You need to read all of what follows. Glad to see that you are enrolled
in POSC 100 this Spring (12:30-1:45 Monday and Wednesday in CBA-140,
section 04, class number 2157). The coursepack, which contains the syllabus as
well as other useful material, is available at my website:
http://web.csulb.edu/~cdennis/ or http://web.csulb.edu/~cdennis/
(click on “Courses”, look for POSC 100 and download ALL of the following files:
100 Coursepack – which contains the syllabus, Newspaper Columns (password
protected – the password was in the email I sent previously and mentioned in
class), PowerPoint Slides and Introductory Email/Textbook Information). This
material is NOT available through Beachboard. I don’t use Beachboard. As the
syllabus indicates, the textbooks you will need are Thomas Patterson’s The
American Democracy (9th or 10th alternate edition – i.e., not the full edition but the
“alternate” edition – don’t buy a later edition - I can’t guarantee all the textbook
questions are answered in later editions) and Lawrence L. Giventer’s, Governing
California, 2nd edition – don’t buy the 3rd electronic version). The reason I don’t
always use the latest edition of a textbook is to save you money. Either buying
older versions of the texts (e.g., the 9th or 10th edition of Patterson – don’t go
earlier than that however), the shrinkwrapped Patterson bundle that the CSULB
bookstore sells (i.e., the 10th ed. of the Patterson text and the 2nd ed. of the
Giventer text wrapped together in one packet on a pallet in the POSC 100
section of the CSULB bookstore - if you have trouble finding the books, there will
be aisle workers to help you or ask for help at the book information counter), or
the electronic version of the bundle that McGraw-Hill sells (also contains both
books – how to buy this is discussed later) are much cheaper than buying new
copies of the latest editions of both textbooks. Anything that’s more current than
the editions that I’m telling you to buy is covered either in class or through the
newspaper columns. So, the best way to save money is to use older than the
current edition of the textbooks. You can find very inexpensive used copies of
the 9th & 10th editions (again, the alternate editions) of Patterson and the 2nd
edition of Giventer online (e.g., Amazon). That’s one reason to send you this
message now (i.e., so you can still obtain a very low cost used version of each
book).
Let me mention that although you can find previous editions (i.e., Patterson
editions 1-8 and Giventer edition 1) to those mentioned above of both books
online, there are significant “costs” in using them. The information changes over
time and the tests are geared to the chapter order and material covered in the
editions of both books mentioned above. Thus, you’ll miss test questions
because the necessary information wasn’t covered in a previous edition.
A further note on the textbooks. The item you're buying in the CSULB Bookstore
is called Intro to American Government because that's the name of the course.
It’s not the actual name of a textbook as originally written (just keep reading).
What you're buying is a custom made compilation of two books (the Patterson,
The American Democracy and Giventer, Governing California) texts that are
discussed in the coursepack which is available at my website:
www.csulb.edu/~cdennis click on "Courses" - i.e., not at Beachboard). Since
some of you will probably have each individual book (i.e., hard or soft cover
copies of both Patterson and Giventer) while others will buy either the custom
compilation in the bookstore or the electronic version (discussed later in this
message). The chapter numbers (but not titles) are different, the syllabus gives
the chapter titles for each reading assignment. So, the way to ensure that you
have the right book(s) is to look at the reading assignments in the coursepack. If
you see chapters entitled, “Political Thinking: Becoming a Responsible Citizen,”
“Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government” and
“Federalism: Forging a Nation,” then you have the Patterson text. If you see
chapters entitled, “California Contrasts,” “The Structure of Government,”
“Elections,” “Lawmaking,” and “It’s Your Money” then you have the Giventer
book. It would be a good idea to print this material and take it to the bookstore
so you’ll know immediately if you have the right material.
I did it this way because each version has somewhat different chapter numbers.
For example, chapter 1 in one version is the "forward" to the book whereas in
another version of the books, chapter 1 is the first substantive chapter in the
book. So, I went with chapter titles rather than chapter numbers. All of this may
sound confusing, but it's preferable to not being able to get the books. The
bookstore does not order enough books for everyone in a course. Thus,
sometimes they run short. For this reason, and to save you money, I went to the
custom publishing and electronic formats. Hope that helps.
As you’ll note in the syllabus, you are welcome to call me at home on the days
class doesn’t meet (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) from
3:00-4:00. My home phone number was in the email I sent and mentioned in
class. For security reasons I don’t put my home phone number in any of the
material that can be download from my website. For financial reasons, I don’t
return calls. So, if you don’t reach me during the aforementioned times, just try
again later during the call period. My office hours are Monday and Wednesday
from 8:00-9:30 and 10:45-11:00 in SPA-241. My email address is:
chris.dennis@csulb.edu
The information for purchasing the electronic version of the textbooks is
immediately below. Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday, January 20th at
12:30 p.m. in CBA-140.
Chris Dennis
YOU CAN BUY AN ELECTRONIC VERSION OF BOTH REQUIRED
TEXTBOOKS FOR POSC 100 DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHER (McGrawHill). PROCEED AS FOLLOWS:
1. go to: www.mcgrawhillcreate.com/shop
2. In the blank space type: Intro American Government
3. Immediately below the line you typed in you should see:
Intro American Government
Chris Dennis
California State Univ System - click on this material
4. (the ISBN Number is: 9781121481329 but don’t panic if the ISBN is
different)
5.
Click “Add to Cart” (right side of the screen)
6.
Click “Checkout” (top, right) and then again on the shopping cart review
page.
7.
Create an account or sign in.
8.
Enter billing information, verify order information, and place order.
9. Your receipt and bookshelf will appear. If you have questions contact:
McGraw-Hill Technical Support: 800-331-5094 (prompts 2, 5, 1) www.mhhe.com/support