Digital Closed Reserve Collection -- Social Sciences 110 Global Issues

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Digital Closed Reserves Collection
Dr. Michael J Strada
Social Science 100 Global Issues

Course Content | Course Mechanics | Outline/Lesson Plans

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)/Journaling
Term Paper
Analytical Section of Term Paper
Rubrics for Holistic Assessment of Analysis
Attendance
Grading
Make-Up Exams

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) And JOURNALING Since most of the ways in which globalization affects you are not immediately apparent, I will illustrate abstract concepts like "interdependence" with diverse activities. However, the main recurrent pedagogical motif applied here is known as Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). The WAC movement in higher education is about 25 years old -- old enough to learn what works. According to John Bean, "When we make students struggle with their writing, we are making them struggle with thought itself." You will be asked to write a JOURNAL assignment after every class period. Most of this writing is to help you process information and conceptualize the subject-matter. Please staple these writings for me to collect and grade at mid-term (with feedback provided) and at the end of the course. If you forget to staple them, I will do so. Please DO NOT submit them in folders of any kind! Notebooks are cumbersome to handle and unnecessary. Your JOURNAL writing assignments comprise 30% of your final grade (more important than any other component). Please do NOT submit bulky notebooks because they are cumbersome to handle. In addition to journaling, briefer in-class responses (1-minute papers) will be used often to process information without being submitted to me for grading. They provide a means of expression for which you are not accountable. The very act of writing about a topic forces us to process ideas and opinions in our own words. These 1-minute papers also represent a way break up lecture and discussion. Top of Page

Term Paper Also essential to success in this course is the other outside-of-class writing assignment: the Term Paper. This is a CURRENT EVENTS research project that requires you to use the New York Times, which Payton calls "the nation's newspaper of record," and possessing "truly global reach." Those seeking online access to past issues of this prestigious paper are required to pay for it. However, your possession of Melissa Payton's manual enables you to register for Research Navigator, whereby you gain full access to past issues of the NYT. Thus, the events information necessary for your term paper will be gathered by you totally online. [See the inside cover of manual for instructions on registering for Research Navigator] Eight to 12 stories represents the typical number covered in the paper. You are to research and write about current (political, military, cultural, or economic) events taking place during the current semester in a major foreign country (such as China, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, Brazil, or India); or, in one of the world regions covered in chapter six of the text (such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, or the Middle East). A variation of contract grading is used for the term paper:

C = An adequately written minimum 1,000 word paper DESCRIBING current events in your region this semester will earn a grade of C.

The descriptive part of your essay is intended to summarize, capsulize, or synthesize significant events reported this semester for the country or region selected. This is straight-forward recounting of events into a relatively terse summary essay (description or classification rather than explanation). It should be well written in standard prose, and properly documented according to the guidelines expressed in Appendix A of the Payton manual (pgs. 72-78). You may choose to employ either: 1) the MLA style for citations; or 2) the APA style for citations (explained in the manual); you must use one of these two.

[PLEASE INCLUDE A WORKS CITED PAGE LISTING NYT ARTICLES USED]

A or B= In addition to the 1,000 word DESCRIPTIVE account, to receive a grade higher than a C you must write a minimum 500 word ANALYTICAL treatment of the topic. Analysis requires that you think more complexly and go beyond mere reporting of events. It should ideally involve conceptualization, abstraction, and personalization. Analysis can be like an editorial, whereas description is like straight news reporting. You need to tie together varied events in a thematic essay expressing a point of view in the ANALYTICAL part. I will be looking for clarity, coherence, logic, depth, comprehensiveness, English usage, creativity, and neatness. ALL TERM PAPERS MUST BE TYPEWRITTEN AND STAPLED, but please do NOT submit them in jackets or covers of any kind. Separate the two sections and label each clearly. A listing of articles used should be included at the end of the paper. There is no maximum length for the papers. Please do NOT submit papers in covers or jackets.

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Analytical Section of Term Paper While the descriptive essay is somewhat like straight news reporting, the analytical essay involves critical thinking (CT) is thus more akin to an editorial. It involves developing a theme or a consistent point of view related to your topic. It is more difficult to write because it requires that you think more complexly than in the descriptive part. There is not a clearly right or wrong answer or opinion in the analytical essay. Your ability to develop a point of view in ways that reflect the rubrics cited below is more important here than is supplying particular information. No specific formula exists for analysis. It might assess the significance of something, compare and contrast different phenomena, predict on a topic, express preferences or values, or apply a concept from some other area to the events examined. Three key elements germane to analysis are:

1. Personalization - There should be a unique angle on this topic that springs from who you are as an individual, so that no two analyses will be quite alike.

2. Conceptualization – Analysis is more abstract that the fact-gathering of the descriptive part, and ought to integrate (tie together) some facts, ideas, or concepts coherently.

3. Explanation - Analysis ought to go beyond the obvious and explain something in an imaginative way.

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Rubrics for Holistic Assessment of Analysis You are informally evaluated by others every day of your life according to your communications, both oral and written. If you choose to go to law school or graduate school, nothing will be as crucial. But regardless of your future career plans, writing and verbal skills certainly will be part of the assessment when you face your first employment interview. The term paper and the JOURNAL in social science 100 are no different in this respect. What you have to say is invariably affected by how you express yourself. Assessing analytical writing surely involves subjectivity. However, relying solely on bloodless objective questions taps lower-order cognitive skills only, which a consensus of experts believe fails to approximate pedagogical best practices. Fortunately, scholars have been working on holistic grading criteria so that professors can provide summative feedback to students on essays without getting buried in the time-consuming small details of an analytical piece. Some instructors use this "getting bogged down" excuse for not assigning written work in larger classes. Grading criteria amenable to holistic grading are referred to as rubrics. These evaluative rubrics represent the cumulative qualities I am looking for [elements missing and preventing a higher grade are listed at end of your analytical writing]

For a D	Minimum length met Work is only partly on task Acceptably neat presentation Spelling and grammar barely passable
For a C	Spelling and grammar acceptable Conscientious effort somewhat apparent Coherent transitions between sentences/paragraphs Generally accurate information Ideas organized reasonably well Work clearly on task
For a B	Clarity of expression Conscientious effort very apparent Logical progression of thought Rudimentary application of a CT probe from textbook (1-7 on p. 249) Highly accurate information
For an A	Comprehensiveness (detail) Depth of analysis (conceptualization) Reflective thought (introspection) Sophisticated application of a CT probe

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Attendance Regular class attendance is expected and necessary to complete your JOURNAL entries. Attendance is taken regularly, and when combined with class participation can prove decisive as a tipping point when a student is on the borderline between two grades. Top of Page

Grading A mix of evaluative criteria will be used. The final essay exam includes a take-home analytical essay question and in-class descriptive essays. 60% of quiz questions come from the Instructor's Manual for my textbook (online as well as hard copy accompanying text); 10% from end-of-chapter questions in text; 30% from textbook and class activities. The following relative weights will be used to determine final grades.

Activity	% Grade
1 Final Exam	15%
3 Quizzes	15% (A=26-30, B=21-25, C=16-20, D=11-15, F=0-10)
Term Paper	25%
Attendance	10% (A=0-2 cuts, B=3-5 cuts, C=6-8 cuts, D=9-11 cuts, F=>11 cuts)
Participation	5%
Course Journal	30%

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Make-up Exams -- (a humorous fable) Four students approached me the day after an exam with a dubious tale: they had experienced a flat tire while driving to campus. Their question was: "Can we take a make-up exam?" The answer is: "Sure, but it's good news/bad news thing. The good news? That there is only one question, and if you get it right, you have an 'A.' The bad news? If you get it wrong, you have an 'F.' As for the make-up exam, take out a sheet of paper and in two words tell me which of the four tires went flat."

Graphic Syllabus: A Cognitive Road Map

My Content Road	My Process Road
1. Background: Globalization & History & phil. soc. sciences	Active learning strategies
Physical Setting 2. Geography and spaceship earth Ecological global problems Seeking solutions	WAC JOURNALING Processing Concepts 1 - min. writings
3. Subjective Influences Identity: divisions of human family Psychology & human motivation Ethics & human rights	Distinction: analytical writing vs. descriptive writing
4. Sociocultural Influences Anthropology & humans as bio-cultural beings Sociology & living in groups Comparative cultures	LPs provide dead reckoning
5. Directing the Drama Political science & the use of power The state challenged by new actors	Grading criteria for writing assignments
6. Producing the Drama Basic concepts: Economics & US International Economy	Exams & Quizzes

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