| Outcome 1: Oral Communication—Effective oral communication of ideas and views on political issues |
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1.1 Engage in civil discussions: Students will be able to effectively engage in disciplinarily informed civil discussions on complex, contentious topics.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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1.2 Effective oral presentations: Students will be able to deliver effective oral presentations, either as part of a group or individually, and either using PowerPoint or similar visual aids or not using such aids.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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| Outcome 2: Effective Written Communication— Effective written communication of ideas and views on political issues, both in shorter essays and longer research or policy analysis papers. |
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2.1 Persuasive essay: Students will develop the skill of writing a persuasive argument supported by relevant evidence. Included here are the presentation of a clear argument, logical flow of the argument, good organizational structure to the whole essay, and comprehension of primary documents or data.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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2.2 Papers: Students will develop the ability to write essays/papers with minimal grammatical and typographical errors. This may be done through revisions or through learning careful proofreading.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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2.3 Appropriate citation methods for papers: Students will learn appropriate citation methods for papers in Political Science. Different faculty may prefer different citation methods; the important objective is that students learn how to properly cite in their written work.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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2.4 Different styles of papers in Political Science: Students will develop a facility with different styles of papers in Political Science, including but not limited to analytical, persuasive, and research papers.
Foundational Studies 10: Express themselves effective, professionally, and persuasively both orally and in writing.
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| Outcome 3: Critical Thinking and Analysis—Students will demonstrate the ability to not only articulate political theories and concepts, but to apply these ideas to “real world” scenarios for evaluative purposes. |
| 3.1 Comparing and contrasting different perspectives: Comparing and contrasting different perspectives on politics and policy issues. |
| 3.2 Identifying the strengths/weaknesses of policies: Identifying the strengths/weaknesses of policies or political practices/behaviors. |
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3.3 Drawing connections between scholarly works: Drawing connections between scholarly works addressing different facets of political issues.
Foundational Studies 2: Critically evaluate the ideas of others.
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| 3.4 Applying theory to current political events and situations: Applying theory from scholarly books/articles to current political events and situations. |
| 3.5 Analyze specific political issues or events: Identifying appropriate social science methods to analyze specific political issues or events. |
| Outcome 4: Qualitative and Quantitative Research Skills |
| 4.1 Understand the importance of theory in guiding research: Students will understand the importance of theory in guiding research by developing well-thought-out explanations of expected findings. |
| 4.2 Students will be expected to apply an appropriate methodology to their research projects: Students will be introduced to a variety of ways of analyzing information, including case study, statistical analysis, and qualitative analysis. Students will also be expected to apply an appropriate methodology to their research projects. |
| 4.3 Students will understand the basic terms associated with empirical research: Students will understand the basic terms associated with empirical research (e.g., independent and dependent variables, unit of analysis, hypothesis) and be able to use these terms appropriately. |
| 4.4 Students will understand the importance of prior research: Students will understand the importance of prior research for informing their own project and will demonstrate an understanding of existing Political Science literature relevant to their research projects. |
| 4.5 Students will understand the importance of organizing and presenting their research findings: Students will understand the importance of organizing and presenting their research findings in tables, text, or other appropriate formats. The presentation of the research should be understandable to non–specialists. |
| Outcome 5: Political Science Content Knowledge |
| 5.1 American political system: Demonstrate an understanding of the institutions and processes of politics in the American political system. |
| 5.2 Comparative politics: Demonstrate an understanding of the institutions and processes of politics in the political systems of other countries and be able to compare them. |
| 5.3 International politics: Demonstrate an understanding of the institutions and processes of politics in the international political system. |
| 5.4 Intellectual frameworks, concepts, and theories in political science: Demonstrate an understanding of classic and contemporary intellectual frameworks, concepts, and theories in political science. |
