You must complete an individual research project of 15 pages in length, and there must be a minimum of 15 sources used and cited (all other project requirements are the same as in the regular syllabus).
For each third of the course[1] you are required to submit to turnitin.com (on the day of each exam) a book review on an additional course-related reading. For each review, follow the steps below:

• Select a chapter (from the current third of the course) from one of our texts. From that chapter, select a book (not an article) that is cited or discussed to review.
• Review the book in a paper that is 3 to 6 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times or Calibri font or smaller, 1-inch margins or smaller). Do not write any more than you have to (a brief, specific, concise review is always preferable to one of greater length), but do not write any less than you have to either!
• Use these guidelines in your review[2]:
  • Successful book reviews answer three questions:
    1. What did the writer of the book try to communicate?
    2. How clearly and convincingly did the author get this message across?
    3. Was the message worth reading?
  • Your goal: help people efficiently decide whether or not they need or want the book. In the process of writing a review that reaches this goal, you will also:
    1. Learn about the book you are reviewing
    2. Learn about professional standards for book reviews in political science
    3. Learn about the essential steps of book reviewing which apply to any academic discipline
  • Your review should generally contain four basic elements (although not always in this order):
    1. Enticement (Let readers know you can quickly and clearly come to the point so they know their time and effort in reading the review is wasted)
    2. Examination (Allow the reader to join you in examining the book. Just what is this book about?)
    3. Elucidation (Clarify the book's value and contribution to political science by defining [1] what the author is attempting to do and [2] how the author's work fits within current similar efforts in political science)
    4. Evaluation (To what extent have the author's objectives been accomplished?)
  • Before writing your review:
    1. Read the book (enough said!)
    2. Respond to the book (make notes, organize them, prepare them for your review)
    3. Get to know the subject (Research the issue. Such research may be found in a review in a journal or in a recent textbook on the subject)
    4. Familiarize yourself with other books by the author
    5. Read reviews of other political science books (You will find good examples of reviews in these journals: Perspectives on Politics, The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Political Science Qurterly among others)
  • Some additional notes on the format of the title page for each review are found below.

The book reports are each worth 5% of your total grade, and your exams are worth 10%. In place of the chart on the syllabus, your grades are determined as follows:

While your online and in-class grades are similar to the undergraduate requirements, I expect greater overall class engagement from you—including knowledge you've gained with a bachelor's degree, graduate coursework, and experience. This applies especially to your online activity on our D2L site.

1. Course "thirds" are bounded by the exams. The first "third" consists of the period before the first exam; the second "third" consists of the period between exams one and two; the final "third" consists of the period after the second exam.
2. Adapted from Scott, Gregory M., and Stephen M. Garrison. 2002. The Political Science Student Writer's Manual, 4th edition, chapter 8, section 1, "Book Reviews". Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 161-168.

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