and Politics, April 2004, pp. 211-14.
**Exam no. 4 - latter part of Friday class time

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Copyright©2004,Russell D. Renka
July 24, 2007 04:17 PM
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