This capstone course covers four main topics: research methods, ethnicity, conflict, and conflict resolution. Students take this class to fulfill their final writing requirement in the political science major. It is also offered as a capstone class for students in the Middle East Studies/Arabic major.
Course purpose from syllabus:
This course will push students to utilize what they have learned in their undergraduate career to conduct significant research and produce an article of publishable-quality in a good academic journal. The assignments are designed to mentor students through this process; the readings and class discussions are designed to provide the necessary background in the study of ethnicity, conflict, and conflict resolution to help students identify pertinent research questions. Thus, of necessity, this course (like all capstone courses) will require a large amount of reading, for which students will be held accountable. At the end of the course, we will simulate a professional academic conference where students will gain experience presenting their work.
I most recently taught this course during the winter semester of 2023.