Politics
& Government 411 Professor
Bill Haltom
Senior
Seminar in Public Law Wyatt
214 879-3445
Autumn
Semester 2004 Office
Hours: MWF 1300-1350
Common
Places, Common Sense, and
the
Juridico-Entertainment Complex
Politics and Government 411, the “Senior Seminar in
Public Law,” will guide your original research in public law under my
supervision. That means, first, that you
must already have studied
I presume, further, that you intend to create knowledge
through both independent and cooperative exertions. In meetings of the
seminar, you will personally master and collectively assist others in mastering
common material. In seminar-papers, you will
apply learning to specific problems to expand knowledge. In the seminar-room, you are part of our team;
when you write your paper, you are on your own.
You must work with us and by yourself to succeed in this seminar.
I presume, third, that you can generate some
enthusiasm about our general topic
and your particular project. In this seminar, the common topic concerns
interactions among the justice system, politics, and common sense. The seminar will begin from the work of
others but will demand that you augment knowledge: your knowledge, our knowledge,
and the world’s knowledge.
These presumptions, expectations, and goals demand
that we all pull together to teach one another.
I facilitate classroom meetings and carefully edit your written
work. During seminar-meetings, I
refine your ability to make and judge arguments. I then assure that all seminarians prepare
thoroughly and participate routinely and well. In reading written work, I prod you
seminarians into writing the best seminar-papers of which you are capable,
papers that meet the highest standards for college students. However, our highest priority will always be
your teaching yourselves, others, and me.
Onerous Rules
1. All
written work in this course must be typed or word-processed, on any unlined
paper except onionskin, double-spaced, with margins at least 1.00 inches but at
most 1.50 inches.
2. I deduct
one whole grade (1.0) for tardy submissions.
3. Please feel free to see me about papers or other class matters. However, I shall insist that you wait a day after I return any graded effort.
4. Please
feel free to call me at my office to set up appointments if you cannot make my
office hours. I shall be happy to talk to you immediately after the meetings of
this seminar. You may also contact me electronically. However, only emergencies that you could
not have foreseen will excuse contacting me at my home. [If you discover me at your home, you may
speak to me on any matter you choose.]
5. All
members of the seminar must secure
computer accounts on the UPS computer or at any other spot on the Internet
that we can reach. If you have not
contacted me at “haltom@ups.edu” by
6. Your draft
on which members of the seminar are to comment must be in my office ¾ physically or electronically
¾ at
least forty-eight hours prior to your presentation of the draft. If your draft is not available to your
classmates, you will receive an “F” [0.0] for that presentation. Absolutely
no exceptions!
Topics
You are free to research any subjects that seminarians and I approve for your seminar paper. Please select a project that will interest you and your classmates. Projects that you and the rest of us care about will generate discussions, disagreements, and superior papers.
Please see me early and often to get ideas. I have some bizarre but revealing projects in mind.
Please note
that you must propose a thesis to the seminar on
Proposals
I urge you to present your proposal to me and to the
class with the format below. Your
proposals will be much more detailed.
The format suggests only the kinds of questions that sophisticated
listeners will want you to answer.
TITLE Some
arresting title to inspire interest among your classmates
TOPIC A
succinct statement of the sort of puzzle or problem that you will study
THESIS A
proposition that is contestable and interesting to you and us
DATA What sorts of information you will
use and where you will find those sorts
METHOD How
you expect to proceed, step by step
BIBLIO- What
resources, books, articles, interviews, and other information
GRAPHY you
have already located, secured, and annotated
Thus, I shall expect all proposals to be written and
to state a tentative title, general topic, preliminary thesis, strategic sample
of data, detailed steps by which the thesis will be tested, resources located
and needed, and plans to collaborate with others in the seminar. Your proposal will guide your paper: the flimsier your proposal, the more
haphazard your planning; the more
haphazard your planning, the lower the likelihood of your success.
You will adapt your plans as research proceeds. If you propose a thesis that seems reasonable
and provocative but your research disconfirms that thesis, you will write up
the seminar paper showing why the thesis was a worthy conjecture but untrue or
only partially reliable. The thesis you start out with need not be
the thesis you end up with. To test
presumptions and to reassess them in light of new evidence is learning. Learning is good. We like learning.
Most undergraduates write their papers
haphazardly. I certainly did and
arguably still do. Designing a sample
and planning a procedure will be a new challenge for many in the seminar. This is necessary preparation for life,
however. People who plan ahead and who
work smart so they can produce more with less tend to get more from life,
financially and otherwise. You must
learn to organize your time and effort.
If you do not do so in Politics and Government 411, the workload¾and I¾will bury you.
Seminar-Papers
Many seniors believe that “more is more” when it
comes to their seminar-papers. They long
to wave fifty pages of prose bloated by needless documentation and larded
with every fact and fiction they discovered in their research. These seniors forget some important facts of
which I want to remind you. First, you may want to show your senior thesis to
someone who will actually read it. If
your thesis demonstrates that you will work like a mule without purpose, your
reader will be impressed only if he or she needs assistance moving rocks. Second, you will likely read your paper
someday. If your paper shows that you
were a bit thick, you will not be able to use it to prove to your spouse or
offspring that you were once intellectual or at least literate. Third, your classmates and I have to read
your thesis. If you burden us with
thirty pages of blather when you could have wrapped your project up in ten
pages, we shall think you a gas bag. In this seminar, all gas bags must have PhDs.
“Less is more.”
If you doubt that adage, just consider how much shorter this syllabus
should be!
At least two days before your any drafts are to be
presented to the seminar, you must give
me a copy of your draft. I shall then
make copies for all members of the seminar. All members of the seminar will
then comment on your drafts. All members
of the seminar will annotate your draft and will return their copies of your
draft with helpful annotations legibly inscribed
thereon. The seminar will then discuss
only the most important, general, and interesting aspects of your drafts in
class.
Evaluation
You will be graded according to the quality of
participation in the seminar and of the seminar-paper. Participation [all activities and submissions
aside from the paper, including all drafts] and paper each account for half the
grade for the seminar.
Schedule
8-31 Introducing
the Juridico-Entertainment Complex
Read This syllabus and “The Juridico-Entertainment
Complex”
9-7 Testing
the Juridico-Entertainment Complex ¾ Seminar Projects
Present an inchoate research proposal
according to directions in this syllabus
9-14 Common
Places and Commonplaces of Law and Litigants
Read Ewick & Silbey, The
Official
Presenters:
9-21 Less
Common Places and Uncommon Perspectives on Law and Litigants
Read Asim (ed.), Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life
Official
Presenters:
9-28 Project
Proposals
Submit a formal
research proposal consistent with this syllabus and consultations
Official
Presenters: Everyone in P&G 411
10-5 Dialectics
of Proposed and Evolving Projects
Official
Presenters:
10-12 Dialectics
of Proposed and Evolving Projects
Official
Presenters:
10-19 Dialectics
of Proposed and Evolving Projects
Official
Presenters:
10-26 Troubleshooting
Projects
11-9 Troubleshooting
Projects
11-16 Three
Drafts
Presenters
11-23 Three
Drafts
Presenters
11-30 Three
Drafts
Presenters
12-7 Presentations
of Penultimate Drafts