AMERICAN GOVERNMENT LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS PSCI 1040 004 COURSE SYLLABUS SPRING 2011 MONDAYS WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS 12 00 12 50 LYCEUM THEATRE Instructor Professor Collins Office Wooten Hall 133 Office Hours 1 30 3 00 Mondays and Wednesdays and by appointment E mail pmcollins unt edu do not email the Professor or Teaching Assistants via Blackboard Contact information and office hours for the Teaching Assistants and Supplemental Instructor will be posted on the course s Blackboard page OBJECTIVES The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the roles of the U S and Texas governments in the American political system We will consider the institutions processes and decisions of political actors that define American and Texas government In addition we will focus particular attention on a multitude of issues including the U S and Texas constitutions civil rights and liberties federalism as well as the three branches of government READINGS Please purchase the following books from the UNT bookstore Cox Gloria C and Richard S Ruderman eds 2010 Perspectives on American Texas Politics A Workbook for Political Science 1040 8th ed New York Pearson Learning Solutions hereafter Cox Fiorina Morris P Paul E Peterson Bertram Johnson and William G Mayer 2011 New American Democracy with Texas Chapters Volume 1 New York Pearson Learning Solutions hereafter Fiorina Note The Fiorina book is a composite of two textbooks Fiorina et al The New American Democracy and Coleman et al Understanding American Politics and Government that is custom printed for this class This saves you the expense of purchasing the two textbooks separately Due to this it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase this book at an online retailer All readings are required and listed the day they are expected to be read in the course schedule section I suggest you prepare questions to bring to class if you have any trouble understanding the readings GRADES Final grades will be computed on the following basis 90 100 A 80 89 B 70 79 C 60 69 D 0 0 59 F 1 Exams Exam 1 25 Exam 2 25 Final Exam 25 There will be three examinations in this class All exams are closed book Exams will utilize a multiple choice format Scantrons will be provided but students must bring a pencil with them to the examinations In addition students must bring their student identification cards with them to the examinations The final exam will not be cumulative Rather it will cover material addressed during the last third of the semester For the examinations students are responsible for all lectures textbook and workbook readings I will make review sheets for each exam available to students on the course s Blackboard page no later than the Monday preceding each exam Workbook Assignments 25 Students will complete five workbook assignments The due dates for the workbook assignments are delineated in the course schedule section below Each workbook assignment will contribute 5 to the student s grade Workbook assignments must be completed electronically on the course s Blackboard page http ecampus unt edu The workbook assignments are based on the Cox workbook As such students must ensure that they procure the 8th Edition of the workbook Students should first read the entire workbook chapter corresponding to the assignment Next students should login to the course s Blackboard page which contains the questions for each chapter On Blackboard students will find folders corresponding to each workbook assignment Note that while the questions also appear in the hardcopy of the workbook students must complete the workbook assignments online I recommend first completing the workbook assignments in the hardcopy of the workbook and then submitting your answers online After completing each section of the assignment students must save their work before submitting it for grading this is accomplished by clicking save all After a student has completed the questions in a given section and saved the questions the student should submit the assignment by clicking finish After completing a section and submitting your answers students should move onto the next section of the assignment and repeat these steps For example the first assignment involves Chapter 4 of the workbook There are four sections to this assignment 4 1 4 2 4 3 and 4 6 After reading Chapter 4 of the workbook and the text corresponding to the questions students should login to Blackboard to complete the assignment On Blackboard there is a folder marked Workbook Exercises Chapter 4 which contains all of the workbook assignments for Chapter 4 Once a student has answered the questions involving section 4 1 the student should click save all and then finish which submits the questions pertaining to section 4 1 The student should then move onto section 4 2 then to section 4 3 and then to section 4 6 and repeat these steps Workbook assignments must be submitted by 12 00PM noon on the day the assignments are due For example Exercises 4 1 4 2 4 3 and 4 6 are due by 12 00PM noon on February 4 2011 Late assignments will be penalized 5 points for each calendar day they are late starting at 12 01 PM on the day the assignment is due After 10 days from the due date students will be ineligible to submit the assignment and receive a zero 0 for the assignment Extra Credit There is one opportunity for extra credit in this class The extra credit assignment is due in class by April 1 2011 and may be submitted earlier than this date Extra credit assignments that are late will not be accepted For the extra credit assignment students will write a five page double spaced paper that discusses four newspaper articles related to one or more of the topics discussed in class To receive full credit students should make it clear how the newspaper articles are related to the topic s covered in class 2 The extra credit assignment is worth up to 3 points on the student s final grade in this class Full details on the extra credit assignment are available on the course s Blackboard page This will be the only opportunity for extra credit in this class COURSE SCHEDULE 1 19 General Course Information 1 21 American Government and Politics Fiorina Chapter 1 1 24 The U S Constitution I Fiorina Chapter 2 1 26 The U S Constitution II Cox Chapter 1 1 28 The U S Constitution III Cox Chapter 3 1 31 Federalism I Fiorina Chapter 3 2 2 Federalism II Cox Chapter 4 2 4 Federalism III Fiorina Federalist 10 and 51 pages 620 627 Workbook assignment due on Blackboard by