UN 101 Contact Information: |
UN 101 Dr.
Richard L. Langill Fall,
2005 PURPOSE OF THE COURSE This course has several objectives. First, the course seeks to provide a perspective on your college experience that will assist you in making a successful transition from high school to college. Second, the course seeks to provide an orientation to the college and its services. Third, the course is designed to facilitate a common freshman experience by reading a book in common. This year the faculty have selected the book, The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City by Jennifer Toth. All students will read and discuss this work in class. The book provides an intellectual odyssey on the author’s work with chimpanzees which has altered our perspective on these creatures. The final objective of the course is to explore an academic component chosen by the instructor. Given my background in international affairs, I have selected several current foreign policy topics for discussion that are in the news. Students will read a short monograph published by the Foreign Policy Association. There will be a group presentation with discussion on these topics in class. Students will also write a short research paper on one of these topics. COURSE REQUIREMENTS The course will be conducted primarily as a lecture/discussion course with discussion strongly encouraged. I do not plan to test extensively in this class. Your grade in this class will depend on your class participation/discussion in class, your attendance, the class presentation and research paper. Think Piece. One of your writing assignments will be a “think piece” on the Mole People. Think pieces are essays which give the student the opportunity to reflect, consider, ponder and think about the ideas of the book. This assignment is designed to enable you to actively converse with the ideas presented in the book. There is only one caveat for this assignment. Don’t tell me the story of the book. Tell me what it means, what you learn from the story, what you think about the story. The Mole People papers are due on October 13th. (A short description of a "think piece may be found by opening the following hyperlink on Think Pieces. Research Paper Students will select one of the topics from the FPA monograph early in the semester. The instructor expects that there will be 2-3 students working on each topic. Collectively, these students will prepare and present a short oral presentation on the topic in class. They will individually write a 7-10 page research paper on the topic. This research paper should be divided into several short parts. The first part of the paper will examine the nature and dimensions of the problem. What’s the problem? How did it become a problem? What are the causes of the problem. This background section should lead into the second part of the paper which will focus on US policy toward the problem. What has the US done to deal with the problem? How does the US see the problem? What’s the Bush Administration’s policy on the problem? The final section of the paper is the evaluative component of the paper. In this section, I want you to tell me what you think about the problem. What do you think should be done about the problem or issue? Do you agree or disagree with the US policy on this topic? The paper should be researched thoroughly using quality sources. The paper should follow an acceptable research format, i.e. Turabian format or MLA format. The paper MUST be appropriately footnoted with sources and pages appropriately identified. The research paper MUST have a bibliography which reflect what the student read and included in the paper. (A short description of how to write a research paper may be found by opening the following hyperlink on Research Papers. For help with proper footnote form see the following link which summarizes the various term paper forms http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Communications/Writing/Essays_and_Research_Papers/ Students should be aware of the following dates:
GRADES Grades for the course will be based on the following formula:
BOOKS
The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City
COURSE OUTLINE
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