undergraduate bulletin - LaGrange College

INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SCIENCE
The Political Science program is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills they
need to become active, useful citizens in modern democratic polities. For students who
concentrate in Political Science or who take only occasional courses, this means that the Political
Science program develops capacity to understand political organizations and political processes,
to analyze the forces affecting political decisions, and to form judgments about obligations and
rights as a citizen. It also means that the Political Science program will provide the skills
necessary to begin a career in business, public service, consulting, or journalism, or to continue
education in graduate studies or law school.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students majoring in Political Science at LaGrange College will acquire basic knowledge of
these areas:
the values, processes, and institutions that affect collective decision-making and contemporary
politics in the United States;
the comparative analysis of the values, processes, and institutions that affect collective
decision-making and contemporary politics in other countries;
the relations between and among states, especially those affecting international conflict and
international cooperation;
the ethical dimensions of public policy issues, political practices, and constitutional and legal
questions.
Students majoring in Political Science at LaGrange College will also acquire the basic skills
necessary to comprehend and perform modern political analysis. These include:
the ability to analyze the foundations of and differences between normative, quantitative, and
qualitative inquiry;
knowledge of the basic elements of research design and methods in quantitative and
qualitative studies of politics;
knowledge of basic data management and analysis and of the use of computers in quantitative
and qualitative studies of politics;
the ability to convey findings in both written and oral presentations.
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Assessment of the objectives of the program in Political Science is based on demonstration of
mastery of the skills the program requires students to acquire. This demonstration is linked to an
assessment by the faculty of student performance in completing a research project for POLS
4430: Senior Seminar in Political Science or in completing a research project associated with
their internship during a full semester term in the Capital Hill Internship Program. Evaluation of
the projects is determined by instruments ranking students according to their proficiency in each
required skill. In special circumstances, these requirements may be waived or altered by
permission of the faculty of the program.
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