PSC 101 Section 001: Intro American Politics
Fall, 2010
3 Credit Hours
Primary Instructor: Stephen Borrelli
Core Designation: Social and Behavioral Sciences
This is a required course for political science majors and minors, and strongly recommended for nonmajors before taking advanced political science courses. It consists of a lecture-style introduction to the US Constitution, US Federal governmental institutions, and external influences on US government such as interest groups, the mass media, political parties, and mass political attitudes, culture, and behavior.
Upon successful completion of this course student will
1.) Understand the origins, content, and evolution of the US Constitution;
2.) Understand the history of civil rights and civil liberties in the US, and the principles legislators and courts have used to build and protect them;
3.) Understand the recruitment of members to, and basic structure and operations of, the US Congress, the US Executive Branch (including the Presidency and the major Federal agencies), and the US Judiciary;
4.) Appreciate the roles of the general public, political parties, the media, interest groups, and other ‘extra-governmental’ elements in the US political system, and their influence on policymaking; ;
5.) Have increased their engagement with and factual knowledge of current national politics and current events;
6.) Have an introductory-level appreciation for how political scientists approach the study of politics: the causal logic, critical skills, and methods they use in their research;
7.) Have developed their ability to discern key points from college-level lecture presentations.
Week of August 18-20 Introductory Material: Defining Government, Politics, and the Causal Approach
Read Chapter 1
Week of August 23-27 American Political Culture, the Constitution
Read Chapters 2 and 3
Week of August 30 – September 3 The Constitution Cont’d, Federalism
Read Chapter 4
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 5 (Civil Liberties) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st at 11:59 PM
Week of September 8 -10 Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Read Chapters 5 and 6
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 7 (Public Opinion) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH AT 11:59 PM
Week of September 13 – 17 Public Opinion
Read Chapter 7
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 8 (Political Participation) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th at 11:59 PM
Week of September 20 – 24 Political Participation and Voting
Read Chapters 8 and 9
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 10 (Media and Politics) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd at 11:59 PM
POSTTESTS FOR CHAPTERS 5, 7, and 8 MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd at 11:59 PM
First Midterm Exam, September 24th
Week of September 27 – October 1 The Media
Read Chapter 10
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 11 (Parties) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th at 11:59 PM
Week of October 4- 8: Political Parties
Read Chapter 11
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 12 (Interest Groups) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6 at 11:59 PM
Week of October 11-15: Interest Groups
Read Chapter 12
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 13 (Congress) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13 at 11:59 PM
Week of October 18-22: Congress
Read Chapter 13
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 14 (Presidency) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20th at 11:59 PM
Week of October 25-29: Congress Cont’d
POSTTESTS FOR CHAPTERS 10, 11, 12, and 13 MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27th at 11:59 PM
Second Midterm Exam, October 27th
Week of November 1-5: Presidency
Read Chapter 14
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 15 (Courts) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd at 11:59 PM
Week of November 8-12: Presidency Cont’d
PRETEST FOR CHAPTER 16 (Bureaucracy) MUST BE COMPLETED BY WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 10th at 11:59 PM
Week of November 15-19: Supreme Court and the Federal Judiciary
Read Chapter 15
November 23rd: Supreme Court Continued
November 29 – December 3: The Federal Bureaucracy
Read Chapter 16
POSTTESTS FOR CHAPTERS 15 and 16 MUST BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY DECEMBER 6th at 11:59 PM
EXAMS
The format of regular exams will be multiple choice. Please remember to bring two #2 pencils on exam days.
First Midterm Exam: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th in class (worth 20% of final course grade)
Second Midterm Exam: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27th in class (worth 30% of final course grade)
Final Exam: TUESDAY DECEMBER 7th at 8 AM (worth 30% of final course grade).
The exams will be noncumulative.
The exams will cover concepts and factual material found in both lectures and in the textbook. However, the instructor reserves the right to ask about important things that come exclusively from the textbook, or things that come exclusively from the lecture (another good reason to attend class regularly!)
POP QUIZZES IN LIEU OF ATTENDANCE POLICY (collectively, worth 10% of final course grade).
Attendance per se will not be taken. However, partly as a way to assess comprehension of lecture material and partly as a way to reward good attendance, a total of SEVEN unannounced POP QUIZZES will be given during the semester, during the last 10-15 minutes of class. The quizzes will be graded on a 100-point scale, and the quiz average will be taken by dividing the sum of all the student’s quiz scores by FIVE. This means that students who take more than five quizzes may end up with over 100% for a quiz average; students who take less than five quizzes may end up with failing quiz average even if they scored well on the quizzes they did take. The format of the pop quizzes will be short (three or four sentence) essay.
PRETESTS AND POSTTESTS (collectively, worth 10% of final course grade)
For ten of the chapters in the Coleman, Goldstein, and Howell textbook, students will be required to take the online pretests and posttests using the www.mypoliscilab.com function that will be demonstrated to you in class. The deadlines for taking these pretests and posttests are listed below and will be strictly enforced. Your grades on the pretests and posttests will be recorded and analyzed for research purposes; however, these grades will not be enter into your course grade. All that will matter for your course grades is that you completed the various tests by the required deadlines. Because you can take these pretests and posttests at times and places of your convenience, makeups will be allowed only in cases of extreme physical incapacitation.
Makeup exams will allowed only in cases of documented personal illness or family emergency. In order to qualify for a makeup, the student must inform the instructor before or as soon as possible after the exam about the reason for the missed exam, and must provide suitable documentation to the instructor as soon as it is feasible. Because of a recent rash of counterfeit or fraudulent excuses provided to UA professors, the instructor will verify independently the validity of any medical excuse by calling, faxing, or e-mailing the person who signed the excuse (this means the name of the person signing the excuse must be clearly identified on the documentation). The format of makeup exams will be short essays rather than multiple choice. Makeup exams will be taken immediately following the next scheduled regular exam (for example, makeups for the first test will be taken immediately following the administration of the second test); if this is impossible for the student, he or she needs to consult with the instructor to make alternative arrangements.
POP QUIZZES IN LIEU OF ATTENDANCE POLICY (collectively, worth 10% of final course grade).
Attendance per se will not be taken. However, partly as a way to assess comprehension of lecture material and partly as a way to reward good attendance, a total of SEVEN unannounced POP QUIZZES will be given during the semester, during the last 10-15 minutes of class. The quizzes will be graded on a 100-point scale, and the quiz average will be taken by dividing the sum of all the student’s quiz scores by FIVE. This means that students who take more than five quizzes may end up with over 100% for a quiz average; students who take less than five quizzes may end up with failing quiz average even if they scored well on the quizzes they did take. The format of the pop quizzes will be short (three or four sentence) essay.
All students in attendance at the University of Alabama are expected to be honorable and to observe standards of conduct appropriate to a community of scholars. The University expects from its students a higher standard of conduct than the minimum required to avoid discipline. Academic misconduct includes all acts of dishonesty in any academically related matter and any knowing or intentional help or attempt to help, or conspiracy to help, another student.
The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.
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