PSCI 2306: U.S. and Texas Government

Dr. Paul Hensel
phensel@unt.edu
http://www.paulhensel.org
Office Hours: W 11-12:30. Th 10:30-Noon

Please note that this web page is not the full syllabus for this course. The full syllabus -- including the schedule of assigned readings, course exams, and other assignments -- is only available in the full syllabus (PDF Format), through this web page or Canvas. Be sure to print out that complete syllabus and be familiar with it, so that you do not fall behind or miss any assignments during the semester.

Course Description

This course is meant to introduce students to the government and politics of the United States and Texas, and is required by the Texas legislature for all students in colleges or universities receiving public funding. We will focus on the laws and institutions that make up the U.S. and Texas political systems, including the Constitution and the three branches of government. We will also examine a number of issues that are affected by these laws and institutions, including federalism, civil liberties, and civil rights. Upon completion of this course, students should have a broad understanding of the fundamentals of American and Texas government and politics, and should be able to think critically about current and past political events in these political systems. This should be useful for being an educated voter and citizen, as well as for taking further courses.

It should be noted that this is not a course in current events, although some reference will obviously be made to current events. Also, I do not seek to indoctrinate students with my own personal opinions or political views, whatever these might be. Rather, my goal is to provide students with the tools to evaluate events themselves and form their own opinions. Class performance will be measured with three (non-cumulative) exams, as well as a series of assignments from the course's online webtext.

Teaching Assistants

The teaching assistants should be your first resource for any administrative or procedural questions related to the course (such as late assignments, missing homework, or incorrect grades). If you have a question or complaint, please only contact me after you have spoken with the TA, and be sure to clarify what you and your TA have already done to try to resolve the problem. Of course, you may always contact any TA or the instructor with any substantive questions related to the course (and you are especially encouraged to do so during our scheduled office hours).

 

Ahmed Hamza

Afolabi Toye

For student names:

A - K

L - Z

Email:

AhmedHamza@my.unt.edu

AfolabiToye@my.unt.edu

Office Hours:

WF 11:00-12:30
(140 Wooten Hall)

Th 1-2, F 12-2
(152 Wooten Hall)

Supplemental Instructor

UNT is providing a Supplemental Instructor (SI) for all students who want to improve their understanding of the material taught in this course. The SI is a UNT student who has already mastered the course material and has been trained to facilitate group sessions where students can meet to compare class notes, review and discuss important concepts, develop strategies for studying, and prepare for exams. Attendance at SI sessions is free and voluntary. The full schedule of SI meetings will be made available as soon as possible, which will be posted in the online version of this syllabus and announced via Canvas:

 

Sabrina Wells

Email:

SabrinaWells@my.unt.edu

Weekly Sessions:

M 2:00-2:50 (356 Sage)
T 4:00-4:50 (Zoom: https://unt.zoom.us/j/88174121491)
W 3:00-3:50 (355 Sage)

Assigned Readings

Webtext access code (required): This course uses a custom electronic "webtext" that is unique to this course, which gives you access to the relevant chapters of three books that will be used for this course, without forcing you to pay for chapters that we won't be using or for the cost of printing, shipping, and shelving printed books:

An access code giving access to this webtext is available for purchase at the UNT Union bookstore (Barnes & Noble), and perhaps at other local bookstores (the ISBN for this webtext package is 978-1-954890-91-6; be sure that you are purchasing the correct one, as Soomo has other packages available for PSCI 2305 and for different combinations of 2306 chapters). You can also order the passcode directly from Soomo when you are logging in to one of the chapters in Canvas.

You will need to enter the passcode in Canvas, by opening one of the assigned chapters and following the instructions from the login page. (Do not try to buy a physical copy of the book instead of the access code – you will need to enter the access code through Canvas if you want the webtext assignments to count for points in this class) Once you enter your access code, Soomo will allow you to order a printed copy of the book for what they describe as "a small fee" if you'd prefer to read a hard copy of the book -- but the webtext multiple choice and workbook assignments can only be completed and turned in electronically, so even if you order the printed book from them you will still need to use the electronic version through Canvas to get credit for those assignments.

To get help from the Soomo team, please visit their support site at https://soomolearning.com/support. The TAs and I cannot address technical questions regarding purchase, registration, or usage of their products, or questions like "why didn't I get a perfect score on the assignment?"; only Soomo can help with these sorts of issues.

Course Requirements

Please note that all assignments except for exams are completed online, to make sure that students have no incentive to come to class if they have recently been exposed to Covid-19 (or any other public health issue) or if they are symptomatic. This does NOT mean that you are not expected to come to class when you are healthy, though. Throughout the Covid era, students who rarely came to class have done poorly in my courses, even if they thought they got enough information from friends, GroupMe, or elsewhere. Seeing and hearing the material in person, and being part of the class discussion of this material, makes a huge difference in learning and in grades.

(1) Three Examinations (20% each): Three exams will be given on the days specified in this syllabus; the two midterm exams will be held during class, and the final exam will be held during finals week at the time specified by UNT’s exam schedule. Each exam is non-cumulative, and will draw roughly equally from the assigned textbook and workbook readings and the instructor's lectures. Each will contain 40 multiple choice questions, and 5 short answer/fill-in-the-blank questions. Be sure to be on time to each exam; once the first student leaves the room after an exam starts, anybody else entering to take the exam will lose five letter grades.

(2) Webtext Assignments (40%): The 22 chapters in the webtext include questions within the text, for you to answer as you do the reading. These chapters are used to assess the four learning objectives adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (critical thinking, communication, personal responsibility, and social responsibility). You may redo the questions for any particular chapter as many times as you'd like if you want to improve your score, up until the next exam -- but all webtext grades become final once the next exam is held. Your lowest score from these chapters will be dropped from calculation of the grade.

Rest of Syllabus

The remainder of the syllabus -- course rules, notes about academic integrity and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and assigned readings -- is only available in the complete syllabus (in PDF format). Be sure to print out that complete syllabus and be familiar with it, so that you do not fall behind or miss any assignments during the semester.


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Last updated: 21 January 2025
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