“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose”

- Zora Neale Hurston

PSCI 3205 - Undergraduate Research Fellowship/Fall 2017

Instructor: Dr. Gregory D. Young

Office: Ketchum Hall, Room 212

E-mail: gyoung@colorado.edu

Lecture Times: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays 1:00-1:50pm in Muenzinger E114

Syllabus: http://spot.colorado.edu/~gyoung/home/3205/3205_syl.htm

Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:00pm, & Tuesdays by appointment

COURSE LINKS

· Schedule for Current Event Presentations

· Schedule and Links to Course Reading Summaries

· Link to Potential Midterm Questions

· Midterm Grading Statistical Summary

· Sample Presentation Grade Sheet

· Research Presentation Schedule

Course Objectives and Description

Political Science Research Fellows Program

As part of our initiative to broaden the methodological skills and training of undergraduates, and deepen their social science experience, the political science department has created of a new teaching and research program specifically aimed at individualized instruction and research collaboration between advanced graduate students, faculty, and talented undergraduates. The intent is to create research and teaching opportunities that are not normally available in the classroom setting. Ultimately for students this should lead to a new hands-on learning environment, immersion in the research process, and closer professional relationships with faculty. Ultimately, our top-notch undergraduates will be better trained as social scientists, more competitive for the best graduate programs, and more employable in a job market that increasingly demands research and analytical skills. For faculty and graduate students, this should provide opportunities to foster promising undergraduates, and to conduct research that might otherwise not be possible without the assistance of well-qualified and eager students.

How the Fellows Program Works:

Since the program began in the Fall of 2015, The program has enrolled 10-15 undergraduates selected on a competitive basis into the Fellows Program. Potential fellows can apply for admission to the program after having completed the one-semester Political Science research methods course. Fellows would be in the program for a full academic year. During the fall semester fellows will engage in two activities: First, they will each be assigned in accordance with their research interests to a department faculty member or post-comps PhD student. They will work with their mentor on a data collection or research project of the mentor’s creation. This will include meeting with their mentor periodically to receive appropriate direction on research and data gathering, and working for 5-10 hours per week. Second, fellows will enroll in a 3-credit course taught by the Fellowship Director. The fall course is meant to give fellows more advanced training in research methodology, beyond what the students learned in their initial methods course (PSCI 2075). The course will consider progress and problems in their work, and address issues and considerations prevalent in the research process of different subfields in Political Science. Faculty and Grad student mentors will occasionally come to class to explain their research. Toward the end of the semester students will develop plans for their second semester research project, meant to be a spin-off of their fall semester research effort.

In the Spring semester fellows enroll in three independent study credits to carry out their own related research project under the direction of their mentor. Research proposals developed in the fall semester, and approved by the mentor and Fellowship Director, will serve as a guide to Spring semester research activities and ultimate paper. Fellows will meet periodically with both their research mentor and the Fellowship Director. As Fellows reach conclusion of their individual project they will be encouraged to submit proposals to present their work as a paper or poster at the annual meetings of the Midwest or American Political Science Associations. At the end of the Spring semester, a Research Fellows Symposium will provide an opportunity for all the Fellows to present their work to each other, departmental faculty, graduate students and Fellowship patrons. There will be cash awards for the most outstanding research projects. Upon completion of the Fellows Program, each undergraduate student will be presented with a “departmental certificate” that acknowledges that they have completed the Fellows Program. As well, faculty advisors will provide their fellow (upon request) with a letter of recommendation speaking knowledgeably the Fellow’s skills and research interests. Ultimately, it is hoped that the project will lead to a Senior Honors Thesis the following year, likely under the direction of the fellow’s faculty research advisor.

Course Requirements

Required Reading

There are no textbooks to purchase for this class. All course readings (and a World Atlas) delineated in the course schedule are available at the following online site to which all students will subscribe: http://www.aatw.me/subscribe. This site (America and the World) provides both distribution and reference for this course, but also copyright payment for the articles you will read. Access to this website will be purchased for $25.00. Access will be explained in detail in class. All of the readings are required. Other readings will be linked to this syllabus.

READINGS AND CLASS PARTICIPATION

It is essential that students attend every class and be on time. Regular attendance and active participation in any class discussion will enhance your understanding of the course material and almost certainly improve your performance on the midterm exam, and on your final proposal, which are together worth 40% of the course grade. Attendance is also a large portion of your 10% participation grade. More than six unexcused absences will result in a failing grade in the course. Notifying your instructor by email prior to class will constitute an excused absence. Send email absence notifications to gyoung@colorado.edu. In this semester, the required readings range from 100 to 120 pages per week, as set out in the course schedule. Students should come to class having already completed (and thought carefully about) the assigned reading for each class period.

MIDTERM EXAM

The midterm exam will be held during normal class time on Wednesday, October 4^th . The exam will consist of several terms and one essay question. Students will write the exam in a BlueBook provided to the instructor at least one day in advance of the exam. The midterm exam counts for 20% of your final grade.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students will write a detailed research proposal with an annotated bibliography for the next term’s research project. This proposal will be due on Friday, 8 December in class. An electronic copy in Word should also be posted to course dropbox on Desire to Learn (D2L). Please include a word count on the first page. This paper should be properly documented and footnoted. Papers will be graded 50% on content and 50% on grammar, punctuation and spelling. Late proposals will be docked one grade per class day after the due date (e.g., A- to B-, C to D, etc.) up to 50%, unless you provide a doctor’s note explaining why it was impossible for you to meet the deadline. Computer malfunction is not an acceptable excuse for an essay being late. Re-read your papers for clarity, grammar, spelling and punctuation, since poor execution of these elements will also affect your grade. On a random basis, electronic copies of this paper will be checked for plagiarism. This proposal accounts for 20% of your final course grade. The Proposal/Bibl should be between 2500 and 2800 words in length (approximately 10 to 12 pages). Include a word count on the first page. Papers should be in 10-12 pitch in either Courier or Times Roman font. Append an annotated bibliography of all sources and provide footnotes where appropriate. The majority of sources should be academic monographs, original source materiel or articles from academic journals.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

In the last week of the semester, each student will present their research Proposal to the class and summarize their proposed research methods. The presentation will be 10-12 minutes in length. A grade sheet summarizing the grading criteria for the presentation will be linked to this syllabus. Audiovisual aids are encouraged but not required. Some students will give their presentations prior to the paper due date. The presentation will be 10% of your course grade.

READING SUMMARY

For each section of the reading, an assigned student(s) will summarize the readings due in class that day. In a 3-4 page synopsis of each assigned set of articles or chapters, the designated student will give an overview of the key points of the reading. The summary can either be in outline form or complete paragraphs. The summary should include an answer to the “so what?” question, in other words, why should one read it when studying about war and peace. By midnight the day before the summary is due in class, the students will submit an electronic copy to their instructor. The instructor will post the summary on the web for the review of your classmates. These summaries will be 10% of your final grade and graded pass/fail. Late Reading Summaries will be docked 10% per class day up to 50%.

CURRENT EVENTS

Students should also follow contemporary world events by reading a reputable international news source, such as the New York Times on a regular basis. One student will present a current event or research issue orally in class each day. The presentation should be no more than five minutes in length. The source should be from a respected news source, be less than one week old and pertain in some way to research issues being discussed that week in the seminar. Each student should try to relate the article to some element of what we will be discussing in class. News reports on the Internet are acceptable sources. The current event presentation will be part of your 10% participation grade. Students will provide a discussion question to the class on how to research the issue presented.

UROP PROPOSAL

Each prospective URF students will submit a proposal for a Research Assistantships & Creative Development Grants for the Spring 17 Semester. They are due by December 1, 2016 at 5pm.

grading Criteria

Research Proposal & Annotated Bibliography 20%

Research Presentation 10%

Reading Summary 5%

Midterm Exam 20%

Mentor Evaluation 25%

UROP Proposal 10%

Attendance, Current Event & participation 10%

Total 100%

Final Course Grades will be curved unless a straight 90/80/70/60 etc… proves more beneficial to the students (higher overall grade average). If curved, the mean overall average will become the highest C+ grade, and two standard deviations below the mean will be necessary to fail the course. One standard deviation about the mean becomes the criteria for an A grade. The grading policy will be explained in detail on the first day of class.

Fall 2017 Course Schedule

PSCI 3205 Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Course Schedule
Day/Date	Topic	Assigned Reading
Mon 28 Aug	Course Introduction and Administration	· None
Wed 30 Aug	Research Methods	· Mildred L. Patten, Understanding Research Methods: An Overview of Essentials. 2009, Ch. A: Introduction to Research Methods
Fri 1 Sep	Research Methods	· Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for students of Political Science. September 4, 1997, Ch. 1: Hypotheses, Laws, and Theories - A User's Guide
Mon 4 Sep	Labor Day Holiday	No Class
Wed 6 Sep	Research Methods	· Van Evera Ch. 2: What Are Case Studies? How Should They Be Used?
Fri 8 Sep	Research Methods	· Patten Ch. B: Reviewing Literature
Mon 11 Sep	Research Methods	· Patten C: Sampling
Wed 13 Sep	Research Methods	· Patten D: Instrumentation
Fri 15 Sep	No Class – Begin working with your mentors	· None
Mon 18 Sep	Research Methods	· Patten H: Qualitative Research
Wed 20 Sep	Research Methods Normative & Non-experimental Research	· Articles added on AATW
Fri 22 Sep	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 25 Sep	Designing a Research Proposal	· “How to write a Political Science Research Proposal” · “The Ideal Research Proposal”
Wed 27 Sep	The state of Undergraduate Research in Political Science	· Thies & Hogan (2005), “The state of undergraduate research in political science.” PS April
Fri 29 Sep	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 2 Oct	Review for Midterm	· None
Wed 4 Oct	Midterm Examination	· Study
Fri 6 Oct	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 9 Oct	Go Over Midterm Exam	· None
Wed 11 Oct	Library Research Day	· Meet in the Library
Fri 13 Oct	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 16 Oct	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Wed 18 Oct	Faculty Research Presentation –	· None
Fri 20 Oct	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 23 Oct	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Wed 25 Oct	Faculty Research Presentation – Annotated Bibliography due	· None
Fri 27 Oct	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 30 Oct	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Wed 1 Nov	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Fri 3 Nov	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 6 Nov	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Wed 8 Nov	Faculty Research Presentation -	· None
Fri 10 Nov	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 13 Nov	UROP Presentation	· Review UROP Web site/documents
Wed 15 Nov	Discuss Research Presentations	· None
Fri 17 Nov	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 20 Nov	Fall Break	· No Class
Wed 22 Nov	Fall Break	· No Class
Fri 24 Nov	Fall Break	· No Class
Mon 27 Nov	Faculty Research Presentation –	·
Wed 29 Nov	UROP Proposals Due	·
Fri 1 Dec	No Class – work with mentors	· None
Mon 4 Dec	Student Presentations Begin 2 Student Presentations	· None
Wed 6 Dec	2 Student Presentations FCQ Day	· None
Fri 8 Dec	3 Student Presentations Research proposals due	· None
Mon 11 Dec	3 Student Presentations	· None
Wed 13 Dec	3 Student Presentations Last Day of Class	· None
	No in-class final exam	·

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:

CELLULAR TELEPHONE/LAPTOP COMPUTER POLICY

Needless to say, all cellular phones must be turned off and put away at the beginning of each class meeting. Classes failing to comply will be issued a stern warning on the first occasion. The entire class will have a pop quiz over the previous reading assignments/lectures on the second and subsequent occurrences. Phones, PDAs, MP3 players and Blackberrys will not be out on desks or used during any quiz or examination. Laptop computers will be allowed in class, I still believe that they can assist learning in the classroom. However, if abuse of the privilege appears to be a distraction in class, then they will be banned.

Students With Disabilities

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, and www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices 
Disability Services' letters for students with disabilities indicate legally mandated reasonable accommodations. The syllabus statements and answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found at www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices 

Cheating and Plagiarism

Cheating (using unauthorized materials or giving unauthorized assistance during an examination or other academic exercise) and plagiarism (using another's ideas or words without acknowledgment) are serious offenses in a university, and may result in a failing grade for a particular assignment, a failing grade for the course, and/or suspension for various lengths of time or permanent expulsion from the university. All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/

The development of the Internet has provided students with historically unparalleled opportunities for conducting research swiftly and comprehensively. The availability of these materials does not, however, release the student from appropriately citing sources where appropriate; or applying standard rules associated with avoiding plagiarism. Specifically, the instructor will be expecting to review papers written by students drawing ideas and information from various sources (cited appropriately), presented generally in the student’s words after careful analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. An assembly of huge blocks of other individuals' existing material, even when cited, does not constitute an appropriate representation of this expectation. Uncited, plagiarized material shall be treated as academically dishonest, and the paper will be assigned an ‘F’ as a result. Papers submitted by any student, written in part or in whole by someone other than that student, shall be considered to constitute fraud under the University Honor Code, and result in the assignment of an 'F' for the entire course. If the student is confused as to what constitutes plagiarism, he/she should review the CU Honor Code on this topic. If you have any questions regarding proper documentation in your writing, please discuss it with your instructor.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES

The university has received valid complaints from students regarding the lack of adequate faculty accommodation for some students who have serious religious obligations, which may conflict with academic requirements such as scheduled exams. Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, any notification of absence by email constitutes and excused absence. See full details at: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html 
A comprehensive calendar of the religious holidays most commonly observed by CU-Boulder students is at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/ 

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. It can involve intimidation, threats, coercion, or promises or create an environment that is hostile or offensive. Harassment may occur between members of the same or opposite gender and between any combination of members in the campus community: students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the classroom, the workplace, or a residence hall. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been sexually harassed should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh/

BASIC COURTESY TO YOUR CLASSMATE AND YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Please arrive on time and do not leave early. If you absolutely must leave early, please let me know at the beginning of class and sit near a door so you do not cause too much disruption. Similarly, if arriving late, please take a seat as quickly and quietly as possible. Take care of all your business before class begins; do not leave and return during class as this creates a disturbance to others.

Taking this course signifies acceptance of the terms and conditions stated in this syllabus.