Course: 10:10-11:00 MWF, MEL E408

Information

Instructor: Anthony Nownes

Office: 811 McClung Tower

Telephone: 974-7052

Email:

Web Page:

Office Hours: MWF 11-12 and by appointment

Introduction

POLS 487 is the Senior Honors Seminar. To graduate with honors in the Department of Political Science you must complete POLS 387, 388, 487, and 488 (each with a grade of C or better). If you are here, you probably already have completed POLS 387 and 388 (though you may be enrolled in 387 right now). Next semester you will complete POLS 488, which means you will complete your senior honors thesis. This course is designed to get you ready to complete your thesis.

This course is divided into three sections. The first section will focus on the process of writing a thesis. You will read a book called How to Write a BA Thesis, which is a guidebook (and a reference book) that offers advice on how to plan and execute a thesis. You will also read a few sections of The Political Science Toolbox, a guide for researchers of American government and politics. The second section will force you to grapple with a “real-world” research question, by reading the classic Bowling Alone. The purpose of this section is to get you in a frame of mind conducive to writing a thesis. In the third part of the course, we will (together) nail down each student’s thesis topic. At the end of course, each student will submit a thesis packet.

Books

The following items are available for purchase at the University Bookstore:

Charles Lipson.How to Write a BA Thesis: A Practical Guide from Your First Ideas to Your Finished Paper (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005).
Robert D. Putnam.Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Touchstone, 2000).
Steven E. Frantzich, and Howard R. Ernst. 2009. The Political Science Toolbox: A Research Companion to American Government (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.)

I may provide supplemental readings as well.

Grading

I will calculate your grade as follows:

A = 930-1000 points

A- = 900-929 points

B+ = 870-899 points

B = 830-869 points

B- = 800-829 points

C+ = 770-799 points

C = 730-769 points

C- = 700-729 points

D+ = 670-699 points

D = 630-669 points

D- = 600-629 points

F = 599 points or less

You will earn points as follows:

200 points for reaction paper #1

400 pages for reaction paper #2

300 points for thesis packet

100 points for class participation

Policies

Accommodations for students with disabilities:

I am committed to making all necessary accommodations for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are urged to contact the Office of Disability Services (2227 Dunford Hall; Phone: (865) 974-6087; Fax: (865) 974-9552; Email: ) to learn more about their rights and responsibilities. Here is an excerpt from Hilltopics about the Office:

“The Office of Disability Services (ODS) is the designated office on campus that obtains and files disability-related documents, certifies eligibility for services, determines reasonable accommodations, and develops plans for the provision of such accommodations” (Hilltopics, p. 48).

Plagiarism:

I will not tolerate plagiarism. The following is an excerpt from the University of Tennessee’s Honor Statement, which can be found in Hilltopics, which is the official student handbook of the University of Tennessee:

“Students are also responsible for any act of plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the intellectual property or product of someone else without giving proper credit. The undocumented use of someone else’s words or ideas in any medium of communication (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge) is a serious offense, subject to disciplinary action that may include failure in a course and/or dismissal from the University. Specific examples of plagiarism are: 1. Copying without proper documentation (quotationmarks and a citation) written or spoken words, phrases, or sentences from any source; 2. Summarizing without proper documentation (usually a citation) ideas from another source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge); 3. Borrowing facts, statistics, graphs, pictorial representations, or phrases without acknowledging the source (unless such information is recognized as common knowledge);4. Collaborating on a graded assignment without the instructor’s approval; 5. Submitting work, either in whole or in part, created by a professional service and used without attribution (e.g., paper, speech, bibliography, or photograph)” (Hilltopics, p. 11).

For more on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct, consult Hilltopics, pp. 11-24.

Talking in class:

This class will involve a great deal of discussion. However, you are to speak only when recognized by me. Furthermore, you may NOT talk when someone else (including me) is speaking.

Yourreaction papers:

The bulk of your grade will be based on two reaction papers. The firstpaper (on Lipson and/or Frantzich and Ernst) should be 5-8 pages long, and the second paper (on Putnam) should be 12-15 pages long. A reaction paper is a summary of your reactions to something you have read. A typical reaction paper summarizeswhat you have read, and then addresses other questions. Among the questions you might consider are the following: What was the most important thing you learned from the material? Do you agree with the author(s)? Do you disagree with the author(s)? Was anything unclear? Was anything left out that you think should have been included? You are free to address other questions.

Yourthesis materials:

A portion of your grade—30 percent—will be based on your thesis materials. The “thesis packet” you turn in at the end of the semester must include the following: 1). Your thesis statement or research question; 2). A list of at least 25 references; and 3). An outline of your thesis. We will talk about each of these elements in class.

Calendar

Section I: Learning How to Conduct Research and Write a Thesis

Week 1: 8/19-21Welcome to class

Week 2: 8/24-28Read: Lipson, Chapters 1-9

Week 3: 8/31-9/4Read: Lipson, Chapters 10-18

Week 4: 9/9-11Read: Frantzich and Ernst, Introduction, Chapters 1-4

Week 5: 9/14-18Read:Frantzich and Ernst, Chapters 5-8

Section II: The Sorts of Things We Write About

Week 6: 9/21-25Read: Putnam, Chapters 1-9

Reaction Paper #1 (Lipson and/orFrantzich and Ernst)DUE

Friday, 9/18

Week 7: 9/28-10/2Read: Putnam, Chapters 10-15

Week 8: 10/5-9Read: Putnam, Chapters 16-22

Week 9: 10/12-14Read: Putnam, Chapters 23 and 24

Reaction Paper #2 (Putnam) DUEWednesday, 10/14

Week 10: 10/19-23Summary discussions: Putnam

Section III: Your Turn

Week 11: 10/26-30Thesis topic discussion

Week 12: 11/2-6Thesis topic discussion

Week 13: 11/9-13Thesis topic discussion

Week 14: 11/16-20Thesis topic discussion

Week 15: 11/23-25Thesis topic discussion

Thesis packet, DUE Friday, 11/25

Week 16: 11/30Last Day