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Classroom Research
Although there is enormous variety in the classes
offered and the pedagogical approaches used, there is strong
emphasis throughout the Political Science curriculum on writing and
on the development of strong analytical and research skills.
Underlying this philosophy is the belief is that the best way to
learn political science is to do political science. That is, we want
our students to conduct research as a means of testing ideas about
how the political system works. There are some courses such as
Professor Portney's class on public opinion where the entire class
works together on a research project. In that class students choose
a topic, design a public opinion survey, conduct the survey, and
then analyze the computerized results. In Professor Berry's
sophomore seminar on "Politics in the City," students are assigned
to teams and each team spends the semester researching and writing a
large-scale paper on a topic of immediacy in urban politics.
Professor Sullivan's seminars on Machiavelli and Montesquieu
emphasize close reading of original texts. Each week students read
the assigned work and some will write papers for distribution to all
before the weekly meeting. The remainder of the students will write
short response papers critiquing one of the student papers. Class
sessions debate these papers and the critiques.
Independent Research
The emphasis on research is not limited to regular course offerings.
With permission and guidance by a member of the faculty, students
can devise an independent research project for course credit.
Students who have excelled during their first three years are
eligible to write a senior thesis (two semester credits) under the
guidance of a faculty mentor. All students writing a senior thesis
in the Department also meet together weekly with a faculty
instructor to discuss issues related to conducting advanced research
in the disciplines and to their specific projects. Undergraduates
are often hired when a faculty member needs a research assistant.
Both internal (Tufts University) and external grants are often
written with undergraduate research positions embedded in the
proposal.
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