Approximately every three weeks there will be an assignment due at the beginning of the class meeting. Assignments will be distributed at least two weeks before they are due. Each assignment will be designed to help you consider critically the various aspects of Civil Liberties being discussed in class and to enable you to present your findings after doing some independent research on the subject.

All assignments must be submitted in electronic form, via e-mail. All written assignments must be completed in Microsoft Word (available in the student labs) and included as an attachment to the e-mail. If you have to use another application program in the completion of all or part of an assignment, it is your responsibility to ensure that the submitted project is readable by the me on my computer. You may also submit a paper copy of an assignment to ensure that it is readable and/or to include any special materials (e.g., a photocopy of a relevant document that is not readily available electronically).

Each assignment will be graded and awarded points, up to a maximum of 40 points per assignment; the maximum total points for all five assignments is 200. Assignments will lose 5 points for each day they are late. Assignments will be distributed at least two weeks before they are due. One of your assignments will be your small group presentation to the class.

There will be a final project in the course that will be worth a maximum of 100 points. The final project assignment will be distributed at least one month before it is due. The final project will be designed to help you integrate all of the elements covered in the course.

As they are created, this page will contain links to descriptions of the five assignments and the final project for students in the seminar. Be sure to check this page regularly to get access to the descriptions as soon as they are posted, to give yourself the most time to complete each assignment.

The link to Sample Journal Questions is provided for students who are having difficulty getting started with a journal entry for a given week. The questions are intended to provide some inspiration to help you begin the writing process.

There is also a file of helpful hints, derived from common errors made by your peers, that you may find useful in preparing your responses to the assignments.

Please Note: Assignments may be from last year's class. They are provided only to give you an idea of the nature of the class assignments. As each of this year's assignments is made, it will replace the assignment from last year.

Helpful Hints

Welcome letter containing pre-class assignment

Sample Journal Questions

Assignment 1

Assignment 2

Assignment 3

Assignment 4

Assignment 5

Final Assignment