BA Seminar: American Politics and American Political Thought 4219-ZS020
BA Semiar is intimately connected and is a continuation of the BA
Proiminar offered in the fall semester. The two courses together
allow the students to obtain necessary skills to develop and
complete a BA paper. Here in the BA Semiar will execute that
research and produce a written BA research from the topic and
research frame they produced in their BA Prosemiar.
The goal of this class is to guide the student through the
sucessful compleation of their proposed research and the
production of a written paper where that resesarch is effectively
presented to an academic audience. Students will be constantly
reminded of the core principles of the philosophy of social science
that underlay all research methods and to methods that are
currently being used by students of political science, while they
produce their final written paper on their chosen research topic.
The instructor has interests in the following topics: American
Political History (especially topics dealing with the American
Founding, the Civil War, the Progressive Period and the New
Deal, and various Presidents and statesmen); American political
thought and the influence and sources of Western political
philosophy upon American political and constitutional thought;
U.S. Constitutional Law and how it shapes and defines American
politics; the nature, character, and processes of American political
institutions (Congress, Presidency, the Federal Departments and
Agencies, the Courts and the States).
Type of course
B.Sc. seminars
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will:
KNOWLEDGE –
know/understand
- methods and theories of research in the field of US politics and American political thought
- the interdependence of culture and politics, the relationships between political and social phenomena, the interdisciplinary nature of American studies research
- the structure and principles of operation of the political system and institutions of political life in the USA
- basic principles and concepts in the field of intellectual property protection and copyright, primarily related to plagiarism and academic ethics
SKILLS:
Can
- formulate a research topic, research question, and hypotheses and gather scientific literature for their research on US politics and American political thought
- apply methods used in political science and analysis of American political thought to their research
- compare research methods used in political science and analysis of American political thought to choose the best one for their research project
- prepare papers in English in the field of US politics and American political thought
- present their research findings and defend their opinions
SOCIAL COMPETENCES:
Can
- critically evaluate content related to US politics and American political thought conveyed by media and other environments
- utilize acquired, interdisciplinary knowledge in the field to formulate their own opinions on US politics and American political thought
Assessment criteria
Assessment methods and assessment criteria:
1. Submission of various drafts of the paper for review and
comment moving the student to be able to submit a final draft.
2. Submission of a final draft for corrections before producing a
final version to offically submit.
3. Submission of a final version of the research paper for BA
Exam
I think this is a pass/fail assessment. Pass is to satasfactory
complete all these step and submit a final approved version of the
paper/thesis to the online platform to start the BA exam process.
Bibliography
Kate Turabian (Williams, Colomb, and Booth eds.), A manual for
writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations (Chicago
Style) University of Chicago Press.
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, The
Craft of Research 4th edition.
Leanne Powner, Empirical Research and Writing: A Political
Science Student’s Practical Guide.
Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods in Political Science
Baglione, Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A
Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: