Requirements

Each student’s grade for the course will be based on several components:

• An election simulation involving a series of group assignments. Each individual student's grade for the simulation will be based on a combination of their group's performance and their individual contributions to that performance.
  • As part of the simulation, each group will complete four assignments:
    • A campaign plan spelling out a candidate's background, message, and a general outline of the candidate's campaign efforts.
    • An initial 30-second campaign ad, extolling the candidate's strengths or attacking the opponent's weaknesses.
    • A second 30-second campaign ad, responding to the initial round of ads or introducing new arguments.
    • An actual election, in which each candidate attempts to win the most support among the Davidson student body.
  • Each group will receive a grade for each assignment. I will combine these four grades into the group's overall grade for the simulation, with each assignment counting equally toward that overall simulation grade.
  • After calculating a group's overall simulation grade, I will then evaluate each group member's contribution to the group's effort, using peer evaluations and my own perceptions of their efforts.
  • To determine an individual student's simulation grade, I will weight their group's simulation grade by the individual student's contribution to the group's effort.
  • Each individual student's simulation grade will be worth 30% of the overall grade for the course.
• Three one-page papers, completed individually by each student:
  • Paper #1 (5%): Use course concepts to explain the outcome of the election simulation.
  • Paper #2 (15%): Analyze the legislative history of a bill, assessing the reasons for its success or failure.
  • Paper #3 (15%): Illustrate how different types of policy proposals produce different types of legislative coalitions.
• Partisan differences in current events (5%): I have split the semester into three five-week blocks. I also split the class into three groups, one per block (student assignments). In each week of each time block, the assigned students are responsible for submitting an example of a difference in how the two major parties take positions or discuss issues. During their assigned block, each student will submit an individual partisan difference. Each submitted example should include a link to a news article or press release illustrating the difference. These submitted examples will provide the basis for regular class discussions about differences between the two parties.
• Final exam (30%), taken during self-scheduled exams.

Students will receive more details about each assignment in class.  All the paper assignments are due at the start of class on the assigned date (unless noted otherwise).  Assignments turned in more than 10 minutes after the start of a class period will be considered late.  For each 24-hour period that an assignment is late, the grade on that assignment will be penalized by 10 points.  Exceptions to the late penalty will be considered for medical and other emergencies; computer problems are not acceptable excuses for late work. 

The Honor Code binds all work in the course.  In accordance with the Honor Code, all paper assignments must provide appropriate citations for any sources or information included in the paper; failure to provide these citations is a violation of the Honor Code.  If you have questions about the appropriate format for citations, make sure that you ask me before turning in the paper.  You can also visit the Campus Writing Center for additional assistance with citations.  Unless stated otherwise in class, all work for the course must be completed individually, with each student responsible for his or her own work.  Students can often improve their papers by getting classmates to read and comment on them.  I encourage this peer review, but students must cite in their paper the names of any other students who have read and commented on that paper.

Assigned Readings

The course requires three books, which are available for purchase in the college bookstore: Sinclair, Barbara, Unorthodox Lawmaking; Fenno, Richard, Home Style; and Herrnson, Paul, Congressional Elections, Fifth Edition. In addition to these books, I have placed readings on electronic reserve at the library; an asterisk ("*") denotes these readings in the outline below. I also expect students to read the New York Times regularly, particularly about Congress. I may also assign additional articles to read throughout the semester.