draft
Essay
Why This?
For this project, I have decided to look into the major of Political Science. Coming into college I had wanted to major in environmental sciences. Rather than declaring a major, I made the challenging decision to join the GUST program here, to help explore the major before making a serious commitment. Doing the assignment that had us research Majors and Minors clarified my views on this major and helped me fully decide on this major for this specific project. I learned about political science coming into my first week of school from a student in my orientation group. Their passion for the major made me question if this was possibly a good fit for me. Political science in a nutshell is described as the study of government, individuals, and institutional behavior in the public sector; relations among nation-states; and theories of politics. While in this major, students are able to address the fundamental issues confronting modern society-globalization war, inequality, poverty, and the environment, and seek to evaluate the process, policies, and theories that have been devised to deal with them.
Professor
The Political science department at UNE was created 20 years ago by professor Ali Abdullatif Ahmida who I had the pleasure of interviewing for this assignment. The department is located on the Bideford campus, where they made it a priority to recruit professors whose research and teaching interests are across typical or traditional boundaries that divide many political science departments into separate groups studying American Government, international relations, political theory, or competitive politics. During my interview with this professor, he explained that “with this major comes small classes and personal attention, with classes ranging from 8-25 students” As someone who appreciates one on one help from teachers and smaller classes, this stood out to me and had me interested in asking more questions and gaining more knowledge about this major.
Student
Personally I only gained the opportunity to interview one student for this assignment, a first-year named Annie Labonte. I met her through the professor I interviewed and who said she would be a good fit for this project. Unlike mty interview with the professor, I asked questions like what made you interested in this major? How do you feel about the amount of time and work you put into this major? And other similar questions that involved her being a student in the course. I was glad she answered honestly, “This major is not easy, it is challenging and there is a lot of time put into it, but personally I like the challenge and the professors help you along the way”. She also talked about the fact that the classes were small wich allowed her to know some upper classmen when classes were mixed, “Class sizes are small I have around 8-9 people in my classes, it allows me to make more personall conections with the students and teachers, and get to also know upper classmen and see a glimpse of how the majior will play out in the future”.
School Work, And Real World Work
For this major students are to complete a certain set of courses and during their senior year work on a senior thesis on a topic of choice. There is also a required internship that comes along with this major and recommended studying abroad during your time studying this major. There are also a number of minors that tie into political science that can further help you when it comes to going out into jobs and work. The two minors that were recomended by professor Ali were Pre-Law and the Health law and Policy Minor, The pre-law emphasis allows students interested in studying law to receive special advice and to develop an appropriate liberal arts program of study as preparation for admission to law school and success in the legal profession, UNE students who are majoring in any discipline can take advantage of the pre-law program. And although law schools do not require any particular major or coursework for admission, law schools expect students to have acquired skills that enable them to think critically, reason logically, and speak and write effectively. Also, the study and practice of law involve many aspects of social life and integrate many fields of study. Thus, courses in a variety of disciplines- both in the fields of humanities and in the fields such as biology, environmental studies, and psychology- will offer a valuable context for the study of law. As for the Health law and Policy Minor, it is designed to introduce students to the United States healthcare system, it holds an emphasis on the public health sector, with this minor we gain a greater understanding of the law that governs our healthcare system and politics that shape those laws.
Reflection
Overall I have talked to a lot of people about this major and I believe this is what I will end up pursuing in my next semester and throught the rest of college.
Comments:
Overall, this is a great start. There are very few grammatical or punctuation errors throughout the entirety of the text. I like how detailed you’re being in regards to the skills the major focuses on teaching its students. I also think that including a bit of background about the major’s past shows that you’ve been doing fairly extensive research for the project, and that’s definitely important for a major project like this. As far as thing’s I would suggest adding/working on, aside from the other sections of the project that are missing, I would focus on wording. Obviously this is still a first draft, but I would say that as you write the rest of the paper, try to play around with the wording in sentences so that the text flows from beginning to end, rather than chunking up sentence to sentence. The only other thing I would add, which is fairly common advice, is just to read over the paper a few times once you get closer to completing it, maybe even reading some things out loud just to make sure everything fits.
- Jack
Final Draft
Makenzie West
Professor Jessie Miller
Gust FYS
October 27, 2022,
Political Science Major Research Essay
Why This?
For this project, I have decided to look into the major of Political Science. Coming into college I had wanted to major in environmental sciences. Rather than declaring a major, I made the challenging decision to join the GUST program here, to help explore the major before making a serious commitment. Doing the assignment that had us research Majors and Minors clarified my views on this major and helped me fully decide on this major for this specific project. I learned about political science coming into my first week of school from a student in my orientation group. Their passion for the major made me question if this was possibly a good fit for me. Political science in a nutshell is described as the study of government, individuals, and institutional behavior in the public sector; relations among nation-states; and theories of politics. While in this major, students are able to address the fundamental issues confronting modern society-globalization war, inequality, poverty, and the environment, and seek to evaluate the process, policies, and theories that have been devised to deal with them.
Professor
The Political science department at UNE was created 20 years ago by professor Ali Abdullatif Ahmida who I had the pleasure of interviewing for this assignment. The department is located on the Bideford campus, where they made it a priority to recruit professors whose research and teaching interests are across typical or traditional boundaries that divide many political science departments into separate groups studying American Government, international relations, political theory, or competitive politics. During my interview with this professor, he explained that “with this major comes small classes and personal attention, with classes ranging from 8-25 students” As someone who appreciates one on one help from teachers and smaller classes, this stood out to me and had me interested in asking more questions and gaining more knowledge about this major.
Student
Personally, I only gained the opportunity to interview one student for this assignment, a first-year named Annie Labonte. I met her through the professor I interviewed and who said she would be a good fit for this project. Unlike my interview with the professor, I asked questions like what made you interested in this major? How do you feel about the amount of time and work you put into this major? And other similar questions that involved her being a student in the course. I was glad she answered honestly, “This major is not easy, it is challenging and there is a lot of time put into it, but personally, I like the challenge and the professors help you along the way”. She also talked about the fact that the classes were small which allowed her to know some upperclassmen when classes were mixed, “Class sizes are small I have around 8-9 people in my classes, it allows me to make more personal connections with the students and teachers, and get to also know upperclassmen and see a glimpse of how the major will play out in the future”.
School Work And Real World Work
For this major students are to complete a certain set of courses and during their senior year work on a senior thesis on a topic of choice. There is also a required internship that comes along with this major and recommended studying abroad during your time studying this major. There are also a number of minors that tie into political science that can further help you when it comes to going out into jobs and work. The two minors that were recommended by professor Ali were Pre-Law and the Health Law and Policy Minor, The pre-law emphasis allows students interested in studying law to receive special advice and to develop an appropriate liberal arts program of study as preparation for admission to law school and success in the legal profession, UNE students who are majoring in any discipline can take advantage of the pre-law program. And although law schools do not require any particular major or coursework for admission, law schools expect students to have acquired skills that enable them to think critically, reason logically, and speak and write effectively. Also, the study and practice of law involve many aspects of social life and integrate many fields of study. Thus, courses in a variety of disciplines- both in the fields of humanities and in the fields such as biology, environmental studies, and psychology- will offer a valuable context for the study of law. The Health Law and Policy Minor are designed to introduce students to the United States healthcare system, it holds an emphasis on the public health sector, with this minor we gain a greater understanding of the law that governs our healthcare system and the politics that shape those laws. Below I attached an image of the courses required throughout the four years with this major for further clarification, you are to complete your basic required courses, as well as required courses in political science and it is recommended to study abroad during your sophomore or junior year. Senior year is all about creating a thesis and being prepared to use this major efficiently, as they work with a member of the faculty to plan research and write a senior essay of their choice. This essay provides tangible evidence to graduate schools and potential employers that graduates have developed strong skills in critical thinking and writing. This allows students to work closely with faculty and have them be able to write recommendations that speak convincingly to graduate schools and potential employers of the qualities graduates will bring to a career or graduate program.
Reflection
Overall I have talked to a lot of people about this major and I believe this is what I will end up pursuing in my next semester and throughout the rest of college. I believe that the school’s goal of grooming high-quality leadership for the future with academic rigor, excellence, and practical career focus as recognized by external reviews and examiners is a strong major goal to work towards and have the work pay off. I am a huge fan of the fact that students receive individual attention and mentoring, which allows personal growth and a clear vision for future pursuits in many different facets. You also gain the chance to study abroad, have huge profile internships, and one on one mentoring. It is also recorded that this major prepare for the best graduate schools and law schools which is something that I am also looking into. Overall I loved gaining the opportunity to fully gain a sense of this major and clarify my path at UNE. I felt everyone I interviewed was pleasant and inviting towards this major and I plan to go into it in the spring semester.
