The course consists of a mixture of lectures by instructor and presentations by students. There will be a few written assignments and exploratory assignments. There will be a 75-minute midterm exam to be given in the middle or slightly after the middle of the semester at a class. Every student is also required to finish an individual research project to do an in-depth study of a topic, aiming at producing a publication/submission.
Attendance is mandatory, but use common sense if you are sick or run into any emergency situation.
In case you cannot go to a class, you must send (or ask some one to send) an explanation message to the instructor
no later than 24 hours after the class. For example, if you cannot go to a class on Tuesday, you need to send a
message before 2:00pm the next day (i.e., Wednesday). Note that attending the lectures is often the only chance for you to learn
certain materials as you may not find them in any textbook or other readings.
The assignments are designed to ensure that every student has a deep and precise understanding of the major core topics, thus the students are generally required to complete them independently. Discussion with others is allowed to the extent of helping understand the material. The purpose of student collaboration is to facilitate learning, not to circumvent it. The actual solution must be done by each student alone, and the student should be ready to reproduce their solution upon request. If any substantial discussion happens, every one involved must write down the names of the people that he/she has discussed with and the nature or topic of discussion. In any case, you must exercise academic integrity. Make sure that you have read the University Policy on Academic Integrity, especially the section on plagiarism.
Late submission of an assignment would result in a reduced grade for the assignment, unless
an extension has been granted by the instructor. An assignment is worth full credit at the beginning of
class on the due date (later if an extension has been granted). It is worth at most 90% credit for
the next 24 hours. It is worth at most 50% credit for the following 24 hours.
It is worth 25% credit after that. If you need an
extension, please ask for it (by sending email to the instructor) as soon as the need for it is
known. Extensions that are requested promptly will be granted more liberally. You must
turn in all assignments.
The purpose of the course project is to provide students an opportunity to study a topic in-depth
and obtain experience with research in IR. Each student must finish an individual research project.
Collaborations are allowed, but only the first author will be credited for the course work (i.e., any co-author
must submit another different report with him/her as the first author).
There will be a number of "instructor-designed" project topics
available for you to choose, but you are also very welcome, indeed encouraged, to come up with any
interesting topic on your own.
You will be asked to do a presentation of your course project and submit
a written project report at the end of the semester. More details to be posted later.
Grading will be based on the following weighting scheme: