Carnahan Hall    Russell Renka

PS103 Syllabus - Summer 2005
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                    Next down; Top

    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 2005 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.  Essay portions of exams are designed to let you show knowledge at each of these levels.

    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):                    Next Down; Top

    OIS is run by Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning.  OIS gives you access to a class bulletin board (Forum), locale to post for posting papers and assignments (Drop Box), a Chat Room, and personal grade and assignment record (Gradebook).  To ensure that your off-campus PC does work with OIS, use Checker to confirm that.  If you are new this semester to Southeast, go to Southeast Portal for acquisition of your Southeast e-mail address; you'll have to use that address for this class.

Course Textbook and Readings:                           Next Down; Top

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                     Next down; Top

Examinations:  This 4-week course has four sections, each ending with an examination worth 200 points.  Each exam has two sections, multiple-choice, and essay, worth 100 points each.  The fourth examination covers Week 4 only. There is no comprehensive final exam.

   The multiple choice questions cover all readings, classroom materials, and other materials we may address during that four-week period.  These questions combine the basic and the analytic, but largely bypass the judgmental (although some will require you to recognize an opinion of a writer or your instructor on an issue raised in class and/or readings).  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.

    The essays cover weeks 1, 2 and 3 over the same materials we cover in the multiple choice exams, except of course that the topics are necessarily defined around broader thematic questions and issues.  There is no such essay on Week 4 because there's not allowable time for you to write it and me to grade it in time for the grading deadlines set by the institution. Net Value:  100 points per exam, 300 points in all.

Paper on Polling:  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.  So I assign just that in Week 2 on the Itinerary.  Value:  50 points.

Paper on Kansas Science Standards:  This is another summer of strange behavior in the State of Kansas with respect to teaching about science in a manner that separates that topic from organized religion (or more likely, fails to do so).  This is almost ideal for summarizing the way American political institutions operate.  We have a paper in Week 4 of the Itinerary.  Value:  50 points.

On-line Forum:  My PS103 classes share an OIS 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.  Value:   100 points.

    In summary, points are allotted by:

Examinations - multiple choice sections    400 points (100 per exam)
Essay                                                  300 points (100 per essay)
Polling Assignment paper                         50 points
Paper on Kansas Science Standards          50 points
Forum                                               100 points
All assignments:                                   900 points

Grades:   Gradebook posts interim grades and the eventual course grade, to let you keep up with your assignments and grades.

Source Citations and Source Locations                         Next down; Top

    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:              Next down; Top

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.

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.

On Cheating:    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.

On Plagiarism (the most common form of cheating):    Plagiarism is a chronic plague of universities.  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.

    And let me speak directly on website cheating.  The most commonplace web plagiarism is copy-and-paste from unspecified websites onto your paper--followed sometimes by penning some cursory word changes.  Let me be clear.  First, I know these critters when I smell them, and it's not hard to follow the scent back to its source.  I do that.

    Your responsibility is to do your papers in your own words.  You may always invoke a source for assistance, but you may not copy or virtually copy their sentences to your paper UNLESS you cite that source and then enclose its wording in quotes.  This, by the way, includes the textbook itself. Look at how they do source citations in the chapters.  That includes websites.  Websites have authors, and filenames (titles), and URLs.  When you use one, cite all those things, alongside the access date of that file.

    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; once corrected, then I grade the paper while making sure the plagiarism has disappeared.  After one such occasion, I will assume you know how to avoid this.

    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:  Cell phones may attend my classes ONLY when turned off.  Should one somehow ring anyway, please silence it immediately and avoid any repeat.  If you must be on phone alert, use only its visual signaler for that purpose.  If a cell phone disobeys these rules, it's ejected.  On text messaging:  do this on your private time, not on class time.  (I've seen automobile drivers do this while driving.  That is both dangerous and stupid.  In class, it's merely stupid; and it's a sure sign of non-attendance as well.)

    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 Enrichment Center offers special services for those with learning or other disabilities.  And special needs or not, I urge everyone to freely use The Writing Center, including their Proofreading.

How to Reach Me:                      Next down;Top

    I have an open door policy, and can very often be found at or near my office computer.  My office is Carnahan 211-L; it's in a suite of offices immediately next to Carnahan 202.  You can reach me any of the following ways:
        a) Leave a message at my Department mailbox or with 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) If you’re out of town and cannot send a paper or assignment by email, deliver it to the OIS Drop Box along with an e-mail notifying me of this.  Or if no on-line access, then FAX it to 573/651-2695.
        f) Consult Renka's Home Page (URL: 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 2005     

Master Calendar - click at upper left corner for Academic Calendar

Week 1 - Wednesday, May 18      Constitutional Foundations of Democracy
Readings:
    ºText, Chapter 2 - The Constitution
    ºThe Constitution of the United States - text Appendix 2, or National Archives - Constitution of the United States
    ºRoger A. Bruns, A More Perfect Union:  The Creation of the U.S. Constitution
    ºJames Madison, The Federalist No. 10 in text, Appendix 3 or at www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm

Week 1 - Thursday, May 19      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 20      Civil Rights
Readings:
   ºtext Chapter 4 - Civil Rights
**Exam no. 1 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 2 - Tuesday, May 24     Civil Liberties
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 5 - Civil Liberties
    ºwebsite reading - Renka, Russell D.  2005.  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Polling

Week 2 - Wednesday, May 25      Public Opinion and Polling
Readings:
   ºText Chapter 10 - Public Opinion

Week 2 - Thursday, May 26     Polling; Voting and Political Participation
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 11 - Voting, Campaigns, and Elections

Week 2 - Friday, May 27       Voting and Political Participation
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 11 - Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
**Exam no. 2 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 3 - Tuesday, May 31      Political Parties; The 2004 National Election
Readings:
   ºText Chapter 12 - Political Parties
    ºRenka, Russell D., The Election of 2004
    º2004 Presidential Election Results from Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections

Week 3 - Wednesday, June 1      Interest Groups and the News Media
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 13 - Interest Groups
    ºText Chapter 14 - The News Media

Week 3 - Thursday, June 2     The U.S. Congress
Readings
    ºText, Chapter 6 - Congress
    ºwebsite: Renka, Russell D.  Presidents and Congresses.
    ºSinclair, Barbara.  Bipartisan Governing: Possible Yes; Likely No, PS Online, March 2001

Week 3 - Friday, June 3    The Congress
Readings:
    ºText, Chapter 6 - Congress
**Exam no. 3 - latter part of Friday class time

Week 4 - Tuesday, June 7     The Presidency
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 7 - The Presidency
    ºwebsite reading: Renka, Russell D.  Presidential Elections through 2004

Week 4 - Wednesday, June 8     The Presidency; The Bureaucracy
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 8 - The Bureaucracy
    ºintelligent judicature and stupid design:  Kansas Citizens for Science and KCFS Press Release 3-3-05 based upon their Standards 2005; Language Log Linguists boycott Kansas intelligent design hearings; 041205 kansas - letter - alan leshner, AAAS; and NCSE Resource
    ºintelligent design and stupid judicature:  Discovery Institute; and Kansas Science Standards 2005; Kansas Evolution Controversy:  Kansas Board of Education Tells Its Side of the Story

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

Week 4 - Friday, June 10     The Judiciary
Readings:
    ºText Chapter 9 - The Federal Judiciary
**Exam no. 4 - latter part of Friday class time
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Copyright©2005, Russell D. Renka
July 24, 2007 02:38 PM
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