First-Year Seminar: The Media versus The Academy
Political Science 029
Classroom: 21 Schaeffer
Instructor:
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Fred Boehmke
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Brian Lai
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Ben Read
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Dave Redlawsk
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Office: |
361 Schaeffer |
319 Schaeffer
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308 Schaeffer
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321 Schaeffer
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Office Hours
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TW 2:30-3:30
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MW 10:30-12
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M 10:30-11:30, 4-5
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Th 8:30-11:30
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Phone: |
335-2342 |
335-2353
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335-1923
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335-2352
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Course description:
This one semester-hour seminar will explore the different approaches that the media and academics use to interpret and explain political phenomena. Drawing on several subfields within political science, the class will examine media reports on controversial issues and compare them to academic research on the same questions. Topics will be taken from current issues in American Politics, International Relations, and Comparative Politics. Students will gain a better sense of how to process media accounts with a critical eye, while considering what political scientists have to contribute to our understanding of events. The class will involve staying up to date on current events by reading newspapers and following online reports, including political blogs, along with reading cutting-edge academic research. Students will be evaluated on their participation in class discussion, short papers, and an in-class presentation.
The format of the class will focus on discussion and student presentations, but will also include time for presentation of background materials for each topic and introduction to on-line resources. The readings will serve as the touchstone for the topics addressed in class, so students are expected to be familiar with the reading before class. Note that class participation is a large part of the final grade – attendance and participation are mandatory.
The course will cover four major topics, with two classes devoted to each topic. In the first class, instructors will provide readings and present the necessary background material to understand the readings for the next week. In addition, information about on-line resources for learning about the topic may also be introduced. The second class for a topic will center on comparing the contrasting media and academic portrayals of the topic. This class will consist entirely of discussion, comparison and evaluation of the readings. Students will be expected to carry most of the discussion. To this end, they will prepare short response paper according to the guidelines below. Additional classes will be devoted to research presentations and introduction to relevant resources to research material for those them.
Final grades will be determined by performance on four components: class participation, four short response papers, and student presentations. Late assignments will be penalized 5% of the total value for each day they are late (including weekends), unless prior arrangements are made.
Course Requirements:
Your grade will be based on three components.
1. (40%) Class participation. Students should come to class with a firm grasp of the reading and be prepared to compare and contrast the approaches and conclusions drawn by the two sides. Students will lose 5% of this part of the grade for every unexcused absence. If you have one unexcused absence, you can only get 35% out of the 40% possible. Excused absences include attending university sponsored events, illness, or family emergencies. Documentation is required for an absence to be excused.
2. (30%) To encourage preparation and discussion, students will write up a four short response papers, one for each topic. These papers must follow one of the formats listed below; students may only write one paper using each format. Papers should be about 350-500 words in length and are due at the beginning of class (the second class for each topic, Feb.1, Feb. 15, March 8, and April 12).
a. Compare and contrast the methods used to make the two arguments.
b. Explain how the academic would argue against the media portrayal.
c. Explain how the journalist would argue against the academic portrayal.
d. Explain how one approach could be improved by incorporating one or more strengths of the other approach.
3. (30%) A group research project (about three per group). You should use a number of independent sources to evaluate, compare and contrast journalistic and academic approaches to a particular issue, following the format used in class. Midway through the semester you will be expected to summarize your issue in class. At the end of the semester each group will do a 25-minute presentation on their project to the class. Students will be assigned to groups based on mutual topic interests.
Four Issues to be Covered:
Policy on Late Assignments:
Homework write-ups and projects are all due at the time specified. Any late papers will have points deducted unless arrangements are made prior to the due date. If you have a legitimate, personal reason for missing a scheduled assignment or class and can not notify us in advance, please come talk to us afterwards and provide documentation.
Policy on Classroom
Etiquette:
Please turn off all
cell phones, pagers and other noise-emitting devices. Please show up to class
on time. If you are a consistent violator of this policy we reserve the right
to deduct points from your final grade after issuing a warning.
The instructors have setup a WebCT site for this class. All of the assigned readings will be potsed on this site.
January 18, 2004:
Class Introduction
January 25, 2004:
Terrorism 1 (Instructors: Lai and Read)
Background Reading: (WebCT): Federal Research Division. 1999. The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism:
Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why? Washington D.C.: Library of Congress
February 01, 2004:
Terrorism 2 (Instructors: Lai and Read)
Media Reading: (WebCT) Various New York Times Articles
Academic Reading: Pape, Robert. 2003. “The Strategic Logic of Suicide
Terrorism.” American Political Science
Review. 97(3): 343-361.
February 08, 2004:
Negative Campaigning 1 (Instructors: Redlawsk and Boehmke)
Background Reading:
Wikipedia entry on negative campaigning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_campaigning
Do Negative Campaign Ads Work.
http://www.thisnation.com/question/031.html
February 15, 2004:
Negative Campaigning 2 (Instructors: Redlawsk and Boehmke)
Media Reading:
Janet Hook, LA
Times, 2004. The Race for the White
House:
Campaigns
Accentuate the Negative.
News Hours (PBS),
2000. Discussion on Negative Campaigning, Feb 22,
2000.
Mark Barabak, LA
Times, 2002. Negative Campaign Repelled
Some
Voters.
Academic Reading:
William
G. Mayer. 1996. In Defense of Negative Campaigning. Political
Science Quarterly 111(3): 437-455. [Online]
Stephen Ansolabehere and Shanto Iyengar. 1995. Going Negative.
Chapters 1 & 7
February 22, 2004:
Group Research Projects Update (Instructors: All)
March 01, 2004:
Corruption 1 (Instructors: Read and Redlawsk)
All of the readings for March 1 and March 8 will be
on the WebCT site.
Media Readings:
• Monica Davey, “Prosecutors Cite Corruption By Ex‑Governor
of Illinois,” New York Times (January 5, 2005)
• John Pomfret, “Ex‑Beijing Party Chief
Convicted; Alleged Graft Kingpin Sentenced In Secret to 16‑Year Prison
Term,” Washington Post (August 1, 1998)
• John Pomfret, “Local Bosses Crack Down in China:
Beijing Can't Stop Violence Against People in Countryside,” Washington Post
(April 11, 1999)
• Seth Faison, “No.1 Complaint of Chinese: All This
Corruption!” New York Times (March 11, 1999)
Academic Reading (by a political sociologist):
• David L. Wank, Commodifying Communism:
Business, Trust, and Politics in a Chinese City (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999), chapter 2 and part of chapter 4, pp. 23-40, 68-83.
March 08, 2004:
Corruption 2 (Instructors: Read and Redlawsk)
• John Pomfret, “Chinese Smuggling Ring Probed,” Washington
Post (January 22, 2000)
• John Pomfret, “Party Expels Top Official In
Chinese Bribe Case,” Washington Post (April 21, 2000)
• John Pomfret, “Flimsy Bridges of Qijiang County:
Corruption and Incompetence Causing China's Infrastructure to Crumble,” Washington
Post (April 4, 1999)
• Susan V. Lawrence, “Excising the Cancer,” Far
Eastern Economic Review (August 20, 1998)
Academic Reading (by a political scientist):
• Melanie Manion, Corruption by Design: Building
Clean Government in Mainland China and Hong Kong (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 2004), pp. 1-23, 84-118
March 15, 2004: ****
Spring Break ****
March 22, 2004:
Tutorial on Library Resources
March 29, 2004: A
“real” journalist’s perspective
Today we will have a guest speaker, Basil Talbott, UI Journalism Department. Talbott worked for the Chicago Sun-Times for 35 years as political editor and Washington Correspondent. See more biographical information on his webpage: http://www.uiowa.edu/~journal/faculty/talbott.html.
Background Reading: TBA
April 05, 2004:
Values & the 2004 Election 1 (Instructors: Boehmke and Lai)
Background Reading: TBA
April 12, 2004:
Values & the 2004 Election 2 (Instructors: Boehmke and Lai)
Media Reading: TBA
Academic Reading:
Alan Abramowitz (2004) "Terrorism, Gay Marriage, and Incumbency:
Explaining the Republican Victory in the 2004 Presidential Election," The
Forum: Vol. 2: No. 4, Article 3.
http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol2/iss4/art3
April 19, 2004:
Presentation of Group Research Projects (Groups 1 and 2)
April 26, 2004:
Presentation of Group Research Projects (Groups 3 and 4)
May 03, 2004: Presentation
of Group Research Projects (Group 5)
Other Information:
Please visit the Political Science Department’s Website at http://www.uiowa.esu/~polisci. It is frequently updated regarding events and procedures in our department, changes in the Schedule of Courses, plus TA and faculty hours when available. You may also find current information on pre-advising, and registration. Our Vernon Van Dyke Computing Facility (Political Science ITC) is located in Room 21 Schaeffer Hall. Available hours are listed at our website and also posted outside Room 21 Schaeffer.
Department of
Political Science
The University of
Iowa
Professor Michael
Lewis-Beck, Chair, 341 Schaeffer Hall, 335-2358
STUDENTS WITH
DISABILITIES
Instructors will make reasonable accommodations for students with physical, mental or learning disabilities. Students with disabilities which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements are to inform the instructor during the instructor's office hours) so that appropriate arrangements may be made.
It is the student's responsibility to contact Student Disability Services, 3100 Burge Hall (335-1462) and obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request form (SAAR). The form will specify what course accommodations are judged reasonable for that student. An instructor who cannot provide the accommodations specified, or has concerns about the accommodations, must contact the Student Disability Services counselor who signed the request form within 48 hours of receiving the form from the student.
DEPARTMENTAL/COLLEGIATE
COMPLAINT PROCEDURES
A student who has a complaint against any member of the college's teaching staff is responsible for following the procedures described in the Student Academic Handbook, which is available on the web site of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_www.clas.uiowa./students/academichandbook/ix.shtml/. The student should attempt to resolve the issue with the faculty member or teaching assistant involved. Lacking a satisfactory outcome, the student can turn to the department chair, whose name is listed above along with contact information. (If the complaint concerns a teaching assistant, the student should contact the supervising faculty member first.) If a satisfactory outcome still is not obtained, the student can turn to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 120 Schaeffer Hall, (335-2633). Complaints may concern inappropriate faculty conduct (including inappropriate course materials), incompetence in oral communication, inequities in assignments, scheduling of examinations at other than authorized and published times, failure to provide disability accommodations, or grading grievances. In complaints involving the assignment of grades, it is college policy that grades cannot be changed without the permission of the department concerned.
PLAGIARISM AND
CHEATING
You are expected to be honest and honorable in your fulfillment of assignments and in test-taking situations. Plagiarism and cheating are serious forms of academic misconduct. Examples of them are given in the Student Academic Handbook: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook//ix.shtml. The department of Political Science works with individual instructors to detect plagiarism and cheating and to ensure that appropriately serious punishments are applied. An instructor who suspects a student of plagiarism or cheating must inform the student (in writing) as soon as possible after the incident has been observed or discovered. Instructors who detect cheating or plagiarism may decide, in consultation with the departmental executive officer, to reduce the student's grade on the assignment or the course, even to assign an F. The instructor writes an account of the chronology of the plagiarism or cheating incident for the departmental executive officer who sends an endorsement of the written report of the case to the Associate Dean for academic programs. A copy of the report will be sent to the student.
YOUR RESPONSIBILTIES
Your responsibilities to this class-and to your education as a whole-include attendance and participation. This syllabus details specific expectations the instructor may have about attendance and participation. You have a responsibility to help create a classroom environment where all may learn. At the most basic level, this means you will respect the other members of the class and the instructor and treat them with the courtesy you hope to receive in return.
PLUS-MINUS GRADING
All the department's instructors can append plus or minus grades to the letter grades they assign for the course. If the instructor does not specifically indicate in the syllabus that he or she will not assign plusses or minuses, students should assume that this form of grading will be used.
HOMEWORK EXPECTATION
For each semester hour of credit that a Political Science course carries, students should expect to spend approximately two hours per week outside of class preparing for class sessions. That is, in a three-credit-hour course, instructors design course assignments on the assumption that students will spend six hours per week in out-of-class preparation.