Nov 24, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

POLS 200 - Scope and Practice of Political Science

4.00 credit hours
What does it mean to think, research, and write like a political scientist? Using rigorous methods and theoretical approaches, political science examines curiosities about the institutions, practices, and relations that shape the political world. This course introduces students to the scientific study of politics, covering the basics of research design and practice including the ways in which data and theory intersect, and how political scientists conceptualize, measure, and test relationships of interest in the discipline. For example, why are some social movements more effective than others? What explains the rise in partisan polarization over time? What are the causes of war? By the end of the term, students approach questions like these using the scientific method.

Prerequisite(s): POLS 101  or POLS 102 .
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Social Sciences, Writing Intensive.


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