Things to worry about now

Final drafts are due December 13 Sunday, December 14, at noon.
Anna, the peer mentor for the class (email amg75289@marymount.edu) is available by appointment.
So am I! Email me for a videocall appointment at any time (I am available to meet with POL 250 students this weekend).

Summary

St. Joseph Hall room G102
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 am to 12:15 pm

Syllabus

Course evaluations from prior semesters (my favs: here, here, here)

In fall 2025 I have regular drop-in hours on Tuesdays and Thursday from 10 am to 10:50 am and from 12:20 to 1:20 pm in my office on main campus (Rowley G124 - This video shows how to get to my office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIk7vUmWYLM ) each day that we have class in-person. I will also be available to talk after class, in and around the classroom, for as long as anyone has any questions. During periods of peak demand, I will have additional office hours on other days, which I will post at the top of this page as they come. I am also available at other times by appointment, in person or by videocall - please email me.

In this course students write individual research papers in which they present a question, review other scientific studies of the question, develop a research design, and test a hypothesis by making structured observations.

We complete these research papers in lots of little steps. To succeed in this course you need to:

Keep up with the smaller assignments earlier in the semester, as they are due. They may seem small, but they add up, and they are all components of the final paper.
Meet with me regularly to work through your ideas and to check on your progress. In fall 2025 I have regular drop-in hours on Tuesdays and Thursday from 10 am to 10:50 am and from 12:20 to 1:20 pm in my office on main campus (Rowley G124) each day that we have class in-person. During periods of peak demand, I will have additional office hours on Wednesdays and Fridays and will post those at the top of this page, week-to-week. Here is how to find my office on main campus. Otherwise, please email me at crector@marymount.edu to set up a time to meet by videoconference.

There one required textbook: Writing a Research Paper in Political Science: A Practical Guide to Inquiry, Structure, and Methods 4th Edition by Lisa A. Baglione. ISBN: 9781506367422.

The article summary test, literature review presentation, term paper draft, and final draft assignments are course requirements. A student must complete all of those in order to pass the course.

This course requires students to be attentive to lectures and class discussion. Please take notes on paper. Do not have a laptop or tablet out during class, except during days (I will let you know in advance) that we are specifically working on data analysis projects that require one. If you have an urgent need to check your phone for an important message, please keep your phone on the table (rather than "hiding" on your lap) so you can check it quickly and then set it back down.

I expect students to attend class regularly. A student may miss up to 5 class meetings without penalty. Any student who misses 6 or more class meetings will fail the course automatically. It is pointless to give me an excuse, or share with me any personal medical information. Students who create distractions in class, e.g. by sleeping, watching videos, shopping online, etc., will be given up to two warnings in the form of derisive mockery and then, if it continues, be marked as absent.

Most weeks we have a regular class meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. Occasionally, I replace the class meeting with a one-on-one meeting - during those weeks, everyone in the class must meet with me individually at least once. These one-on-one meetings will usually be about 30 minutes long. The meeting does not necessarily need to be on the same day or time the class meets regularly, but should be within a week. These meetings are part of the course - if you do not meet with me during the week, it counts as an absence.

Students may get up to 5 points of extra credit for participation in class discussions, and students who complete and submit the “term paper draft” on time may get up to 6 points of extra credit for completing additional peer reviews.

Please try to complete assignments on time. Under ordinary circumstances, papers will be marked down a half point for each day late until half the points are gone; after that it may be turned in for up to half credit at any time before the last day of the semester.

Any student who turns in an assignment on time may revise that assignment later for up to full credit, within 12 days of the original due date. This applies to all assignments except for the draft, final, and the test and presentations.

I will not assign any peer reviews to a student who has not completed a full draft by the initial due date.

I may, at my discretion, check any written assignments for plagiarism (which includes using a human or AI ghostwriter) at any time during or after the semester. Students found violating the Marymount principles of Academic Integrity will fail the course and be formally charged through the University’s Academic Integrity process. I have failed students in prior semesters for cheating. By enrolling in the course you acknowledge that you have reviewed the University’s standards of academic integrity. Seriously, you are better off just not cheating.

In addition to the required one-on-one meetings, I am also happy to meet with students at other times as well, at their convenience. I have lots of times to meet with students in the class, individually and in groups. Students should meet with me, individually, regularly throughout the semester as they prepare assignments and the term paper.

Schedule

Reading assignments should be completed before the Tuesday class session unless otherwise noted. Most readings are assigned from the assigned book. Other readings are linked.

August 26 and 28 - Overview and discussion

September 2 and 4 - Kinds of questions
Reading: Baglione Chapters 1 and 2

Types of analysis assignment due September 8

September 9 and 11 – Reading journal articles
Reading: Life, literacy, and the pursuit of prosperity…

Topic paragraph due September 17

September 16 and 18 – Finding and reading journal articles, begin topic presentations, also fun with scatterplots
Reading: Christian Nationalism and Violence Against Religious Minorities in the United States, and “how to find scientific articles” and Incel Beliefs and Support for Political Violence.

Article summary #1 due September 22

September 23 and 25 – Topic presentations, article structure
Reading: the rest of the Baglione book

Article summary #2 due September 29

September 30 and October 2 - Article Summary presentations, review article structure

Article summary #3 due October 6

October 7 and 9 - Article Summary presentations, literature review strategies, endogeneity and the structure of causality

October 14 and 16 - Problems in causal inference, literature review discussion, selection bias

Annotated bibliography due October 17

October 21 - Article summary test in class

October 23 - scatterplot workshop (bring a laptop or tablet to class)

October 28 and 30 - No class meeting this week - One-on-one meetings on Literature Review

October 31 - political science alums and career event at Ballston

Tuesday, November 4 - no class (Election Day)

Literature review due November 5

November 6 - Research design discussion and sampling

Research design due November 10

Tuesday, November 11 - no class (Veterans Day)

November 13 - Literature Review Presentations (also: write better)

November 18 and 20 - Literature Review Presentations, draft discussions and workshop

Full draft due November 21

Tuesday, November 25 (no in-person class - meet individually as needed)

Most peer reviews due around here, as assigned

December 2 and 4 - Draft presentations

Week of December 9-13 - One-on-one meetings (no class)

Final draft due December 13

Grades

Each assignment is worth a fixed number of points, listed below; these add up to 100. Each assignment will be returned with a numerical score. Course grades will be based on the total number of points out of the 100 possible. 90 and above is an A, 80-89 is a B, 70-79 is a C, 60-69 is a D, and 59 and below is an F.

However, regardless of anything else, students must complete a revised, minimum 4000 word term paper in order to pass the course. (Specifically: The article summary test, literature review presentation, term paper draft, and final draft assignments are course requirements. A student must complete each of those with a passing grade in order to pass the course. A student make retake the article summary test up to two times for partial credit.)

Course grades will be based on:

Types of analysis, 2 points
Topic paragraph, 2 points
Article summary #1, 4 points
Article summary #2, 4 points
Article summary #3, 4 points
Annotated bibliography, 6 points
Article summary test, 6 points
Literature review, 12 points
Literature review presentation, 4 points
Research design, 6 points
Full draft, 18 points
Peer Reviews, 10 points
Draft Presentation, 4 points
Final draft, 18 points

FWI my internship pep talk and the salaries chart. Here is the scatterplot template.