Government
2301/2302
E. W. Fredrickson
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- Required
Texts
- Schmidt, Shelley, and Bardes, American
Government and Politics Today
- Maxwell and Crain, Texas Politics Today
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- Course
Requirements
- During the course of the semester, four examinations will
be given three regular exams and a comprehensive final exam.
- The exams will cover both class lectures
and reading assignments.
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- It is very important that you read your
chapters. After all, you shelled out approximately forty dollars for the Schmidt text, so
it would be good consumerism to read the book and get your money's worth. Questions will
be asked on the tests that have come directly from the chapters and that have not been
discussed in class. The Schmidt text also makes a nifty paper weight.
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- Each regular exams will contain forty
objective questions.The questions are normally multiple choice, but occasionally some
True-False questions will be asked. Each objective question will be worth two points each.
The remaining 20% of each text will be the short answer portion of the exam. Students will
be asked to define, describe, explain, elaborate, and discuss various items in the reading
assignments and from class lectures.
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- The final exam will also be 80%
objective and 20% short answer. The number of objective questions on the final exam will
be determined later in the semester. The short answer portion of the final will cover the
material that the student has not yet been tested on. The comprehensive portion of the
final will be found in the objective portion of the final.
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- Each exam will count 20% of the course
grade for a total of 80%.
- The remaining 20% of the course grade
will be derived from the grade on a research paper.
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- Research
Paper
- The student needs to pick a current political issue. A
political issue is defined as a problem in society on which people are demanding
governmental action.
- What are some political issues?
- Last semester, students wrote on such
topics as
- (1) gays in the military
- (2) abortion
- (3) gun control
- (4) school financing
- etc.,etc.,etc.
- If none of these topics intrigue you,
you need to find a topic that peaks your curiosity. If you can not think of a topic, you
might look through some past issues of Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, and Congressional
Quarterly Weekly Report. The only restrictions on the topic is that it must be a current political issue.
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- After you pick your topic, you must divide your paper into
the following sections. This is a mandatory division.You must have all sections.You can
pick either a national or a state topic. However, it is easier to write on a national
topic since you can tap into the various national indexes.
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- Section One
should be a brief history of the problem.
- How did the problem originate?
- What brought the problem to the
attention of the government? The background section should be at least one typed page.
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- Section Two must
be divided into three parts. This section involves the actions of the government
on the problem. You need to pick a political issue in which all three branches of
government are involved with the problem. This unfortunately does narrow the topics that
you can choose.
- Section Two A deals with the action of the executive
branch.What are the proposals of the President/Governor on the topic? We are naturally
talking about President Clinton since it must be a current political issue. What opinions
does the President have on the topic? What actions and proposals has he made on the issue?
- If you are writing on a state topic, you
would naturally talk about Governor Bush's position in this section.
- Also, please keep in mind that the
executive branch includes the bureaucracy. So, if you can not find anything from the
President or Governor, you can mention the President's cabinet, federal agencies, federal
commissions, and any state agency.
- So, if you can't find comments from
Clinton, you might find comment from Secretary of State Christopher or Secretary of Labor
Reich.
- The executive branch section should be a
minimum of two typed pages and is worth 20 points.
- Section Two B
deals with the action of the legislative branch. What bills have been introduced?
What committee hearings have been held on the topic?
What are the opinions of
members of Congress or the Texas legislature on the topic?
- One of the best
places to start is the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. It contains oodles of
material about Congress.
- A second great place to look is the New York Times Index.
The New York Times tries to be the paper of record. If anything important happens in D.C.,
the Times tries to cover it The section on the legislative branch should be two pages long
and is worth twenty points.
- Section two C deals with the
judicial branch.
- How have the
courts dealt with your topic?
- What views have
the federal courts taken on the topic?
- How has the
Supreme Court dealt with the issue?
- This is another
limitation on the topic that you can write on.
- You need to
select a topic that all three branches of government have taken an active role on.
- There are many
topics that fall into that category.
- The section on
the judicial branch should be at least two pages and is worth twenty points.
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- Section Three
deals with the actions of interest groups. From various magazine and newspaper articles,
you need to
- (1) describe the various groups involved with the topic
- (2) their views and opinions on the topic
- (3) their tactics - how do they try to influence the
government.
- The interest group section must be at
least one typed page long and is worth ten points.
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- Section Four
of the paper is probably the easiest section to write. This is your personal opinion
section. What are your feelings on the topic and issue? What do you think that the
government should do about the problem?
- The personal opinion section must be a
minimum of two typed pages and is worth twenty points.
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- Minimum - 10 double spaced typed pages -
not counting the bibliography.
- For research, you may use books,
magazines, newspaper articles television news broadcast, personal interviews, etc. You
must cite at least ten sources in the body of the report. The sources must be recent.
While I will be a little flexible, I would definitely prefer that the sources were in the
last year.
- A bibliography is vital.
- Spelling, grammar, and paragraph
construction are important.
- Please proof read your paper.
- The research paper will be due on April
15, 1999 for Tuesday/Thursday classes or April 16, 1999 for
Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. A penalty of five points per school day will be
deducted for a late paper.
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- When you turn in your
paper, please make an additional copy. You will turn in one copy to me and keep your
original copy in an safe and secure place until you have received your graded copy back.
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- Class Attendance
- Students are required to attend class.
If a student, however, stops attending classes, the responsibility for dropping the course
is the responsibility of the student. You need to formally go over to the Registrar's
office and drop the course.
- Also, if you merely stop attending
classes, and every semester there are a few students who just stop coming to class.
- If you do not follow the proper
procedure, you will end up still on the class rolls at the end of the semester. If this
occurs, you will receive a F in a course that you stopped attending months earlier.
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- Important
Dates in the Semester
- Deadline for dropping a course with an automatic W
- Noon, February 19, 1999
- Spring Break - March 15 - 20
- Last day to drop a course - April 26, 1999
- Last day of class - April 30, 1999
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Final Examinations - May 1-7
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