Politics and Government 250 Spring 1999

Methods, Analysis, and Argument in Political Literature:

Bill Haltom

Library 250 756-3445

"HALTOM@UPS.EDU"

Welcome to Politics and Government 250, "Methods, Analysis, and Argument in Political Literature," the third version of an experiment by the Department of Politics and Government. The Department mandated construction of P&G 250 because too few majors in Politics and Government were learning as much in advanced courses as they could. One reason for this educational shortfall, the Department decided, was that students acquired too little practical knowledge about how to learn: how to read, how to write, how to edit and rewrite, and how to criticize their work and that of others. P&G 250 conveys such practical knowledge amid an introduction to concepts of conservatism and liberalism.

Beyond meeting departmental objectives, I have tried and shall continue to try to craft the course to suit your needs and goals both while you attend UPS and after you graduate [or give up or get paroled]. Here I reduce our objectives to three sorts of experiences: of scholarly ideals, collaborative practices, and disciplined habits.

Scholarly Ideals¾ We shall cover conventions about documentation and sources and other academic forms, but I want you to master the larger, more important ideals behind the forms. Those ideals matter; the forms do not! Professors and employers agree on the ideals but vary in the indicators of those ideals to which they are most partial. A liberal-arts degree should be about pursuit of lofty learning, not conformity to punctilious pedants.

Collaborative Practices¾ I expect our course to improve your ability to read, write, and think like an advanced college student. However, I shall judge the success or failure of our time together by how much each of us learns about how we ought to communicate, how we ought to ponder together and separately, and how we might rededicate ourselves to achievement and excellence. In sum, P&G 250 is itself collaborative and strives to inculcate collaborative practices.

Disciplined Habits¾ P&G 250 is a course consumed by and with method, the set of most appropriate ways of organizing and conducting inquiry. The course first models inquiry and then asks you to commit to the best manner of inquiring. You define the best habits for investigation and then begin to acquire habits that you have fashioned.

You will not achieve the three objectives just listed in this semester. Rather, you will begin to understand what you must do before your conclusions, arguments, and writing are entitled to respect and credence. Although P&G 250 will begin to "pay off" this semester, the ultimate objectives of the course are not attained but approximated over a lifetime.

1. All written work in this course must be typed or word-processed on any unlined paper except onionskin, double-spaced, paginated, with margins on the left and on the right greater than one inch but less than two inches (for the mathematically inclined, 1" < side margins < 2"). Please submit all work in triplicate.

2. I deduct one whole grade (1.0) for every class or part of a class that any submission is late. Although I try to reward creativity and imagination in this course, I shall accept no exceptions and no excuses for tardy work.

3. Please feel free to see me about papers or other class matters. However, I shall insist that you wait at least twenty-four hours before seeing me about any graded effort. This allows you to read my comments, consider issues carefully, and make your most intellectual, least emotional presentation to me.

4. Please feel free to call me at my office to set up appointments if you cannot make my office hours. My office telephone number is 756-3445. You may also contact me electronically. However, only emergencies that you could not have foreseen will excuse your contacting me at my home (383-9846).

5. All members of this class must secure computer accounts at an electronic address that classmates and I can reach. Please contact me at "HALTOM@UPS.EDU" by January 31, 1999 to receive a passing grade in class participation for the first week. You will receive a failing grade in class participation for each week until you contact me through cyber-space. This rule will save all of us time and energy because we shall be able to speak to one another routinely.

6. I shall stop reading any submission (even electronic!) when I hit the fifth error of spelling or typing that a computer's spell-check would have caught. I am willing to work with you on your grammar and other sources of solecisms. I am not willing to countenance indolence [at least, not yours; my own bothers me less]. Check your work! I also reserve the right to reject work that is so riddled with errors that it insults you as well as me. You lose a grade [-1.0 on a 4.0 scale] from rejected work, which you must resubmit by the class after you receive it back.

7. I shall do my best to help you learn. I shall also do my best to make you teach yourself. I shall do nothing to help you avoid work.

"Excuses please the one who makes them."

Your grade for P&G 250 will combine the following four components:

my summary assessment of your portfolio (due 5 May 1999)

my summary assessment of your class participation (every day)

your average grade on each of twelve submissions below

the average summary assessment of classmates by students (due 3 May 1999)

Thus, each component counts as one quarter of your grade for this course.

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research

Reading # 2 in P&G 250 Packet: Ronald Inglehart and Marita Carballo, "Does Latin America Exist?

Reading # 5 in P&G 250 Packet: William Haltom, "Liberal-Conservative Continua: A Comparison of

Reading # 8 in P&G 250 Packet: Robert Luskin, "Measuring Political Sophistication," American

Reading # 9 in P&G 250 Packet: W. Russell Neuman, The Paradox of Mass Politics:

Reading # 10 in P&G 250 Packet: Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, What Americans Know

William S. Stewart, Understanding Politics: The Cultures of Societies and the Structures

Stewart, Understanding Politics, Chs. 4-6

Stewart, Understanding Politics, Chs. 7-8

Piper, Ideologies and Institutions, Chs. 12-22.

Please select a style or stylebook to be used in all articles in the VJP&G.

Shafer and Claggett, The Two Majorities, Chs. 5-8.