Introduction To Political Science Syllabus, Syllabi, books, articles content analysis

A Report On The Books Assigned To Undergraduates In 86 Syllabi For The Introduction Of Political Science Class political

introduction to political science, syllabus, syllabi, content analysis, books, articles

Google’s advance search was used in June 2005 to conduct a content analysis of syllabi to classes listed as Introduction to Political Science. Which books and how often they were being assigned in the introductory class is the central focus of the analysis.

The exact search parameters for Google appear in Appendix A, and the hyperlink to the search results appears in the endnotes.[1] Links to 539 supposed syllabi for Introduction to Political Science classes were returned in the results. There were less than 1,000 results because search parameters were set to return links to pages that had been updated at least once in the last year and to those that went to the .edu domain. Each suggested link was examined to ensure that it did indeed go to a syllabus for the Political Science introduction class. Those that were not specifically labeled as the intro class were discarded. This means that syllabi to classes such as Introduction to Politics or Introduction to Government or Methods of Political Science were not included in the analysis. Syllabi that were labeled "Introduction to Political Science" but had a course number greater than 300, or 3000 on the four-digit numbering system, were not included in the examination. Books on syllabi that were only “recommended,” instead of being “required,” were not included in the analysis. As a result, out of the initial 539 links to supposed syllabi to the intro class, only 86 went to the specific undergraduate Introduction to Political Science class as defined in this report. This means that 453 of the supposed Google links to syllabi were discarded.

Out of the first 15 syllabi examined, 9 of the professors assigned articles in class instead of providing citations on their syllabus. Because the primary focus of this analysis is textbooks, this limitation is not a significant problem. There were 6 other professors listed in the first 2 pages of the Google results who were requiring their students to buy a reader for the course. Unfortunately, these professors did not list the title of the reader on their syllabus; the students were instructed to buy the one in the book store on campus. After these first 2 pages in the Google results, no record was kept of how many instructors were distributing in class the publication information to their additional reading material instead of listing the citations directly on their syllabus. When the professors made the reading material citations available on the syllabus, that material was included in the analysis.

The content analysis is based on syllabi that are only on the internet and found by using Google.com. Consequently, as far as ranking the textbooks is concerned, the word rank cannot be used accurately in its exact meaning. The rankings are presented for visual purposes only.

Although not a true limitation, there is a shortcoming of this report to consider. Several instructors teach the Introduction to Political Science class narrowly from either a philosophical approach or from a political methods approach. Several classes labeled Introduction to Political Science had a statistics textbook as the only book assigned in the class. Others assigned readings from the Federalist Papers, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Rawls, and so on in lieu of using a standard textbook. No distinction was made in the analysis to address these different approaches to the introductory class. Again, if the syllabus was labeled Introduction to Political Science, the syllabus was included in the analysis.

The Top 5 list follows, and each work happens to be a book. A full list of all the works that appeared in the 86 syllabi can be found, in alphabetical order, in Appendix B. This list also includes the articles and chapters.

Top 5 Books In Descending Order
(Intro To Political Science Syllabi, n=86, X# = number of times item appeared in syllabi)

Shively, W. Phillips. Power and Choice: An Introduction to Political Science. McGraw-Hill, 2002. X20

Magstadt, Thomas. Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues. Wadsworth -Thomson Learning, 2003. X8

Grigsby, Ellen. Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Wadsworth, 2005. X6

Roskin, Michael and Robert Cord and James Medeiros and Walter Jones. Political Science: An introduction. Prentice Hall, 2002. X5

Danziger, James. Understanding the Political World: A Comparative Introduction to Political Science. Longman Publishers, 2002. X4 (Tied)

Abramson, Paul and John Aldrich and David Rohde. Change and Continuity in the 1996 and 1998 Elections. Congressional Quarterly Press, 1999. X1

Allen, William Sheridan. The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single Small Town in Germany, 1922-1945. Franklin Watts, 1984. X1

Anderson, James. Public Policymaking: An Introduction. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. X1

Ansolabehere, Stephen and Shanto Iyengar. Going Negative: How political advertisements shrink and polarize the electorate. Free Press, 1997. X1

Arnhart, Political Questions: Political Philosophy from Plato to Rawls. Waveland Press, 1993. X1

Ball, Terence and Richard Dagger. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal. Longman, 2003. X2

Baradat, Leon. Political Ideologies and Their Origins and Impacts. Prentice Hall, 1997. X1

Barber, Benjamin. Fear’s Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy. WW Norton. 2003. X1

Becker, Howard. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. University of Chicago Press, 1986. X1

Bernstein, Robert and Dyer. An Introduction to Political Science Methods. Prentice Hall, 1997. X1

Booth, Wayne and Gregory Colomb and Joseph Williams. The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press, 2003. X1

Burnham, Peter and Karin Gilland and Wyn Grant and Zig Henry. Research Methods in Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. X1

Canon, David T. and Kenneth Mayer and John Coleman. Readings for American Government. W.W. Norton, 2002. OR David Canon and James Coleman and Kenneth Mayer. The Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics. Norton, 2002. X1

Dahl, Robert. How Democratic Is the American Constitution? Yale University Press, 2001. X1

Danziger, James. Understanding the Political World: A Comparative Introduction to Political Science. Longman Publishers, 2002. X4

Diamond, Larry. Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. X1

Eagles, Munroe and Larry Johnston. Politics: An Introduction to Democratic Government. Broadview Press, 1999. X1

Ethridge, Marcus and Howard Handelman. Politics in a Changing World: A Comparative Introduction to Political Science. St. Martin's Press, 1998. X3

Farr, James and Raymond Seidelman. Discipline and History: Political Science in the United States. University of Michigan Press, 1993. X1

Fiorina, Morris, and Bertram Johnson and D. Stephen Voss and Paul E. Peterson. New American Democracy. Longman. 2004. OR America’s New Democracy, 2003. X1

Freedman, David and Robert Pisani and Roger Purves. Statistics. WW Norton & Company, 1998. X1

Fuller, Robert and Jeffery Orenstein. An Introduction to Political Theory: Toward the Next Century. Harper Collins College Publishers, 1993. X1

Godwin, Kenneth and John Wahlke. Introduction to Political Science: Reason, Reflection, and Analysis. Harcourt Brace, 1997. X1

Gray, James. Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It. Temple University Press, 2001. X1

Grigsby, Ellen. Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Wadsworth, 2005. X6

Hertsgaard, Mark. Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of our Environmental Future. Broadway Books, 1999. X1

Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. X1

Hibbing, John and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse. Congress as Public Enemy: Public Attitudes Toward American Political Institutions. Cambridge University Press, 1995. X1

Hoover, Kenneth and Todd Donovan. The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking. Wadsworth, 2003. X2

Johnson, Janet and H.T. Reynolds. Political Science Research Methods. CQ Press, 2004. X3

Kann, Mark. Thinking About Politics: Two political sciences. West Publishing Company, 1980. X1

Kernell, Samuel and Gary Jacobson. Logic of American Politics. CQ Press, 2002. X1

Kuhn, Thomas. Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 1996. X1

Lakoff, George. Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. University of Chicago Press, 2002. X1

Le Roy, Michael. Comparative Politics: An Introduction Using ExplorIt. MicroCase Corporation, 1999. X1

Lowi, Theodore and Benjamin Ginsberg. We the People. WW Norton, 2001. OR Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir, Champagne, Forshee, and Harpham. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Texas Edition. WW Norton, 2001. X1

Maier, Mark. The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics. M.E. Sharpe, 1995. X1

Magstadt, Thomas. Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues. Wadsworth -Thomson Learning, 2003. X8

McKenna, George and Feingold Stanley. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Political Issues. McGraw-Hill, 2004. X3

Mesquita, Bruce Bueno de. Principles of International Politics: People’s Power, Preferences, and Perceptions. CQ Press, 1999. X1

Minogue, Kenneth. Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2000. X1

Monsma, Stephen and Christopher Soper. The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Industrialized Democracies. JM Dawson Studies in Church and State, 1999. X1

Nathanson, Stephen. Should we consent to be Governed? A Short Introduction To Political Philosophy. Wadsworth, 2000. X1

Nelson, Brian. Western Political Thought. Prentice Hall, 1995. X2

Neumann, Elizabeth. Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion-Our Social Skin. University of Chicago Press, 1993. X1

O’Connor, Karen and Larry Sabato. American Government: Continuity and Change. Pearson Longman, 2004. X1

Patterson, Thomas. Vanishing Voter: Public involvement in an age of uncertainty. Alfred Knopf, 2003. X3

Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon & Schuster, 2001. X2

Ranney, Austin. Governing: An introduction to political science. Prentice Hall, 2000. X2

Ravitch, Diane and Abigail Thernstrom. Democracy Reader: Classic and Modern Speeches, Essays, Poems, Declarations and Documents on Freedom and Human Rights Worldwide. Harper-Collins, 1992. X1

Roskin, Michael and Robert Cord and James Medeiros and Walter Jones. Political Science: An introduction. Prentice Hall, 2002. X5

Rosecrance, Richard. Rise of the Virtual State: Wealth and Power in the Coming Century. Basic Books, 2000. X1

Russett, Bruce. Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World. Princeton University Press, 1993. X1

Scott, Gregory and Stephen Garrison. Political Science Student Writer’s Manual. Prentice Hall, 2001. X3

Shively, W. Phillips. Power and Choice: An Introduction to Political Science. McGraw-Hill, 2002. X20

Slann, Martin. Introduction to Politics: Government and Nations in the Twenty-First Century. Atomic Dog Publishing, 2005. X1

Somerville, John and Ronald Santoni. Social and Political Philosophy. Anchor, 1963. X3

Sterba, James. Social and Political Philosophy: Classical Western Texts in Feminist and Multicultural Perspectives. Thomson-Wadsworth, 2003. X1

Stonehouse, Jean. Studying the Constitutions of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States: A Guide and Summary. Old Colony Historical Society, 2002. X1

Strunk, William and EB White and Roger Angell. Elements of Style. Longman, 2000. X1

Tannenbaum, Donald and David Schultz. Inventors of Ideas: An Introduction to Western Political Philosophy. Wadsworth, 2003. X1

Thobaben, R.G. and Donna Schlagheck and Charles Funderburk. Issues in American Political Life: Money, violence, and biology. Prentice Hall, 1997. X1

Vasquez, John and Marie Henehan. Scientific Study of Peace and War. Lexington Books, 1992. X1

Waldmeir, Patti. Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa. Rutgers University Press, 1998. X1

Waldrop, M. Mitchell. Complexity: Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos. Touchstone, 1992. X1

Williams, Juan. Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years. Penguin Books, 1987. X1

Winter, Herbert and Thomas Bellows. Conflict and Compromise: An Introduction to Political Science. Harper Collins College Publishers, 1992. X1

Wray, J. Harry. Sense and Non-Sense In American Culture and Politics. Prentice Hall, 2000. X1

All articles and chapters appeared just one time in the syllabi. Many of these articles could be found in the readers assigned in other syllabi. Few instructors, however, listed the publication information to the reader on their syllabus. Therefore, recording the number of times these articles were being assigned in syllabi can hardly be an accurate reflection of what material, other than textbooks, are being assigned in classes. The following information is presented only because it was listed on the syllabi in conjunction with at least one of the main books listed above.

Doyle, Michael. “Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 12, Nos. 3 and 4.

Hirschmann, Nancy. “Eastern Veiling, Western Feminism, and the Problem of Free Agency.”

Lindblom, Charles. “The Science of Muddling Through,” Public Administration Review, Vol. 19 (Spring 1959) pp. 79-88.

MacKinnon, Catharine. “Liberal State” from Toward a Feminist Theory of the State.

Nozick, Robert. “Moral Constraints and the State” from Anarchy, State, and Utopia.

Skocpol, Theda. “Old Regime States in Crisis” from States and Social Revolutions.

Weber, Max. “Spirit of Capitalism” from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Wilson, Woodrow. “The Study of Administration,” Political Science Quarterly, 2,1 (June 1887).

[1] http://www.google.com.my/search?as_q=syllabus&num=100&hl= en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=introduction+to+political+science&as_oq= &as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=y&as_occt=any&as_dt=
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