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GLE 101 04 - FYI-UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE

SYLLABUS

QUICK LINKS AND DAILY REMINDERS

INTRODUCTION

First Year Inquiry is a required course for all first-year students at Franklin Pierce University. Each section, regardless of theme, works on improving students’ academic skills, and addresses three goals of a Franklin Pierce Education---information literacy, inquiry and analysis, and career exploration. Readings, writing assignments, and activities are used to stimulate thinking about inquiry and decisions about students’ career opportunities. Students may not withdraw from the course; they may repeat it in the spring of the freshmen year. Students must pass this course to demonstrate proficiency in the skills coded for this course.

Since we need to engage in other activities (detailed below), at most 2/3 of the course will devoted to its theme. The theme is Uncommon Knowledge from the Hidden Side of Everything. Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?  Well, the evidence tells us that they are much poorer than we imagine. In this course, we will explore the power of social scientific inquiry to observe hidden dimensions and to develop uncommon insights into human behavior and social interaction. What made Maserati (an expensive, luxury sports car) the car of choice in Iran in 2012? Does Tylenol really ease the pain of hurt feelings? Can images, not just consumption, of alcoholic beverages make us more aggressive? After decades of mutual hatred and violence, why are Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland finally at peace? Will the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ever be resolved? We will engage these and other questions through the study of the social sciences. This course is intended for students who are curious about the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology. However, the professions in business, criminal justice and education cannot possibly survive without social scientific knowledge. 

 

      

 

REQUIREMENTS

See "Gradebook" for weights, grading scale and grades on all assessed work. Also, check it for your continuously updated course grade.
 
I. Daily Work (60%). 
 
Your daily, graded coursework consists mostly of timed quizzes, ranging from 3-10 minutes: 1) reading-assignment quizzes due before class; 2) classroom-session quizzes due after class; 3) teamwork quizzes due during class. Take thorough notes on the reading assignments and in the classroom in order to perform well on quizzes. Quizzes ARE open-note/open-reading. Occasionally, I will ask you to submit daily work other than quizzes.
 
Extra credit for daily work is awarded to students for posting their notes on the class session. (See "Class Session Notes" page.)  These posted notes are a good for studying for class session quizzes, especially for absent students. Other opportunities for extra credit will be made available to you by the instructor but may not be requested by students.
 
II. Research Project (20%). Your chance to be nominated for the FYI Academic Showcase!
 
The research project is conducted in four stages: 1) research question/annotated bibliography (5%); 2) outline (5%); 3) rough draft (a penalty for failure to submit one); 5) final draft (7%); 6) 5-minute oral presentation (3%). Guidelines and specifications for the each stage will be provided in "Assignments" when they are assigned.
 
I will nominate one to two students from this class to present their work in the FYI Academic Showcase at the end of the semester. Nominees will present posters of their work to Franklin Pierce faculty, administration (The president, provost, and dean will be in attendance.), and students. The winners of the showcase will receive formal certificates of honor and gift cards for the campus bookstore. 
 
References for research writing: 1) From Inquiry to Academic Writing (which some of you have) and its guide to citation protocols. 2) Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, which also has a guide to research and source documentation. 
 
III. APP (Academic and Personal Plan) (6%).
 
IV. Peer Leader (4%)
 
Your peer leader gets 4% of the course grade, who will use it to assess how well you respond to his/her plans for you throughout the semester.
 
V. Final exam (10%).
 

The final exam is comprehensive, with questions drawn from the semester's quizzes, including extra-credit quizzes. It is NOT open-note/open-reading. It will be taken 8-10 AM, Wed, 12/16 in OUR CLASSROOM.

GENERAL ITEMS OF IMPORTANCE

1. Ignorance and absence are not excuses for incomplete, late or non-submitted work. All required work, extra-credit work, and deadlines are made absolutely, crystal clear in the CampusWeb course pages and calendar. All coursework is completed online. With the exception of a sudden, medically-documented ailment that truly impairs one's ability to do work, there is no excuse of not knowing what is expected and when it is expected.
2. Assume that something is required of you every class day.
3. Use office hours, email and phone to address individual concerns. Do not use class time or the five minutes before and after to do so. 
4. Computer/tablet use in the classroom is welcomed and encouraged, but proper, academic and scholarly use of technology is expected.
5. Cell phones must be silent and invisible.
6. Remember, you all have Microsoft Office365, which is the whole Office suite online. IT makes downloadable copies of MS Office available for $35.
7. Academic dishonesty (Plagiarism, Cheating). Ignorance is no excuse for plagiarism and cheating. It’s either academic dishonesty or it’s not. A single instance of academic dishonesty will result in a FAILURE for the entire course. In addition, a report will be immediately forwarded to the Office of Academic Affairs so that the University may take action. The Franklin Pierce Academic Catalogue provides a precise definition of plagiarism.
 
Plagiarism is the act of stealing or passing as one’s own the ideas or words of another. Diana Hacker identifies three specific acts that constitute plagiarism: “(1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks and(3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words” (359 and 418). Specifically, this includes: copying the words of another student from examinations, themes, term papers, or theses; copying the printed words or ideas of a writer without giving credit to the author; using, borrowing, stealing, presenting or downloading another student’s ideas or writing and submitting such material as one’s own work; or resubmitting work in whole or in part that has previously been submitted in another course, without permission of the current instructor. (Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.)
 
8. Bottom line, expect to work HARD, HARD, HARD!

LEARNING DIFFERENCES

If you have a documented learning disability, it is important that you work with the Academic Services Center to be sure you maximize the benefit of your efforts in this course.  It is imperative that you be proactive and a self-advocate.  Please talk to me. I can help! Additional information can be found at the  Center for Academic Excellence.

FYI NEWS (from instructor and peer leader)

FINAL EXAM

High priority

For explanation of its coverage, see "Syllabus" and for time, see coverage. 


The final exam is comprehensive, with questions drawn from the semester's quizzes, including extra-credit quizzes. It is NOT open-note/open-reading. It will be taken 8-1...

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