Senior Capstone Experience
Department of Political Science
Spring 2015
POLS 5100-01
Professor: M. Casey Kane Love
Telephone: 862-8315
Email: mkane1@tulane.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, 12-3
Office: Norman Mayer 307
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Senior Capstone Experience affords graduating seniors an opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they
acquired in the classroom to the analysis of real world events occurring outside of the classroom. The Capstone Experience is
not a traditional course. There are no set meeting times, no lectures, and no exams. Essentially, the course is an experiential
independent study in which students attend three events relating to the discipline of political science and analyze their
experiences in the context of knowledge gained in political science courses.
COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
This course seeks to encourage students to synthesize theories, approaches, and concepts learned in their political
science coursework. In order to foster experiential learning, students will apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to the
analysis of films, lectures, meetings, and other events with political content.
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND METHODS OF ASSESSMENT:
LEARNING OUTCOME
Students should have a basic knowledge of the methods, approaches, or theories used
in accumulating and interpreting information applicable to the discipline of political
science, including gaining competence in the various subfields of the discipline:
American Government and Public Law, Comparative Politics, International Relations,
and Political Theory.
Demonstrate critical thinking skills or formulate and defend a thesis in written or oral
format, by being able to 1) structure and evaluate normative political arguments or 2)
use evidence to analyze empirical political statements.
METHOD OF
ASSESSMENT
Critical analysis papers
Critical analysis papers
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1.) Attendance at Events:
 Students must attend three events with content relevant to the discipline of political science.
 Distribution of events:
o If you are a general Political Science major without an I/R or American politics concentration, each event
must represent a distinct subfield of the political science discipline--American political processes,
comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. Thus, by semester’s end, you will have
attended events relating to at least three of the four subfields of the discipline.
o International Relations majors may (but are not required to) use TWO I/R or TWO comparative events with
the third event in one of the other three subfields.
 A note about subfields: I will email you a list of events every week and make a suggestion as to which subfield the
event best pertains. This is merely a suggestion. You may relate any event to any subfield as long as you can make
effective connections between the event and course theories from your chosen subfield.
 At least one of your events must take place off campus. Potential off-campus events include: city council meetings,
town hall meetings with city council members, political protests, academic conferences, films at local theaters, events
at other local universities. Events attended while visiting your hometown may also count. Events held at Hillel or the
Tulane Law School do not count as off-campus. Events at Loyola do.
 Events need not be sponsored by the Department of Political Science.
 You may not use events that are associated with or required by courses in which you are concurrently enrolled. For
example, if you are taking Prof. Carville’s class, you may not write on speakers invited to guest lecture in that course.
If a professor requires you to attend an event outside of class, this, too, may not be used for the capstone.


Attendance at events need not be spread out over the course of the semester. That is to say you may attend all
three of your events during the first few weeks of school and submit your papers according to the assigned due dates.
Students will be kept abreast of appropriate events in a weekly email, but students should feel free to seek out their
own events. Please contact me if you have concerns about the appropriateness of a particular event. In addition,
please email me information on particular events that I may not be aware off—especially off campus ones.
2.) Critical analysis papers:
 Students will write a critical analysis paper (about 1.5 pages, single spaced) about each of their events. The format of
your papers should be as follows:
o Indicate at the top of your paper the subfield to which your event relates. You should only indicate ONE
subfield. (Don’t write “comparative/I/R.”)
o The summary portion of your papers (about 1/2 page, single spaced) should provide a brief description of the
basic content of the event.
o The second section (about 1 page single spaced) should consider how this content relates to material learned
in political science courses. Be specific about which course(s) your event pertains to. What material did it
reinforce? Which did it call into question? What theories does the discipline utilize to approach the issue at
hand?
o For a paper to count for a particular subfield, you must relate the event primarily to courses from that same
subfield. For example, if you attend an event in the field of international relations, your discussion must
relate the event primarily to material gleaned in your I/R courses. You may integrate information from
courses taken from abroad. You may not use courses outside of the discipline of political science (e.g. a
microeconomics course that you used to fulfill I/R requirements.)
 The due dates for your papers are as follows: 1st paper: Thursday, Feb, 5; 2nd paper: Thursday, March 12; 3rd paper:
Thursday, April 16.
 Hard copies of your papers should be left in my door box (307 Norman Mayer) by 5pm. They should not be emailed
or uploaded onto blackboard.
STUDENT EVALUATION
 To receive a satisfactory evaluation, papers must do the following:
1.) Demonstrate a clear understanding of the material presented at the event,
2.) Effectively integrate course material into your analysis of the event. Courses should be mentioned by name.
3.) Analyze events relating to three out of the four subfields of the discipline (or two out of the four for students
with I/R and American concentrations),
4.) Be well written and free of grammatical and stylistic errors.
 Papers will be evaluated on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Students whose papers are deemed unsatisfactory
will be asked to revise and resubmit them. You will not receive feedback on your papers unless you receive an
unsatisfactory evaluation.
OTHER INFORMATION
 You are NOT required to participate in the Senior Capstone Experience if you are writing an honors’ thesis. No
additional paperwork/forms are required.
 You are NOT required to participate in this capstone if you are pursuing a double major in another Liberal Arts
discipline and are completing a capstone for your other major. (Students pursuing a B.S. or a B.S.M. in addition to
their B.A. must complete the political science capstone.) If you would like to seek an exemption from the political
science capstone, you must fill out and submit the Political Science Capstone Exemption Form.
 Students who do not fulfill this requirement in a timely manner or who receive an unsatisfactory grade WILL NOT
GRADUATE WITH THE POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR.
 Tulane is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all persons with disabilities. Students who need
accommodations must be registered with the Office of Disability Services and follow their procedures for obtaining
assistance. See: shttp://tulane.edu/studentaffairs/disability/index.cfm
 Please familiarize yourself with the Tulane Honor Code (http://tulane.edu/college/code.cfm). Violations of the honor
code include: cheating on exams, plagiarism (i.e. “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and
thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work”), unauthorized collaboration,
and multiple submissions (submitting the same paper for more than one course). Violations of the honor code will be
reported to the dean.