Dr. David Castle phone 880-8536 e-mail castleds@hal.lamar.edu 84 Maes (2nd floor)
POLS 2302 is an introductory course on American national government and Texas state government, but is not
a freshman-level course. Freshmen should take courses from the 1000 series offered by the university.
Required reading:
Benjamin Ginsberg, et al. 2001. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics.
Richard F. Fenno, Jr. 1997. Learning to Govern.
John W. Kingdon. 1999. America the Unusual.
New York Times www.nytimes.com Dallas Morning News www.dallasnews.com
Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com Austin American-Statesman www.austin360.com
Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com Houston Chronicle www.chron.com
Course grades will be based equally (20% each) on:
three multiple-choice exams of approximately 70 questions each.
a semester-long notebook project involving analysis of newspaper stories about politics and government.
a 4-10 page term paper on one of two topics described below.
Exam schedule and grades:
exam on Texas politics and government (chapters 20 and 28, 24, 25, 26)-Weds., Feb. 12.
exam on national political institutions (Fenno book, plus chapters 13, 14, 16)-Weds., Mar. 19.
exam on national public policies (chapters 17, 18, and 19, plus Kingdon)-Mon., May 5, 8:00 a.m.
Approximately half the exam questions will be taken from the textbooks, and half from the lectures/class discussions. Exam grades will be based on the standard normal curve. A or B grades are exam scores equal to or greater than one standard deviation above the mean (average). F or D grades are exam scores equal to or less than one standard deviation below the mean. C grades are all other scores.
Notebook project:
Students will maintain a two-pocket notebook of newspaper stories (from the newspapers listed above) related to the course content. Students are to print (or photocopy) each story, highlight the most important parts of the story, and identify the general topic and specific textbook page numbers or date of classroom lectures/class discussions related to the story. A sample notebook will be placed on reserve at the university library.
At the semester's end, a notebook containing a minimum of ten printed and highlighted newspaper stories will be graded as a C. Notebooks having the greatest numbers of stories will receive A or B grades, while notebooks of fewer than ten stories will be graded as F or D. No topic shall be the subject of more than two stories in the notebook.
The instructor will collect and review individual notebooks throughout the semester, beginning the week of Feb. 3. The minimum number of newspaper stories to be completed at each week of the semester is:
week of Feb. 3, one story; week of Feb. 10, 2 stories; week of Feb. 17, three stories; week of Feb. 24, four stories; week of Mar. 3, five stories; week of Mar. 17, six stories; week of Mar. 24, seven stories; week of Mar. 31, eight stories; week of Apr. 7, nine stories; week of Apr. 14 through Apr. 28, ten.
Term paper:
Papers (and the completed notebooks) are due at the beginning of the final exam period (late papers and notebooks will receive a grade of F). Papers are to be double-spaced, stapled, with one-inch margins, a 12-point font, four to ten pages excluding the title page and references page, in MLA, APA, or APSA style. Include the particular style manual (for example, Little, Brown Handbook, 8th edition) as an entry on the references page. Choose one of the two paper topics below:
(Topic 1). Richard Fenno describes the "learning to govern" problems faced by congressional Republicans when they became the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives after 40 consecutive years in the minority. In Texas, Republicans are now the majority party in the state House of Representatives after more than a century in the minority. Write a paper about whether Texas House Republicans will face the same or different problems in learning to govern. Will Texas House Republicans be more or less successful in 2003 than were the "Republican Revolutionaries" in 1995? Will Texas House Republicans have a similar or different relationship with the governor than U.S. House Republicans had with the president? What are the key differences between the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress that will affect Texas House Republicans learning to govern?
(Topic 2). John Kingdon compares "America the unusual" to other industrialized nations. If America is unusual in terms of politics and government, then Texas is unique. Write a paper that compares Texas to the rest of America. Use Kingdon's outline to compare Texas and American institutions, political parties, and public policies. Is there a Texas ideology? Why do Texans think that way? What are the implications for the differences between Texas and the rest of the United States?
Students are strongly encouraged to consult with the Writing Center (Maes 208). Call 880-8571 for an appointment. It is best to call at least two days in advance. Take the course syllabus with you to the Writing Center. Attach the Writing Center's Consultation Report to the completed paper.
Course grades:
Five letter grades (on the three exams, the notebook, and the paper) will be used to compute a 0.00-4.00 grade point average. Course grades will be assigned as follows:
3.67-4.00 = A
2.67-3.66 = B
1.67-2.66 = C
0.67-1.66 = D
0.00-0.66 = F.
Students must complete all exams and assignments in order to receive a passing grade.
Attendance policy:
Students are expected to attend all class meetings and to be present for all exams. Students with excessive numbers of absences may be dropped from the course with a failing grade under the Instructor Initiated Drop procedure described in the University catalog.
Other information:
Office hours are generally 7:00-8:00 a.m. MWF, 9:00-10:00 a.m. MWF, and 1:45-3:00 p.m.W.
The penalty-free drop period ends Fri., Mar. 21; the last day to drop or withdraw is Fri., Apr. 11.
Course grades will be turned in no earlier than Thu., May 8.
Parents are not to bring children to class.
For the first exam (155 pages of required reading, 48 practice quiz questions, 114 key terms):
Chapter 20. The Political Culture, People, and Economy of Texas; Chapter 28. Public Policy in Texas.
Chapter 24. The Texas Legislature
Chapter 25. The Executive Branch in Texas
Chapter 26. The Texas Judiciary
For the second exam (226 pages of required reading, 38 practice quiz questions, 113 key terms):
Fenno. Learning to Govern: An Institutional View of the 104th Congress
Chapter 13. The States Congress
Chapter 14. The Presidency
Chapter 16. The Federal Courts
For the third exam (227 pages of required reading, 30 practice quiz questions, 67 key terms):
Chapter 17. Government and the Economy
Chapter 18. Social Policy
Chapter 19. Foreign Policy and Democracy
Kingdon. America the Unusual
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy..."
John Adams. April 26, 1779.