Basis for Your Course Grade
Caveat
The course requirements listed below presume that the vast majority of
students in this class, are going to come to class with the readings done,
are going to review questions for the readings before class, are
going to have written something down in response to at least some of the
questions listed, and are going to be fully prepared to participate in
the class discussion.
If the instructor believes that the above conditions are not being met, he reserves the right to start having weekly quizzes on the readings, and altering the contribution of the grade components listed below to have those quizzes count heavily toward the final course grade. You have been warned.
| Item | Percentage | Notes |
| Participation/short assignments | 20 | See below; see also notes about participation on main page |
| Research paper: Draft | 25 | Probably due first or second week in April; includes attending debriefing.; see below |
| Research paper: Final | 35 | Will be due some time during the final exam period; possible alternative of research poster session |
| Reflection/application log | 20 | See below |
Participation/short assignments
Sometimes in class we will be doing exercises or writing something.
Sometimes in class we might start an exercise or activity, and you will be asked
to write something up based on that, and turn that in the next class.
Research paper: Draft
You are going to learn about numerous different sources of social science
information in this class. You also are going to make visits to three different
archives: Temple University's Urban Archives, the Federal Archive for the
Mid-Atlantic Region, and (tentatively) the Philadelphia City Archives. In each
location you will learn about some specific primary source materials relevant to
the topics of this course. Each archive is associated with one particular
potential research project. Each of these will be described at a later date. You
will be allowed to choose to work on one of these research projects as a team
member, or you may individually, or with another student, propose an alternate
relevant research project. If you are a member of a team, you may share data
collected or processed by other members of the team. More details on this
sharing will be forthcoming. You will, however, be required to write up your
own, individual research paper. Details will be forthcoming about the archive
related projects, other potential projects, and the paper requirements.
If you are part of a team or working individually, you are going to want to have your "research" done by the 3rd or 4th week in March at the latest. I will want a complete draft sometime in the first or second week in April. We will talk in detail about the required pieces. After the draft we will meet to discuss. Being present at the debriefing is part of getting credit for this course requirement.
Since this is a course intended primarily for first year students, these are going to be "mini" research papers. The point is for you to get experience doing some variety of primary data collection, processing, analysis, and write up.
Research paper: Final
The "submission" of the final paper is most likely going to involve the
submission of a final paper, due some time during the final exam period.
Depending on the nature of the projects which evolve and the strength of the
draft papers which are submitted, there may be a final research poster session
in lieu of a final paper. If that were to happen, it would take place during the
last week of class, on a Tuesday. It is at the discretion of the instructor
whether to make this format available.
Reflection/Application Log
During the semester you should be reading about the Philadelphia Inquirer or
Daily News on a regular basis. By regular I mean at least every other day, and
certainly on Sunday. Scan the main section and the local section, as well as the
editorial page and op-ed pages. This course is being held as Mayor
Michael Nutter embarks on one of the most controversial violence reduction
strategies this city has seen in many years. You should compile these stories in
a folder somewhere on your computer, and bring them to class to discuss.
Try and keep a log, making at least one short entry a week, that reflects
on one of these stories. Look for stories that link to the conceptual framework
unfolding in the course. Every three weeks or so I am going to ask you to upload
an expanded log entry. We will talk later about specifically
what I am requesting.