Students are expected to understand the readings and lectures well enough to apply the techniques, concepts, and information to specific cases, notably campaigns, in an innovative way. Tests, presentations and papers demonstrate this grasp. In addition to the readings, students are expected to follow the election information in the media and on the Internet. All examinations will be in paragraph-answer format, testing your working knowledge of the main ideas of the course. The papers emphasize using these concepts to analyze elections.
Progress helps to decide borderline grades.
On average, students reported working 8 hours a week out of class, including a service learning component. While there are no prerequisites, students who have done well in the past in this course have usually combined interest in and knowledge about recent elections with a strong academic background. The course is about elections, which provide the occasional dramatic changes in American government. This course combines ideas about how the political world works with a stress on personal skill in analysis and expression. The mix of clashing ideas and strategies, important personal differences, and dramatic events make elections an interesting focus for the study of politics.