PS 1281: Capstone Seminar in American Politics (Representation)
Fall 2010
Syllabus
W 2-3:55
4430 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Professor Kanthak
4605 Posvar Hall
(412)648-7279
Office Hours: 1-3 M
This course has several purposes. The most straightforward are (1) getting you better acquainted with the scholarly research on the issue of political representation and diversity in the United States and (2) providing you with an opportunity to write your own scholarly piece of research. But this class will also focus on a third goal, one that is both more abstract and probably more important than the other two. That goal is to help get you prepared for your next steps as you complete your undergraduate degree. This is somewhat of a tall order, particularly since the people in this class have not only disparate goals but also different levels of clarity in those goals. When asked what your career goals are, your answer may be “Law school, joining a firm and making partner before I turn 30” or it may be “Ummmm…what?” Both answers, and any others, are acceptable for our purposes here. What you all have in common is that you are majors in political science and that you are nearing the end of your careers here at Pitt. If you’ve done it right, you now have experience in expressing yourself both orally and in written work, you can do research, and you have a firm understanding of politics. There are many jobs you can choose that draw on such experience, such as law, politics itself, think-tank-style research, and even continuing in political science. All of these choices, and most others, will require you to collaborate with colleagues, discuss ideas, and keep up with project goals. To that end, our class this semester will provide you with the opportunity to simulate the type of work you are likely to encounter in these jobs. In our weekly course meetings, we will simulate research meetings at a think tank. On most weeks, we will be helping each other to understand how the readings for that week fit in with our individual research projects. On other weeks, we will be providing “research reports” to update each other on how our individual research projects are going. At the end of the semester, you will be able to:
§ Write a full-length research paper on a topic or issue that you choose, having something to do with representation in the United States, broadly defined.
§ Read, understand, and converse about some of the top political science research on representation.
Books
All books are available for purchase at the University Book Center. Be sure to get the appropriate edition, when applicable. Editions can be dramatically different. Be assured that I take into account the cost of textbooks when making my decisions about which books to adopt.
Required texts:
Lawless and Fox. It Takes a Candidate
Page, Scott. The Difference, New Edition. (2008)
Pitkin. The Concept of Representation.
Segura and Bowler. Diversity in Democracy
Tate. Black Faces in the Mirror
Thomas and Wilcox. Women and Elective Office, 2nd ed.
Course requirements
Your grade will depend on your performance on three tasks. Below, I summarize the weights of the three tasks, then describe them in detail.
45 Research project
20 Reaction papers
10 Presentations
10 Discussion Leader
15 Participation
Completion of a research project (45 percent of final grade)
The largest single part of your grade for this class is based on your work on a large research project that will take the entire semester to complete. You should be shooting for a paper that is suitable for use as a writing sample, for grad school, law school, a job, or whatever use you might have for such a sample. Details on the breakdown of the grades for the research project are in a separate handout.
Reaction Papers (20 percent of final grade)
For each week, you should read the assigned material and write a short reaction for each part of the reading. This means that when the reading is one entire book, you have only one reaction paper. When there are several articles from an edited volume, you should write a separate reaction for each article. The reaction papers are short – less than one page per reading, and article reactions should be even shorter. Your reaction paper will be graded based on your responses to two prompts:
· In your own words, summarize the main findings of the research. (1 point)
· Explain why you do or do not find the argument to be important and/or persuasive. (1 point)
For each week, then, your reaction paper will be worth 2 points total. On weeks when there are several articles, your grades will be averaged across the different reaction papers. The reaction papers are due by noon on the Tuesday before the class in which the readings are scheduled. You will turn in your reaction papers on CourseWeb, on a discussion board (NOT Digital Dropbox) so that all reactions are available for all students to read. This will be especially helpful for discussion leaders (more on that in a minute). Reaction papers are due only on those days for which readings are assigned.
Presentations (10 percent of final grade)
You will be responsible for making two in-class presentations on the topic of your research paper. The first presentation will be a very brief introduction to your topic, which you will give on October 20. You should keep your comments to 2 minutes or less, just enough time to explain what it is you are planning on doing. The other, more in-depth discussion of your paper comes at the very end of class. This presentation will be 5-10 minutes long and will outline your research question, your findings, and a discussion of the relevance of those findings. A schedule of presentation times will be posted on CourseWeb at a later date.You will receive more information on this presentation in the research project handout. Your presentation grad is based on:
· Brief presentation of research project (2 points)
· Longer presentation of your completed work (8 points)
Discussion Leader (10 percent of final grade)
Once this semester, you (either alone or in tandem with a classmate) will be in charge of leading the discussion for the day. If you are working with someone else, you may work out together how you want to divide the tasks. As discussion leader, you should
· Begin the discussion with an overview of the readings, setting them in the context of the issues we have already discussed in class.
· Ask motivating questions at the beginning to get discussion moving.
· Have more questions ready if discussion begins to lull.
· Redirect the conversation if it wanders off-topic.
· Read your colleagues’ reaction papers prior to class to guide the completion of these tasks.
Class participation (15 percent of final grade)
Participation is central to the success of this class. Therefore, you are expected to attend every class having prepared the appropriate material, and ready and able to participate. Fifteen points is a lot. But they will not be handed out based on my personal whim at the end of the semester. And you will know exactly how many points you have for participation at any given time. Here’s how it works. For every class you attend, you will submit a self-report of your participation for that class. This will be handed in on scrap paper which I will provide. In your self-report, you will explain how you contributed to the class discussion and why it was important and useful. Your grade will be based on this self-report, using the following rubric:
1: Self-report is submitted, and participation outlined therein shows evidence that the student provided a meaningful contribution to the class discussion.
0.5: Self-report is submitted, but participation outlined therein did not provide a meaningful contribution to the class discussion.
0: No self-report is submitted.
Note that it is impossible to “make up” this point if you miss class. This means that even if you are ill or have good reason to miss the class, you will lose the point. Losing one point is not going to kill your grade, but several absences will add up quickly, hurting both your participation and your ability to do well on the final. Let’s be clear, then. If you miss a class, your grade for the course is reduced by one point. If you miss five classes, the best you can do in the class is a 95. Attendance and participation therefore are straightforwardly related to your class grade.
Some of you who are extra-good at math may have realized that if you prepare acceptable self-reports for every class we meet this semester, you will have 14 participation points, because we meet 14 times. For this reason, you will be eligible for one “bonus” point at some time in the class. You should request this “bonus” point on your self-report when you feel that your work one day has been exceptionally good. You may request the point in ½ - point or full-point increments, depending on how good your “bonus” participation is. Note that you will need to request this point in order to get it. If you never request it, you’ll never get it. To be clear, you may request only one “bonus” point in the semester. If you like, however, you may donate points you earn above your one “bonus” point to the class mate of your choice. You can do this by requesting a bonus and explaining to me why another person should get the point. Usually, that reason will be related to the class (for example, the person said something that made you think of your brilliant bonus-worthy comment).
Course policies
Students with disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both me and Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412)648-7890/(412)383-7355(TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
Grading: I don’t believe in grading guessing games. You will have ample feedback from me on your essays prior to handing in the final draft. My goal is to get each of you to write an A paper, and my comments will be geared toward helping you make that happen.
Attendance: If you have taken one of my larger classes (and why on earth did you sign up AGAIN?), you know that I really couldn’t care less if people come to hear me yak for an hour and fifteen minutes twice a week. This class is different, however. We will be discussing the readings and each other’s research. It is therefore incumbent upon you to attend class regularly and to contribute to class discussion. You will be graded on your performance each week. Please note that I understand that people get sick or have down weeks. I do not need to hear in graphic detail about the symptoms of your latest malady. Provided that you generally come to class and contribute, I will assume that you were sick or had a good excuse not to come if you are absent. If you do not generally come to class and contribute, I will assume that any excuse you have is just a lie anyway. So let’s not waste our time with excuses.
Cheating: Don’t even try it. Seriously. If I catch you (and I will do everything in my power to catch cheaters), I will follow university procedures for reporting your offense. You will also receive a failing grade for the course. Read that last part again: You will fail the course, not just the assignment for which you went over to the Dark Side. You can familiarize yourself with the University of Pittsburgh’s Code of Academic Integrity here: http://www.pitt.edu/~provost/ai1.html. Know it.
Late work: I do not accept late work unless you have a documented excuse. If you know you will have trouble handing in assignments on time, you would be wise to drop the class now.
Incompletes: It is my policy not to give incompletes. I do so only in rare circumstances, such as a documented illness. (Note: Getting tired of school at the end of the term is not rare, and therefore is not a valid excuse for an incomplete.) Asking for an incomplete except in the direst of circumstances beyond your control only eats away at the precious moments we both have on earth.
Cheating: Seriously, don’t do it. I’ve reported people before and I’ll do it again. I firmly believe that the vast majority of students are honest, hard-working folks who wouldn’t even think of cheating. And I’ll get a real job where I actually have to produce something useful before I undermine the efforts of the honest majority by letting cheaters get away with it. Anyway, you will feel really bad if you have to live with yourself after such deceitful behavior. I don’t want that for you. And neither do you.
Topics and assigned readings
Sep 1: Course overview and discussion of course organization issues
Sep 8: The Concept of Representation
· Pitkin, entire
Sep 15: The Power of Diversity, Part I
· Page, pp. 1-235
Sep 22: The Power of Diversity, Part II
· Page, pp. 239-375
Sep 29: What are Group Interests?
· Miller. 2010. “Saint Sarah” Newsweek.
· Thomas and Wilcox
o Introduction
o In a Different Voice: Women and the Policy Process
· Segura and Bowler
o Introduction
o Racial and Ethnic Politics in a Multicultural Society
Oct 6: The Effects of Institutions on Minority Representation
· Segura and Bowler
o Tyranny of the Majority?
o Latino Voting Behavior in an Anti-Latino Political Context
o Cumulative Voting and Minority Representation