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Syllabus Spring 2006 |
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This course is
intended for economics majors in their last semester. It is a participatory seminar. Text. There is no text for this course. Course Assignments. This course will have three main
parts. Each of you will present and
summarize published papers (written by others). Each of you will be responsible for
“current event days”, and finally you will write two papers summarizing the
papers we discuss in this class. Writing and summarizing published papers. In turn, each member of the class will
present an assigned paper. You will be
responsible for preparing a presentation summarizing and critiquing the
paper. I would expect you to prepare a
power point presentation and lead the class through the paper. Your presentation should leave the class
with an understanding of what the paper says and your views of the paper. Your responsibilities
as presenter. You must prepare a series
of power point slides, one to a page, and you must meet with me at least two
days prior to your presentation to go over the power point slides; that will
give you time to make any revisions that are appropriate. If you get a copy to me by Your responsibilities
as a non-presenter. You are not off the hook if you are not
presenting. You are expected to ask
questions, and participate in the discussion and critique of the paper. Which papers
will be assigned? We will discuss that
in class. Current
Event Days.
In turn, each member of the class will be responsible for picking an
article from an appropriate newspaper or journal about some topic and
discussing the issue from an economics perspective. Good sources include the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Economist. This is not an exhaustive list (the Daily Kent Stater may be used on
occasion); web sites of CNN, etc are also acceptable. I suppose I will get some “whither interest
rates” papers presented, but I hope for more along the lines of “The NCAA as
a cartel”. The idea is to use the articles as a springboard for a wide ranging
discussion of economic reasoning applied
to a breadth of problems. Your responsibilities
as presenter. The appropriate class member is responsible for picking the article and
leading the discussion. You must have
an article ready for distribution, and be prepared to discuss it. And remember, I have a reputation for
asking a lot of questions if no one else does. Your responsibilities
as a non-presenter. You are not off the hook if you are not
presenting. Every member of the class is responsible to participating in and
contributing to the discussion. Papers. You owe me two, both of which
must be a written summary and analysis of papers someone else presents. Some ground rules: each paper should be
about 10 pages in length. Sorry, only
a maximum of two persons may pick each paper.
If Jane and Sam each select paper “XXX” then Sally is out of luck on
selecting this paper. To make sure
that we have an orderly selection process, all selections must be made by
e-mail. The time and date of the first
two e-mails will establish the claim.
These are not original research papers. In each case, I expect a draft of the paper. I will want a week to review the
draft. We will then meet individually
for a critique of your paper; you then give me a final draft responsive to
our discussion. Deadlines: One of your papers must be completed by Exams. There will be no exam,
BUT we will meet during finals week at the time appointed (or anointed, if
you wish) by the Registrar (I expect we will use the time to catch up on
assignments Grades are
calculated as follows:
A word about
participation. You are expected to
participate in class discussions even when it is not your day to
present. I take that into account. Obviously you get no participation credit
for your presentations. And, yes,
attendance counts. What happens if you can’t make your assigned
date for a presentation? You are free to
make a substitution: you may take another students paper or another students
date, but you must arrange the
substitution. You, not I, are the
efficient risk-bearer. The Fine
Print (which you ignore at your peril) E-mails. Like everyone
else, I am inundated with Spam mail and viruses, so two policies. I will answer and respond to your e-mails
with two exceptions. Please put a meaningful
subject line in every e-mail. It
doesn’t have to be long. But I delete
a lot of e-mails without reading if I suspect spam and if there is no
subject, I suspect spam. Second, all
incoming e-mails are checked by both by a KSU virus checker and my virus
checker. If my virus checker finds a virus, my policy is to “delete first,
ask questions later”. Incompletes. Please note
university policy that incompletes can only be given under extraordinary
circumstances. You must be passing the
course at the time of the request and it must be due to some significant
unforeseen event arising in the last three weeks of the semester. Withdrawal. You can withdraw
during the first ten weeks of the semester.
Click here for the last day of withdrawal. Withdrawal before the deadline results in a
"W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be
calculated and reported. Class Attendance is expected. If you miss class, you are responsible for
catching up on the material Prerequisites. Students attending the course who do
not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class. Enrollment. Students have responsibility to ensure
they are properly enrolled in classes.
You are advised to review your official class schedule during the
first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this
class and section. Click here for the last day to correct an error with your
advising office. If
registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend
and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are
advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester
for any class in which you are not properly registered. Academic Honesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source,
nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers,
projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit. The use of the intellectual property of
others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic
offense. It is the University's policy
that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work
or course. Repeat offenses result in dismissal
from the University. I take cheating seriously. Disability. In accordance with University policy, if
you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal
access in this course, please contact me at the beginning of the semester or
when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required. Students
with disabilities must verify their eligibility through the Office of Student
Disability Services (SDS) in the Michael Schwartz Student Services Center
(672-2972). |
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Created
by Charles W. Upton, who may be contacted at cupton@kent.edu
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