POLS 301—How to do well in the course.

The purpose of this course is to build knowledge, skills and abilities needed to critique, understand, and conduct research about politics. The course plan, activities and readings are the framework for this—the learning comes from actually doing them.

To do well in the class:

· Show up. A rule of thumb here—three misses cost a full letter grade.

· Do all the readings, write all assigned notes (neat enough to be read by others) and bring them to class.

· Complete all stages of the assignments. The course paper due on May 7, for example, is 30% of your course grade. But half of that amount is derived from turning in the earlier stages (paper topic workshops, etc.).

Parts of course grade:

· Course Paper = 30%

· Policy Paper = 10%

· Final Essay = 10%

· All other exercises, turned in notes = 50%