PLS 111 - Intro to American Goverment Syllabus

This course is designed to introduce students to basic principles and practices concerning American government. It starts with an overview of the ideological and philosophical traditions found in the American political system, along with a review of Constitutional issues. It then examines the "input" side of the political system: elections, political parties, public opinion, and interest groups. It next considers relevant elements of the government's institutions such as the Presidency and Congress, and concludes by examining some public policies.

The core of the course is based on reading certain chapters in the assigned textbook, completing related assignments and reviews, attending lectures, participating in course discussions, and taking exams and completing other assignments. There are web-based exercises/quizzes available for this course, provided through the "Angel" learning management system, accessible either through your MYAACC link or directly at http://angel.aacc.edu. As these will be used to formulate exam questions, you are urged to complete them. Since they are self-graded, you will instantly know how well you are retaining the material. T

Students may communicate with Dr. Nataf in several ways: (1) telephone/voicemail (410-777-2733); (2) email, which can also be used to email assignments such as current events assignments or the Internet assignment. Dr. Nataf prefers that his AACC email account ddnataf@aacc.edu be used for correspondence in this class. Please be sure to indicate that you are in the 10 a.m. section by placing the following in the subject line: “PLS 111 10 am.” Dr. Nataf is also teaching an entirely online version of this course and might otherwise confuse your student status.

Dr. Nataf has set up a class website at www.ola4.aacc.edu/ddnataf/pls111a.html. This will generate a screen that partially resembles this syllabus. In addition, there are dropdown boxes with a variety of other links. The buttons include "home" and "course info" under which you can always get a copy of this document. Other dropdown categories include "Lectures" where copies of the lecture presentations can be obtained, "Maps," "Charts," "Documents," "Links," Media" and "Political Science."

The course also has available some weekly quizzes which are being handled under the "Angel" learning management environment. This can be accessed by going through "MYAACC" (http://myaacc.aacc.edu), finding this course among your courses and then searching for "content/quizzes." Alternatively, you can simply get to Angel by typing http://angel.aacc.edu.

Finally, there is a publisher provided Web site for the textbook at http://www.prenhall.com/dye

There is one textbook which is required for this course: Politics in America, by Thomas Dye, 7th edition, (NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007). It is also suggested that students read a major daily newspaper to keep up with world events.

There will be three exams in this course. All will have essay and objective/multiple choice components, and may include questions from the current-events discussion in the class.

Current Events Exercise

Two current event exercises using a topic handed out in class/posted to Web site.

Assignment Goal: Apply Conservative and Liberal perspectives to an issue, including an discussion of student’s own position on the issue (pro, con, indifferent). These essays should demonstrate the student's understanding of the ideological perspectives, the issues raised as well as demonstrate the ability to develop and support an argument.

Assignment Format: A well-written, thorough word-processed essay at least two pages long. It should have your name, course, section time, and a title.

You may want to include in your text specific citations from various sources. If outside references are used, please include a footnote showing sources. Hyperlinks to sources may also be placed in the document. These assignments may be handed-in or emailed as attachments in Microsoft Word format, or simply cut and pasted into the body of the email message if you are unable to create a Word format attachment.

There is a mass media exercise required of all students. You have two choices regarding how to fulfill the requirements of this exercise: using the Internet, or using television. You only need to choose ONE of the two. Both are meant to help you better understand the role of modern communications in presenting political “facts” and in spinning those facts based on ideology and personal interpretation.

As one of the course’s learning objectives is familiarity with the Internet when conducting research, there is an assignment based on Internet research that is required of all students.

Assignment Goal: Review four appropriate Web sites and judge how well they attain these goals:

· Ease of Use – It is well organized, are the areas clearly set out, would a novice get lost in it?

· Visual Appearance – How effectively does it use graphics? Is the screen display appealing?

· Usefulness of Content – Could a student of American politics really benefit from the material presented?

· Usefulness of Hyperlinks – Do the hyperlinks seem relevant? Are they current?

· Overall Grade – What is your overall appraisal? Would you recommend this site to others?

Each site should have a numeric grade (score) using this scale for each of the items above (thus, there should be six numeric grades on your paper).

You should also include at least one recommendation (e.g., make it shorter, fewer graphics, more hyperlinks, better method of searching out information, etc.)

Assignment Format: Essay, word-processed, about 4-5 pages long. Make sure to clearly identify the Web site by including the URL and other identifying information. As this is an election year, it is advisable to review at least two candidates Web sites (along with a third of your choice).

The preferred report format is to (1) Summarize the nature of the site (e.g., This site is mostly a portal to references having to do with political science...It is supported by the American Political Science Association...); (2) List the first criteria (ease of use) and place a rating score ("4") next to it. (3) Write a paragraph single spaced justifying your rating; (4) Continue to the next criteria; (5) Provide one recommendation for the site. Use 1 inch margins, Times Roman font, 12 point font size.

Assignment Goal: Watch at least four news commentary programs related to U.S. politics. Acceptable programs include:

You may choose two similar formats so that you might end up with two Sunday morning talk shows and two evening news shows, or two of one type and then one each of the others...

Each site should have a numeric grade (score) using this scale for each of the items above (thus, there should be five numeric grades on your paper). 1 Poor 2 Average 3 Good 4 Excellent

The preferred report format is to (1) Summarize the nature of the show (e.g., This show mostly presents the opinions of a panel of journalists who are asked questions by a moderator); (2) List the first of the criteria (clarity) and place a rating score ("4") next to it. (3) Write a paragraph single spaced justifying your rating; (4) Continue to the next criterion; (5) Provide one recommendation for the show. Use 1 inch margins, Times Roman font, 12 point font size. No cover page is needed, but make sure to put your name, class (PLS 111) and assignment title at the top of the first page.

All assignments are graded on a 0-100 point scale. For each assignment, the grade ranges are as follows:

Be aware that the actual numeric score, rather than the letter grade is recorded and used to calculate final grades. Thus, if a student obtains a "98" on an assignment, that score rather than an "A" letter grade is recorded. The final grade will depend on the weighted total for all assignments, using the weighting system below. To calculate your final score, multiple the percentage times your point score, then add all of them up. You should end up with a score between 0 and 100. (e.g., .20*80=16, .25*80=20, etc.)

Assignment/Test	Percentage
First mid-term examination	20
Second mid-Term examination	25
Final examination	20
Internet Report/Mass Media Report	12
Current Events papers	8
Quizzes	10
Class Attendance and Participation	5
Total	100

As a means of complementing students' academic preparation with relevant experiential learning, students will have the opportunity to participate in this semester’s public interest survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Local Issues (CSLI - http://www2.aacc.edu/csli). Dr. Nataf is the director of this center. The survey will occur March 10-13.

The purpose of your participation is twofold: (1) it will allow you to gain valuable insights about how surveys are conceived, administrated, analyzed and reported. By the end of the process, you will have experienced the many facets of the survey process, which is part of standard social science methodologies. (2) you will have contributed to the community by helping generate public opinion findings useful for policy making. Important people, the media and the general public all have come to regard CSLI's surveys of Anne Arundel County residents as a vital way keeping current on the state of local opinion. These surveys have been acknowledged by a wide range of policy-makers throughout Maryland. Without student participation, this valuable community service could not be continued.

What is required of you? There are four meetings you will be required to attend (with a fifth meeting optional). These are as follows:

(1) (optional) A meeting to discuss what topics should be included on the survey

(2) A meeting to review the survey process and become familiar with previous findings

(3-4) Two nights (5-9 first night, 6-9 second night) spent on the telephone calling residents. The first night will include a brief training period in telephone and marking instructions.

A short 1-2 page paper summarizing what you did, what you learned and any recommendations or suggestions should be provided within one week of the last meeting.

All students who choose to participate in the survey will be rewarded by being able to write the essay portion of their final exams at home, to be turned in the day of the final examination. Students will still need to take the objective section of the test in class. They will also receive an additional 5 points counting towards your final grade (using a 100 point scale)

Other CSLI opportunities: Extra credit in this course will be available to those who participate in the CSLI Student Club (http://www2.aacc.edu/csli/csliclub.html). While "membership" in the club is strictly voluntary, attendance at selected events sponsored by the club will be rewarded. For club events that are 'extra-credit eligible' (check with Nataf) and for which a written, one-page, single spaced summary of each event is provided, an extra point will be added to your final grade. Examples of extra-credit eligible events are interviews with community and government leaders, field trips, topical group discussions, etc.

Rescheduled Exams If you are planning to take the exam on anything other than the scheduled exam date announced in class, you must EMAIL Nataf so that he has a “paper” record of your request at least one week prior to the exam date. Failure to do so may result in a test not being available when you expect it to be.

Attendance, Class Decorum,

As indicated in the table listing graded events, Dr. Nataf will reward students with regular attendance and who meaningfully participate in class discussions. Remember that this class is about politics - often touching on emotional attachments students have to candidates, parties and issue stands. While you may not agree with the views expressed by others in the class, you are always expects to show respect and civility towards one another. By contrast, disruptive students or those who demonstrate a lack of interest in the subject or lack of respect for other students or the instructor will be penalized based on the “class attendance and participation grade. Severe disciplinary cases will be subject to removal from class following college policy.

Academic Integrity, Computer Access and Usage Policy, ADA (Special Needs) Statement, Course Withdrawal

Those students with special needs should contact Dr. Nataf so any necessary accommodations can be made.