Lewis-Clark State College
Course Syllabus
Social Science 499
Senior Research
Spring 2012


Professor: Eric Martin
Office Location: Spalding 310
Office Hours: T/TH 10:30-11:30; W 1:30-2:30 and by appointment
Phone: 792-2281/208-792-2291
Fax: 208-792-2571
E-mail: elmartin@lcsc.edu
Website: www.lcsc.edu/elmartin


Overview
This is a senior “capstone” course for the social sciences. Students will be asked to complete a series of social scientific research activities that will culminate in the creation of a research portfolio and a scholarly paper that will be presented to an audience.

The paper and presentation should reflect the culmination of what the students have learned in their previous courses, and should be of a quality that is close to graduate level work. The course is not intended to teach students how to research, but rather to enhance and build upon existing research skills and to provide evidence that the students have developed substantive research skills during the undergraduate studies.


Purposes/Goals

The purposes and goals of the course include the following

• conduct research
• think analytically
• understand and apply theories, concepts, and categories
• read and analyze scholarly works
• write a clear, concise, and organized paper
• give a clear, concise, and organized oral presentation
• demonstrate knowledge of one or more of the social sciences
• understand and evaluate qualitative and quantitative evidence


Class Format
We will sometimes meet as a full class. However, most of our interaction will be one-on-one discussions – in person or via email or phone -- about individual progress on the research project. There will also be a meeting during which the students will present their research to the class and other students, staff, faculty, and interested persons.

Assignments
The assignments for the course are all related to the development of a research paper and oral presentation. They are worth a total of 1050 points. Please submit assignments electronically to elmartin@lcsc.edu. Doing so will allow for evaluating and returning assignments more quickly. Emailed assignments that are not sent to the correct email account by the deadline for whatever reason will be considered late.

The assignments and point values are as follows. Details will be provided in a separate handout. Due dates are provided below under “Class Schedule” (starting on p. 3).


Late Penalty

Assignments should be turned in no later than 5:00 PM on the due date. Please also be aware that there will be a point penalty of a letter grade/day for late work. Emailed assignments that do not reach the professor’s inbox by the deadline for whatever reason will be considered late.

Grading

I will grade using the following scale:
93-100% = A 90-92 = A-
88-89% = B+ 83-87 = B 80-82 = B-3
78-79% = C+ 73-77 = C 70-72 = C-
68-69% = D+ 63-67 = D 62% and below = F

Academic Dishonesty
Class policy is the same as that of the college. As explained in the LCSC Student Handbook: Code of Conduct: http://www.lcsc.edu/studentservices/SHBcodeofconduct.htm

Cheating or plagiarism in any form is unacceptable. The College functions to promote the cognitive and psychosocial development of all students. Therefore, all work submitted by a student must represent his/her own ideas, concepts and current understanding. Academic Dishonesty includes:


a) Cheating—intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. The term "academic exercise" includes all forms of work submitted for credit hours.

b) Fabrication—intentional and/or unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or the source of any information in an academic exercise.


c) Collusion facilitating academic dishonesty—intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of Academic Dishonesty.


d) Plagiarism—the deliberate adoption or reproduction of ideas or words or statement of another person as one’s own without acknowledgment.


As a rule of thumb, if you use three or more of same words in the same order as your source, you should put the words into quotations. Remember that citations are required not only when you use the same words as your source, but whenever you use information and ideas that are not your own. The main exceptions are those things considered “common knowledge” (such as Franklin Roosevelt was elected U.S. president in 1932).

Anyone found to have engaged in any of the above activities or related activities will fail the course, and/or may be subject to additional sanctions imposed by the college.

Special Accommodations
Students with a documented need for special accommodations should please consult with me by the third week of class.

 

[Tentative] Class Schedule

We may need to meet more/less often as a class. We won't know until we get into it. So remain flexible. Please note that “Class Meeting” means that we will meet as a whole class. The professor and students will arrange times during the semester to meet individually to discuss the research projects.

1-17: Class Meeting
Defining and Narrowing the Topic; Research Techniques and Issues
1-19: (Thurs): Topic Proposal Due

1-24: Class Meeting
Research Techniques and Issues (con’t)

1-31: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Preliminary Bibliography Due

2-7: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Tentative Thesis/Hypothesis Due

2-14: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Disciplinary Classification Due

2-21: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Analysis of Piece(s) of Qualitative Evidence and Quantitative Evidence Due

2-28: Class Meeting
Social Science Concept/Theory Discussion Due

3-6: (Native American Awareness Week ?)No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Literature Review Due

Spring Break (3/13-3/15)

3-20: Everyone Meet in my office @Noon
Detailed Outline Due (Include current draft of various sections)

3-27: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed
Updates on Research

4-3: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed

4-10: Class Meeting
(T) Full Paper Draft Due; (TH) Peer Review Due

4-17: No Class; Individual Meetings as Needed

Research Presentation Review/Practice
4-24: SUB 225 -- Thomas, Trae, Kyle
4-26: SGC 224 -- Doug, Janessa, Elan

5-1: Final Paper Due
5-3: Research Presentations

10:10 - 11:00 am SUB 225
1. Nathan J (History)
2. Thomas P (Anthropology)
3. Trae T (History)
4. Kyle S (Political Science)

11:10 - noon SUB 225
5. Doug S (History)
6. Janessa T (History)
7. Elan W (History)

Noon - 1pm Selway Room
Lunch and Senior Exit Interviews