First-Year Seminar (FYS-160)
The Roots of Rage: Understanding Anger, Hate and Violence
Course Syllabus (Spring, 2008)
Course Description: An exploration of why we get angry, why we hate
others, and the many ways in which we express our anger. Students will investigate and analyze the
root causes of anger in various domains including domestic abuse, road rage,
school shootings, hate crimes, activism, terrorism and genocide. Within each of these domains, students will
critically evaluate potential root causes for anger and the ways in which
society responds to anger.
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Instructor: |
Mark J. Sciutto, Ph.D. |
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Class Meetings: |
T- R 9:30 - 10:45 p.m., Moyer 201 |
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Office Hours |
TR 2:00 – 3:00, WF 10:00 –
11:00, or by appointment. |
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Writing
Assistant |
Laura Tumulty (x4620) email: LT235219@gws3.muhlenberg.edu |
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Course News,
Documents etc. |
Blackboard.com (http://blackboard2.muhlenberg.edu/). This link is also available from the MuhlNet Start Page. |
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Required Texts: |
Baumeister, R. F. (1999). Evil:
Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. Rosenwasser, D., & Stephen, J. (2008). Writing Analytically (5th ed.).
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Additional |
Supplemental readings will be placed on reserve via Blackboard.
Because of the dynamic nature of a seminar course, the list of additional
readings may change as we progress.
Please check Blackboard regularly to keep up-to-date on the course
readings. Beck, A.T. (1999). Prisoners of Hate (pp. 40 – 70) Lourde, Audre. Power. In Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Munro, The Dalai Lama & Cutler, H.C. (1998) excerpts from The Art
of Happiness. Weiss, E. (2000). Surviving Domestic
Violence. Agreka Publishers. (Selected Case Studies) |
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Course Goals:
The goals for this course can be
conceptualized as a hierarchy with lower levels providing the foundation for
higher levels. The most fundamental aim of this course is to help students
develop solid analysis skills. These skills provide the foundation for
higher-order goals (i.e., content-specific skills and content, transfer).
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To encourage students to integrate the course content and skills below
into their other courses and into their daily experience |
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To improve student writing in both process and product |
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To improve ability to recognize and combat the “habits of mind” ·
To increase understanding of the importance of perspective-taking |
Course
Components and Grading Policy
The final course grade will be determined as
follows:
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Brief Writing Assignments |
35% |
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Brief Analysis Papers |
25% |
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Final Paper |
20% |
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Case Presentations |
10% |
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In-Class Contributions |
10% |
Individual assignment and paper grades will typically
be assigned according to the following numerical equivalents:
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93 – 100 |
A |
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77 – 79 |
C+ |
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90 – 92 |
A- |
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73 – 76 |
C |
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87 – 89 |
B+ |
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70 – 72 |
C- |
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83 - 86 |
B |
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65 – 69 |
D |
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80 – 82 |
B- |
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Below 65 |
F |
Brief Writing Assignments (35%) – Over the course of the semester, there will be a
series (approximately one per week) of relatively brief writing assignments.
Many of these will be assigned and completed during class, but others will
involve some writing/reading outside of class. The goals of these assignments
are to (a) reinforce concepts from assigned readings and class discussions,
and/or (b) develop specific analysis and writing skills. Typically, these assignments will be assigned
in class and due one week later. In some
cases, these assignments will involve some basic preparation before class. Be sure to stay up-to-date by regularly
checking Blackboard and your e-mail.
Analysis Papers (25%) – In addition to the brief writing assignments
described above, there will be several brief assignments (2-3 pages) that
emphasize analysis. For these papers,
you will expand upon an idea or ideas generated via in-class exercises and
assignments. The primary goal of these papers is to foster analytical
writing. More specific details
pertaining to these papers will be distributed and discussed near the beginning
of the semester.
Final Paper (20%) – This
paper represents the culmination of your work in this course. The goal of this paper is to develop
analytical and writing skills through the completion of a focused research
paper. More specifically, analytical skills are reflected in your choice and evaluation
of resources, in the merits of your ideas and your thesis, in the support for
your arguments, and in the quality of your writing. Preliminary drafts will be due for these
papers throughout the semester and the final revision is due during the final
exam period. More specific details
pertaining to these papers will be distributed and discussed near the beginning
of the semester.
Case
Presentations (10%) – In the beginning of this course, we will
focus on content and skills that provide a foundation for understanding anger,
hate, and violence. In the latter part
of the course, we will focus more of our time on applying this understanding to
specific events or cases. Specifically, we will focus on school violence,
domestic violence, hate crimes, and mass hate. Groups of students will be
assigned to research information on a specific case or event (e.g., Virginia
Tech shooting, Murder of James Byrd). Each group of students will present the
case to the class and share materials electronically via Blackboard. The material provided by these groups and the
class discussions of these cases will provide raw material for some of the
analysis papers described above. More specific details pertaining to these
presentations will be distributed and discussed near the beginning of the
semester.
In-Class Contributions (10%) –
Active engagement in the material and class discussion always facilitates
learning and growth. Accordingly,
students who come to class and engage themselves in the material will learn the
most and subsequently submit higher quality work. For this reason, I normally
do not formally include class participation in my grading policy. In my opinion, grading on participation is
largely redundant with the grades on other assignments. However, because this
course uses a seminar format, class participation takes on a greater
significance. So, for this course, 10 percent of your grade will be based on
your contributions during the class meetings.
Because this class involves many in-class
writing assignments and extensive class discussion, your attendance is required
to benefit from this class. However, attendance
alone is not sufficient for a passing grade on this portion of your grade. Your grade for this portion of the course
will increase to the extent that you are prepared for class (e.g., read the
assigned material before class) and contribute to class discussions.
Contributing to class discussions is not limited to actively speaking in
class—proposing interesting topics or news stories for discussion is also an
example of a valuable way of contributing.
Late Assignments:
Late assignments will be penalized 5% per day late (including weekend days).
Writing Assistant: Laura Tumulty will serve as the writing
assistant for this course. Near the beginning of the semester, Laura will
distribute details about opportunities to meet with her and about her
availability during the semester. You must meet with Laura at least 3
times during the semester. Failure to meet with the writing assistant 3
times will result in a deduction of 3% from your final grade (1% per meeting).
Academic Integrity:
You are expected to conduct yourself in accordance with the Academic
Behavior Code of Muhlenberg College
(www.muhlenberg.edu/mgt/deans/abc_statement.html). Honesty is an essential aspect of academic
integrity. Individual students are responsible for doing their own work and for
not taking credit for the effort and ideas of others. This includes plagiarism,
cheating and not contributing to group projects. This obligation is based on
mutual trust and is essential to meeting the goals of this course. Academic dishonesty of any type on exams,
quizzes or other graded work will not be tolerated. Violations of the Academic Behavior Code will
be reported to the Dean’s office.
Some important points about academic integrity:
1.
You are responsible for keeping drafts, references/sources, disk
copies, and backup copies of all of your written assignments, to turn in upon
my request until final grades are completed.
2.
You should begin your work early.
An unforeseen event arising the night before a paper is due is not
a legitimate reason for a paper extension.
When submitting assignments electronically, you should request
confirmation that your assignment has been received or you should save some
form of confirmation that your e-mail was sent (each e-mail program differs
in how to do this).
3.
You are responsible for taking precautions that your work
(especially written work that paraphrases another written source). If I
determine that you have copied all or part of an assignment or paper from
another source (including another student, a web page, a textbook, or other
published source), you will receive a failing grade in this course. If your written work includes material that
is paraphrased unacceptably from the original source, I will ask you to
re-submit the written work and I will lower the assignment grade by 10%.
4.
On all work submitted for a grade, you must write and sign
the following pledge: “I pledge that I have complied with the Academic Behavior
Code in this work.” In the case of
electronic submissions, you should include this statement along with your
initials.
Students
with Disabilities. Students with disabilities requesting classroom or
course accommodations must complete a multi-faceted application/approval
process through the Office of Disability Services prior to the development and
implementation of an Accommodation Plan. Each Plan is individually and
collaboratively developed with the directors or other staff of the following
Departments, as appropriate:
Important Note about Information Technology:
In this course, you will be required to make extensive use of
information technology. You will be using a software program called Blackboard
© to exchange documents electronically, communicate outside of class, and stay
updated on class events. Students who
are less comfortable with information technology should meet with me so that I
can help orient you to the various tools we will be using.
Tentative Course Outline
This is a seminar-based course. We will focus heavily on exploration and discussion of ideas. The nature of this course requires that we be flexible in our planning. The outline below is only a tentative outline of our course activities.
Got to: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/psychology/msciutto/FYS_Anger/FYS160_S2008_sched.htm for a revised schedule