WEEKLY RESPONSE JOURNAL: Every week you are expected to write four pages,
at least 1000 words, of reflections and thoughts about the reading for the week. I will
provide reading questions each week to help guide these reflections, but whether you
stick to mine or develop your own is up to you. The purpose of these reflections is
first to help prepare for the class discussion; second, to work through the text, open it
up and; third, to connect it to larger questions you have about American politics,
particularly contemporary ones. One expectation is that you cite from the readings
each week and that you develop questions or problems in the text that youd like to
develop further in class. A second, expectation is that you bring in, either directly
connected to the reading or not, an issue of contemporary politics that you have been
thinking about that week. These responses should be uploaded no later than 10pm the
night before class on Blackboard, as I would like to have read them before we meet. I
will discuss this in class, but this journal is to be taken seriously as it comprises the
majority of your grade.