Sample
Syllabus
Dr
Swearingen
Fall 2006
Office: SAC 1321
Office
Phone: See BB site each semester
NOTE ON LEAVING MESSAGES: sometimes the machine will say "that
box is not available. Would you like to leave a message?" It
sounds confusing, because it is. However, if you wait until the
promt, you will be able to leave a message.
Email:
answering
machine
and email remain the same each semester, so you can always
contact me these ways.
Office
Hours see BB site each semester
Overview of the Course
This course is meant to provide you with a general background in the sociological causes of crime, the power relations that allow the rich and powerful to define the law, and how the criminal justice system functions to maintain both social order and create social problems at the same time.
General Statement of Open Campus.
Open Campus courses are designed for people whose schedule makes it difficult to get to class or who work rotating shifts. They are not designed for those people who "do not have time to go to class." This type of class often takes more time than attending a class. If you have enrolled because you are short on time it will be difficult to make a good grade in the course. There are two important issues to keep in mind when taking this open campus course; turning in materials and timing.
Timing and due dates. In an open campus course, you complete the assignments for the course at your own speed. There are some time limits, though. Many people do much of the work in a short period of time and turn it in early, and this is perfectly acceptable. However, it has been the experience of open campus instructors that some students leave everything to the last minute and turn in their materials with only a day or two for the instructor to grade. This is unfair to both instructor and student. The instructor has too little time to adequately grade the assignments, and the student has no chance for feedback on her work. Unit 1 is especially important, because my experience is that people who put off beginning the course have a history of not completing the course. In addition, the summer course is so compressed that once you fall behind you are seldom able to catch up. Therefore, I have established due dates for each assignment in this course.
Unit one:
Siegel, Criminology: chapters 1,2,3 (required)
Reiman,
Unit two: Types of Crimes
Unit three: How the Criminal Justice system operates
Extra Credit: Mauer, Race to Incarcerate Book Report (optional)
Unit four: Theories of the Causes of Crime
Criminology 4-9 (required)
Rich get Richer: Conclusion and appendix (optional)
Grading System:
Criminology: Critical Thinking Questions. Up to 10 points per chapter.
Your answers to the CT Questions from the book are the main way that I evaluate that you have learned from reading the Siegel book. I need to see you use information from the chapter in your responses. CT questions are not ³right or wrong², they are evaluative. So I will grade them based on the way you use information from the chapter to answer. I have posted some good examples on the BB site for you to look at. If you model your answers on those, you will do well.
the following are optional, but will allow you to earn more points. Note that you will need to do some of the optional things listed below to earn more than a C in the course.
Criminology: Thinking like a Criminologist Extra Credit Up to 5 points per essay
These are good essay questions at the end of each chapter. They are not required, but I will give you extra credit for doing them. As with the CT Questions, I will grade them based on the way you use information from the chapter to answer. Essays should be about a page in length.
Rich Get Richer assignments: Required for an A in the course. Up to 10 points per chapter
Answer the questions in the book at the end of each chapter, just like you do in the Criminology text.
Read Marc Mauerıs book called Race to Incarcerate. Up to 20 points for the assignment (read the book and do the book report as given on the BB site)
This book is similar to Rich get Richer, but shorter, and makes a more defined argument that incarceration has failed as a crime control strategy, yet increased the problems for minority and poor youth. You can see the assignment for it on the BB site.
Your course grade
A= or more points. In order to earn an A you must complete the assignments from the Siegel book in all 4 units, and earn a total of 200 points.
B= points. In order to earn a B you must complete units 1,3, and 4, and earn a minimum of 170 points
C= 150-169 points. In order to earn a C you must answer all CT questions from at least 13 of the chapters, and earn a minimum of 150 points
D= 130-149 points. In order to earn a D you must answer all CT questions from at least 10 of the chapters, and earn a minimum of 130 points
F= complete less than 10 chapters and/or earn fewer than 130 points.
**NOTICE: A GRADE OF D DOES NOT TRANSFER TO OTHER SCHOOLS**
Turning in materials.
When you turn in a unit, you must turn in all materials from that unit at once: any and all CTs, the questions about the Rich Get Richer book, essays, or the Race to Incarcerate book. I will not grade one chapter at a time. I only grade ALL THE MATERIAL FROM THE UNIT AT ONCE.
Put ALL MATERIAL FOR THE UNIT on ONE word document and send it by email or to the BB site.
Email: you can always put all work for the entire unit on a document, copy and paste the document into an email message, and send it that way.
Using the blackboard site. You can use the Digital Drop Box function on blackboard to turn in your unit.
Click
on
your Control Panel. Then find Digital Drop Box, and click on that.
Then,
click the Add File button. This will let you attach your document and
send it
to me. Your window will have a title, file, comments, and browse
sections. Put your name and unit number as the title, send any comments
you want, and
make sure you attach your file. Then click the Submit
When you turn in a unit, you must turn in all materials from that unit at once: any and all CTs, the questions about the Rich Get Richer book, essays, or the Race to Incarcerate book. I will not grade one chapter at a time. I only grade ALL THE MATERIAL FROM THE UNIT AT ONCE.
Put ALL MATERIAL FOR THE UNIT on ONE word document and send it to the BB site.
Because you are sending documents electronically, and you might lose one for some reason when you try and send it, ALWAYS MAKE A PRINTED BACK-UP COPY OF EACH ASSIGNMENT to keep for yourself. That way if anything gets lost you can just give me a copy.