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Dr. Matt Streb
Office: Zulauf 407
EMAIL: mstreb@niu.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday,
Thursday,
POLS 305: Parties and Elections
Fall 2008
M, 6:30-9:15
Hoffman Estates
____________________________________________________________________
Course Description: The previous two
presidential elections were two of the most controversial in
In a representative democracy,
political parties and elections are essential.
Citizens must vote for our political system to truly work and parties
provide some semblance to a complicated process. It is important then for us to understand
political parties, voting, and elections.
This course will begin by examining theories of voting. We will discuss who votes (and who doesn’t),
why they vote, and how they vote. Next,
we will turn to political parties. Why
are they essential for democracy? What
roles do parties play? Why do we only
have two major parties in the U.S? Should
we have more? Finally, we will analyze
presidential elections. We will cover
topics including candidate recruitment, the nomination process, the impact of
party organizations and interest groups on elections, the electoral process,
the influence of money in elections, and campaign strategy. We will relate all
of these topics to the previous presidential elections and to what we can
expect in 2008.
Grading: Depending
on your decision, either three or four grades will be given over the course of
the semester. A midterm exam to be taken
on Thursday, October 27th and
a final exam to be taken on Monday,
December 8th during regular class time are required. The exams will consist of several
multiple-choice and short answer questions as well as five identification
terms. I will distribute review sheets
to the class including possible identification terms a week before each exam.
The final will not be cumulative and will cover only the material discussed
after the midterm. You must bring a bluebook with
you to take your exam.
You must also write at least one paper (6-8 pages in
length) and have the option of writing a second. There are three paper topics from which to
choose, each due on a different day. You
must write a persuasive paper on one of the following:
1) Is
2)
The presidential nomination process has become increasingly
controversial because of the frontloading of states’ primaries and
caucuses. What is the solution? Put forth and defend a reform to the
nomination process. (Due 11/10)
3)
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the U.S. Constitution is the electoral college.
Should the electoral college be kept in place
or be abolished? If it should be
retained, then are there any reforms to it that should be made? (Due 12/1)
Although
each of these subjects will be discussed in class, students are expected to
conduct their own research outside of class.
Depending the number of papers you write, each assignment will be worth the
following percentage of your final grade:
Write one paper: Write
two papers:
Midterm 35% Midterm
30%
Final
35% Final 30%
Paper 30% Paper #1 20%
Paper
#2 20%
Some
things to keep in mind when writing your paper:
- Unless you are
downloading a journal article or accessing a newspaper or news magazine
article electronically, the Internet is not to be used for
research. If you have any
questions, please see me.
- PROOFREAD YOUR PAPERS!!! You will be graded based on the persuasiveness
of your argument, but also on how well the paper is written. Students whose papers are replete with
typos, grammatical mistakes, and awkward sentences will receive a
substantial grade reduction. A
persuasively argued but poorly written paper will not receive a grade
higher than a C. You should read
your paper several times before handing it in.
- The paper cannot be
written in a night. It will take a
significant amount of research. You
do not want to put it off to the last minute. Start thinking about your papers
now!!
- When making an
argument, it is imperative that you address and refute the other side’s argument. For example, if you are going to argue
that the
- I will not accept late papers. The paper is due at the beginning of class. If you miss the deadline for the first two papers, you may simply write one of the remaining papers. If you miss the deadline for the third paper (electoral college) and have not turned in a paper previously, you will receive a 0 for the paper portion of your grade.
- In addition to handing in a hard copy of their paper, students must submit their papers through SafeAssign via Blackboard. I will not consider a paper to be turned in if it has not been submitted to SafeAssign.
- You must provide a “Works Cited” page at the end of your paper. Any source listed on this page should be cited in the paper.
- There is no required number of sources, although good papers usually have around 8 sources.
- I will not accept the paper unless it is stapled. Please do not turn the paper in with a cover or in a folder.
Predicting Presidential
Elections:
On Thursday, October 16th
Dr. Charles Franklin (UW-Madison) and Dr. Christopher Wlezien (Temple
University), two of the nation’s leading experts on presidential election
forecasting, will give a talk on predicting the 2008 election. The time and place of this event is yet to be
determined, although the event will take place in the evening. I will give students who attend the entire
event 2 additional points on their midterm exams.
Grading Scale:
93%-100%
A 90%-92.9% A- 87.5%-89.9% B+
83%-87.4% B 80%-82.9% B- 77.5%-79.9% C+
73%-77.4% C 70%-72.9% C- 67.5%-69.9% D+
63%-67.4% D 60%-62.9% D- Less
than 60% F
In
rare instances, I will raise a final grade slightly if the student regularly
attends class, participates, and shows progress.
Required Course Materials:
Three
books are required for this course:
- John F. Bibby and Brian
F. Schaffner’s Politics, Parties,
& Elections in
- Martin P. Wattenberg’s Is Voting for Young People?
- Stephen J. Wayne’s The Road to the White House 2008
These
books are available at the NIU Bookstore.
Students are strongly encouraged to visit sites such as www.campusi.com to find cheaper, used
versions of these books (although, students should not buy earlier editions of
the Bibby and Schaffner or Wayne books since they have been updated
substantially).
In
addition, I will regularly post articles on BlackBoard for which students are
responsible. These articles will deal
primarily with the current presidential election. In the past, I have assigned four books;
these articles take the place of the fourth book. We will discuss some in class, but all are
fair game for exams.
Course Policies:
1. Attendance: Simply put, you are expected to be
here. If you want to have any hope of
passing the class or doing well, you will need to be in class. I have met few people who have regularly
missed my class and passed the course.
2. Be on time: Class begins promptly at 6:30 p.m. Please be in your seats and ready to go at that
time. If you must be late, please enter
the class quietly and quickly and sit in the back.
3. Cell
phones must be on vibrate!: Because of February 14th, I
will allow students to keep their cell phones on vibrate. Unless the student has an
extenuating circumstance (e.g., pregnant spouse, day care, etc.), under no
circumstance should he/she answer the phone. If you have an extenuating circumstance,
please let me know. Any student who is
text messaging during class will be told to leave.
4. Makeup
exams: I will only give a makeup
examination under extraordinary circumstances.
If such circumstances arise, please contact me as soon as possible and before the scheduled exam. If you fail to contact me before the
scheduled exam, you will receive a 0 for the exam. Students may be asked to support requests for
makeup exams with documentation.
5. Late papers: I do not accept late papers. The paper is due at the beginning of class. If you miss the deadline for the first two papers, you may simply write one of the remaining papers. If you miss the deadline for the third paper (electoral college) and have not turned in a paper previously, you will receive a 0 for the paper portion of your grade.
6. Contacting me: The best way to get in touch with me is
to come to my office hours. Because of
the nature of this class, though, I will be happy to meet with you either
immediately before or after class.
Please send me an email if you would like to meet with me before class. However, I will only respond to emails that
use capitalization and punctuation and are not replete with grammatical
errors. i will
not rspnd 2 u if i recve a messge that look like this lol
7. Extra credit: In addition to the predicting
presidential elections event mentioned above, the class can take part in a
presidential election prediction contest.
This contest will be explained in greater detail in class. The first place winner will receive 10
additional points on his/her final; second place=5 pts on final; third place=2
pts on final. Other than that, I do not
allow for extra credit.
8. Academic
dishonesty: In preparing for your
work and meeting the requirements of this course, you are expected to adhere to
all the rules, regulations, and standards set forth by the Department of
Political Science,
Good academic
work must be based on honesty. The attempt of any student to present as his or
her own work that which he or she has not produced is regarded by the faculty
and administration as a serious offense. Students are considered to have
cheated if they copy the work of another during an examination or turn in a
paper or an assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else. Students
are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they copy material from books,
magazines, or other sources without identifying and acknowledging those sources
or if they paraphrase ideas from such sources without acknowledging them.
Students guilty of, or assisting others in, either cheating or plagiarism on an
assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a grade of F for the course
involved and may be suspended or dismissed from the university. (Undergraduate
Catalog)
Don’t
plagiarize or cheat. I will catch you! If you are not sure what constitutes
plagiarism, ask. Ignorance will not be
tolerated as an excuse.
9. Students
with disabilities: Under Section 504
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, NIU is committed to making reasonable
accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Those students with disabilities that may
have some impact on their coursework and for which they may require
accommodations should notify the Center for Access-Ability Resources (CARR) on
the fourth floor of the
Web Pages of Great News
Sources on Parties and Elections:
The New York Times www.nytimes.com
The Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com
The Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com
USA Today www.usatoday.com
CNN www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/index.html
Roll
Call www.rollcall.com
Project
Vote Smart www.vote-smart.org
Campaigns
and Elections www.campaignline.com
Open
Secrets (Money) www.crp.org
The
Democratic Party www.democrats.org
The Republican Party www.rnc.org
The Green Party www.gpus.org
The Libertarian Party www.lp.org
You
can find individual candidates’ web pages from both major
parties as well as third parties and an incredible amount of candidate
information from the Project Vote Smart page.
How Can I Do Well in this
Course?
This course
is no more difficult than most other 300 level courses you have had, if
you keep up with the work!! It
is essential
that you are regularly in class, take good notes, do all of the readings, and
spend some time reflecting on what you have read. Because there is a significant amount of
reading in the course, make sure you keep up with it. Doing all of the assigned reading the night
before the class will keep you from contributing much to the class. More importantly, it will keep you from
getting the most out of the course. If
you do not do the readings, you will not do well in this class.
Each
class you will be introduced to “key terms.”
I highly recommend that you make notecards after class
that include the definition and significance of the term. These are the terms that may appear on your
tests. Making notecards after each class
may seem like more work now, but it will actually cut your work time in the end
and allow you to write much stronger IDs.
Instead of preparing for the IDs before the exam (they start to add up),
you will already have the IDs ready to go and can begin studying earlier. Writing out the IDs after class will allow
you to write higher quality IDs because the information will be fresh in your
mind, and if you don’t understand something it will become apparent quickly.
Also, I will post Powerpoint slides
on Blackboard before each class period.
However, the slides are only a guide to where we are going in that day’s
class. Students who only rely on the
Powerpoint slides and do not take detailed notes will not do well in the
class.
Finally, I strongly encourage students to visit me
during my office hours if you have questions about the course material.
Department of Political
Science Web Site:
Undergraduates are encouraged to consult the
Department of Political Science web site on a regular basis. This up-to-date,
central source of information will assist students in contacting faculty and
staff, reviewing course requirements and syllabi, exploring graduate study,
researching career options, tracking department events, and accessing important
details related to undergraduate programs and activities. To reach the site, go
to http://polisci.niu.edu. Also, if you would like to receive the
department’s e-announcements that feature information on internships,
scholarships, lectures, POLS club activities, and other important information
via email, please send me an email asking to be added to the list.
Course Outline:
NOTE:
*I reserve the right to change the course outline.
Voting
September
8th Introduction
to the Course
Where is the American Voter?
(Wayne, chp 3; Bibby and
Schaffner, pp. 212-225)
September
15th Where is the
American Voter?, cont.
Is the American Voter
Informed?
(Wattenberg,
Preface-chp 4)
September
22nd Is the American
Voter Informed?, cont.
Is Voting for Young People?
(Wattenberg, chps 5-8)
Political Parties
September
29th What is a Party?
The Party in Government
(Bibby and Schaffner, chps
1-2, 9)
October
6th The Party Organization
(Bibby and Schaffner, chp 4)
October
13th The Party in the Electorate
(Bibby
and Schaffner, pp. 225-254)
October
20th Third
Parties
Politics without Parties
(Bibby
and Schaffner, chps 3 and 10)
Two
party/multi party paper due!
October
27th Midterm
Presidential Elections
November
3rd The Nomination Process
(Bibby and Schaffner, chp 6;
Wayne, chps 1, 4-5)
November
10th The
New Hampshire Spectacle and What the Heck Is a Caucus?
Reforming
the nomination
Reforming
the nomination process paper due!
November
17th The Need for Money, Money, Money
The
Nomination Convention
(Wayne, chps 2 and 6)
November
24th How to Run a
Winning Campaign
The Role of the Media in
Presidential Elections
(Wayne, chps 7-8)
December 1st Presidential
Debates: Is Anyone Paying Attention?
The
Electoral College
(Bibby
and Schaffner, pp. 274-284; 291-292; Wayne, chps
9-10)
Electoral College paper due!
December 8th Final Exam