The following is an overview of the assignments for this class.

Exams. Your first exam will be on the nuts and bolts of the political system. Questions about current events, questions from the citizenship test, and questions from readings and lecture will all be fair game. The final exam will build on that knowledge, but will ask questions about material covered since the midterm.

Readings. You will be expected to come to class every day having done the assigned reading, taken notes on its main points, and reflected upon what you have learned from it.

Citizenship Survey.  To inform our discussions about political attitudes and participation, you will be required to help administer a survey to at least ten students over a 3 day period.

Short Papers. You will write two short papers. The first will be a 3-5 page comparison between public media and commercial media. The second will be a paper analyzing a public policy issue and arguing in favor of the election of one of the presidential candidates on the basis of their position on that issue. Based on your research on this paper, you will stage a debate on that issue for the class.

Media paper

Issues Paper and Debate

I require that all papers submitted in my classes also be uploaded to turnitin.com. For instructions on how to use turnitin.com, follow this link.

Research paper advice

Extra Credit

How to Guard Against Plagiarism

Your grade will be composed as follows:

Final exam (May 19) 25%
Midterm (Feb. 25) 15%
Media paper 3-5 pages (15%)
Issues paper 5-7 pages (25%)
Debate (10%)
Citizenship Survey 5%
Class attendance and active participation 5%

Writing center. I strongly advise all students to visit the writing center in Founders 190B and meet with a tutor for advice on paper drafts. The Writing center website also has some helpful advice about writing a strong thesis and citing sources.

For other resources at USD and on the internet, click here.