Dr. Valerie Lehr
84 Park St., Rm. 203
229-5677
vlehr@stlawu.edu
Office Hours: Monday, 2-3:30
Thursday, 2:15-3:15
In this course, we will work together to understand the many issues that have
influenced and continue to influence debates about “changing welfare as
we know it” over the past decade. Although students will do considerable
research and writing individually, we will work as a class to define the critical
issues that must be researched so that we may grasp the complexity of this issue
and its importance for American society. In the process, we will reflect regularly
on the processes of conducting social science research, reading critically and
carefully, and developing new ideas, ones that will themselves require further
research. Finally, we will pay careful attention to developing oral and written
communication skills during this course, and explore how these skills are connected
to understanding and developing ideas.
Required Texts:
Cammisa, From Rhetoric to Reform?
Wilson, When Work Disappears
Mink, editor, Whose Welfare?
Handouts on social science, argument, research
Course requirements:
1. Reading Responses – In a notebook, write a response to each assigned
reading. Your response should: 1)identify key points; 2) identify questions
that the essay raised for you; and 3) identify one reading from the bibliography
that strikes you as particularly important and interesting for someone doing
research in this area. Be prepared to read your questions or thoughts to the
rest of the class. I will collect these periodically. Each entry should be 1-2
pages -- 10%
2. Research Proposal – literature review and 2 drafts -- For your final
draft, you must use at least 10 sources (this can include readings that I assigned
to the class) in order to develop a thesis about welfare reform in the United
States. Your paper should include a literature review, a discussion of the importance
of the issue on which you focus, how you propose to go about this research,
and given what you know, what hypotheses you have formed. Your proposal should
be 10-12 typed, double-spaced pages. – 35%
3. Abstracts to be posted on Blackboard. Each should be 3 pages. Each will be
worth 5%, but you may drop your lowest abstract grade. -- 25%
4. Response to another student’s abstract. Read an essay on which someone
else has written an abstract. Write a response to that classmate, discussing:
1) different points that you feel need to be highlighted; 2) places where you
disagree with the author's summary or discussion of the essay; 3) places where
you agree, but think that the author might have stressed the point more. Support
your points by drawing on the text. Submit your essay to your classmate and
to me by e mail. 3 pages. – 5%
5. Response to informal discussion – After you discuss the work that you
are doing informally, write a response to your conversations in which you: 1)
note with whom you spoke and what you talked about; 2) discuss how this conversation
will be helpful for you as you continue your work. – 5%
6. Oral Final – You will be assigned to a group of 4 students. Together,
you will have a 40 minute discussion for the class. This discussion will be
based on the texts that we have read in common, as well as the research that
you have done for your papers. Following the discussion, other students will
be invited to comment on how they feel your conversation went. Within the following
two days, each of you will have a 15 minute meeting with me. I will ask follow-up
questions and talk with you about the conversation and your paper. You will
have a number of opportunities throughout the semester to engage in conversation
and discuss the characteristics of a good conversation, thus helping you to
prepare. You also should meet as a group, ideally with a speech rhetoric mentor,
a couple days before your assigned discussion. I do not want you to script the
discussion, but you should discuss the following prior to your scheduled discussion
day: 1) Your strengths and weaknesses as oral communicators and how, as a group,
you can use the strengths of each person and minimize the impact of the weaknesses,
and 2) a couple of points that you each have some expertise in and that you
want to talk about. Please note: If your conversation sounds scripted, you will
receive a grade no higher than a 2.0. – 15%
7. Attendance – If you miss more than 2 classes, your grade will be lowered
by .25 for each additional absence. If you miss more than 6 classes, you will
automatically receive a 0. You will also receive a 0 if you fail to come to
class on the day of your oral final.
8. Written final -- For this final, I will ask you to reflect on the three oral
final conversations that you observed and discuss how these conversations might
influence the ideas that you developed in your research proposal. In order to
prepare for this final, you need do no more than pay attention in class, take
decent notes (which you may use as you write your final), and reflect on the
ideas. -- 5%
Class Schedule:
8/29 Define Class Rules for Discussion.
9/3 Cammisa, pp. 1-59.
9/5 Mink, pp. 1-55.
9/10 Mink, pp. 56-80; Cerullo and Erlien, "Beyond the 'Normal' Family,"
Reserve.
9/12 Cammisa, pp. 61-123.
9/17 Cammisa, pp. 123-137. Additionally, you should read three newspaper articles
about reauthorization.
9/24 Wilson, pp 3-86.
9/26 Wilson, pp. 87-146.
10/1 Wilson, pp. 149-206.
10/3 Wilson, pp. 207-238. Come to class with three questions that you could
develop into paper topics.
10/8 Nancy M. Pindus. Implementing Welfare Reform in Rural Communities. The
Urban Institute -- See blackboard for link.
10/15 Mink, pp. 83-131.
10/17 Mink, pp. 132-167
10/22 Mink, pp. 171-248.
10/24 Organization Web page – Choose an organization from the list that
I provide and go to their web page. How do they define the issue of welfare
reform? What positions do they take? Come to class with a topic that you will
research during the remainder of the semester.
10/29 Bring a bibliography to class. How do you choose what to read? Abstracts
– What? Why? How? What is a Literature Review?
10/31 No class. Submit two abstracts to the class using Blackboard. During class
time, I will be in the library to meet with anyone who needs assistance. Abstracts
must be posted by the beginning of class. (Course requirement #3)
11/5 No class. Submit two abstracts to the class using Blackboard. During class
time, I will be in the library to meet with anyone who needs assistance. Abstracts
must be posted by the beginning of class. (Course requirement #3).
11/7 Submit two abstracts to the class using Blackboard. Abstracts must be posted
by the beginning of class. (Course requirement #3). In class: What is a good
conversation?
11/12 Informal conversation with other students. Come to class having read at
least 15 abstracts that others have submitted. Consider which ones might be
helpful for your paper and write out some questions for the authors. Find them
and talk with them, but don’t be constrained by your questions. (Course
requirement #5).
11/14 Read an essay that someone else has read and abstracted. Based on your
reading of the essay, write to them about their abstract. (See Course Requirement
#4). In class: What is a research proposal?
11/19 Literature Review on your topic is due. Do not assume that you can stop
reading new essays just because I’m not asking you to abstract them and
submit them. Remember, you need at least ten sources. Discussion of your hypotheses.
11/21 Bring a draft of the introduction of your proposal to class.
12/3 Make an appointment to see me and get your literature review back.. Also,
work on your proposal assuming that literature review revisions will be done
for your final draft.
12/5 Proposal draft is due. Post this on blackboard so that those in your oral
final group can read it. In class: Partner with someone in your group and write
a peer response to that person. Send the response to that person and to me.
Schedule your group meeting. Last chance for us to discuss, as a group, what
we mean by “group conversation.” Remember: do not use the model
of people shouting at one another.
12/10 Conversation Group #1.
12/12 Conversation Group #2.
12/17 Conversation Group #3.
12/19 Conversation Group #4.
The final draft of your literature review is due at your final on Monday, 12/16
at 1:30. Please submit the following: literature review, draft #1, final draft.
Failure to submit the literature review or first draft will result in a 10%
reduction in your grade. Failure to submit a final draft (that is, one that
has been revised from the first draft) will result in automatic failure in the
class.