Fall 2003 -
Winter 2004
TH 2:30 - 5:20
SSB 104
|
Professor J. Lawrence Broz |
|
Professor Gary Jacobson |
|
Email: jlbroz@ucsd.edu |
|
Email: gjacobso@ucsd.edu |
|
Telephone: 822-5750 |
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Telephone: 534-4295 |
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Office: SSB 389 |
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Office: SSB 370 |
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Office Hours: Tu 2-4 |
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Office Hours: TBA |
Description: The Honors Seminar
provides seniors with an opportunity to design and carry out a research project
on a topic of their choice, to work closely with individual members of the
Political Science faculty, to complete a thesis, and to graduate with honors in
Political Science. Professors Broz and
Jacobson will coordinate class meetings. All other members of the Political
Science faculty who are not on leave participate as advisors in the Honors
program. The Honors Seminar meets in fall and winter quarters.
1. Thursday,
October 9: One-page summary of proposed thesis topic.
2. Thursday,
October 30: Three- to five-page statement of research design.
3. Thursday,
November 13: Preliminary bibliography and literature review.
4. Friday,
December 5 (last day of instruction of the fall 2003 quarter): A draft of the
first chapter must be submitted to your advisor.
5. Friday,
March 12 (last day of instruction of the winter 2004 quarter): The penultimate
draft of the entire thesis must be submitted to your advisor.
6. Monday,
March 29 (first day of instruction of the spring 2004 quarter): Three copies of
the final draft must be submitted to Mary Quisenberry in the PS Department
headquarters by 3:30 p.m.
Determination of Grades: You will receive four different "grades" for the work you complete in this course.
1. Course grade (fall quarter). A letter grade for the fall quarter (PS 191A) will be assigned by your thesis advisor on the basis of the work you complete that quarter.
2.
Course grade (winter quarter). A letter grade for the
winter quarter (PS 191B) will be assigned by your thesis advisor on the basis
of the work you complete that quarter.
3.
Thesis grade. The thesis grade will be the average of
recommendations by two (or possibly three) anonymous readers from the
departmental faculty (not your thesis advisor). If the first two readers differ
in their recommendations by more than two-tenths of a grade point (e.g., 3.5
and 3.8), then the recommendation of a third reader is included in the average.
4.
Departmental honors. The award of departmental honors
is by vote of the departmental faculty. In assigning specific levels of honors
the faculty is guided by the average of your departmental GPA (through the
winter quarter) and your thesis grade.
There are three levels of departmental honors: highest honors, high
honors, and honors. A student may
complete the thesis but not receive departmental honors. Because the seminar's
purpose is to help students carry out significant research on topics of their
choosing, class time will be devoted primarily to presentations on defining
research topics, discussions about choosing a research design and collecting
appropriate data, and evaluations of the student's problem statement and
research design. Assignments must be
submitted on the dates indicated to the faculty coordinators, to the faculty
advisor, and, where indicated on the syllabus, to other members of the seminar,
by e-mail. Students should seek
feedback from advisors on each completed assignment.
Required
Readings: All readings are
mandatory; students must read in advance to remain in good standing in the
course
·
Read Professor Philip Roeder’s three memos on
thesis writing, located online at: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~proeder/ThesisA.htm Read Memo 1 (“Structure…”),
Memo 2 (“Research Design”), and Memo 3 (“Manual of Minutiae”)
·
Review these memos every week, or
whenever you need a refresher.
October 2: Library Tour
PLEASE NOTE THE SPECIAL MEETING LOCATION!
Presenter: James R. Jacobs, Government Information Librarian (meet at 2:30 at the Library Electronic Classroom (LEC), which is the first room on your left as you are walking toward the Social Sciences and Humanities Library (Geisel Library building).
·
Read Chapters 5 and 6 in Booth, The Craft of
Research.
October 9: Round Table: Asking
Research Questions in Comparative Politics/Writing a Great Thesis
Faculty Presenters:
Clark Gibson and Ellen Comisso
Student Presenters:
Thesis authors Idean Salehyan and Yonatan
Gelblum (not confirmed)
·
Read pp. 35-63 in Booth, The Craft of
Research.
·
Read Idean Salehyan, “Domestic
Uses of International Law: Refugee Policy in the United States and Canada”
(1999-00)
·
Read Yonatan Gelblum, “Money Laundering in
Switzerland: A Foreign Policy Issue?" (2001-02).
·
Assignment #1 due:
One-page summary of proposed thesis topic (distribute copies to all members of
the seminar).
October 16: Round Table: Asking
Research Questions in International Relations
Faculty
Presenters: Philip Roeder, David Lake
· Read pp. 85-110 in Booth, The Craft of Research.
·
Read all one-page thesis topic summaries
· Skim Nathan Eberhardt, “The Ebb and Flow of Empire: Realism and the Hundred Years’ War,” (2002-03).
October 23: Round Table: Asking
Research Questions in American Politics
Faculty
Presenters: Samuel Popkin and Mat McCubbins
·
Read pp. 132-148 in Booth, The Craft of
Research.
·
Read James Meeker, “The
Role of the Court During Critical Election Periods: an Anti Attitudinal View of Judicial Behavior,”
(2002-03).
October 30: Round Table: Asking
Research Questions in Political Theory
Faculty Presenters:
Fonna Forman-Barzilai and Alan Houston
·
Assignment
#2 due: Three- to five-page statement of research
design; must be signed by your advisor (distribute copies to all members of the
seminar).
·
Assign student pairs for the next two weeks of
presentations
November 6: Presentation and
Discussion of Research Designs (I)
·
Students, in pairs, present their own
research/critique their partner’s.
November 13: Presentation and
Discussion of Research Designs (II)
·
Students, in pairs, present their own
research/critique their partner’s.
·
Assignment
#3 due: Preliminary bibliography and literature
review.
November 20: Writing the First
Chapter
·
Read pp. 149-174 and 234-254 in Booth, The
Craft of Research.
November 27: No Class
(Thanksgiving)
December 5: Data Presentations
·
Assignment
#4 due: First draft of first chapter submitted to thesis
advisor.