Students are expected to comply with the standards of academic integrity prescribed by the University of San Diego. Grades will be distributed across these requirements as follows:
- Office Visit (2 points): Students are required to visit the instructor’s office hours twice during the semester to check in, offer feedback, and address any concerns about the course. One visit must occur before the midterm exam, and one must occur after.
- Participation (13 points): Students will be evaluated on the frequency and quality of contributions to in-class discussions. Students will lose 1 point of attendance for each class missed, each time they arrive late (i.e., after roll call) and each time that they leave class early. Students will be granted up to two exceptions. Additional instructional sessions will be arranged to account for any necessary class cancellations, but students will not be penalized for missing make-up sessions. Students will automatically lose .5 participation points for each class that they did not complete the assigned readings for that session.
- Current Event Summary (10 points): Students will write one 300-word summary on recent events related to trans-national crime or terrorist activities occurring during their assigned week. Strong summaries will be well written, will provide in-text links to materials of interest, and will provide at least five references to credible sources. Students will be invited to register as contributors to the course website and will need to sign up for a WordPress account, which will enable them to post their summary directly to the course website.
- Debate (10%): Students will participate in one in-class debate. Students will be divided into four teams, which will debate an issue related to transnational crime or terrorism. Two teams will be scheduled to debate before the midterm, while the other two will have their debate scheduled after. The debate format requires each team to present: 1) opening arguments (5 minutes); 2) supporting claims and evidence (5 minutes); 3) a critique of opposing claims (5 minutes); 4) a rebuttal of opposing claims (5 minutes); and 5) closing arguments (5 minutes). Afterwards, students not participating in the debate will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two arguments presented. The winning team will receive an automatic A for this assignment, while the losing team will receive a B or lower.
- Midterm Exam (30 points): Students will take an in-class written exam with multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short identification questions that test them on their knowledge of the readings and lecture material during the first half of the course.
- Final Exam (35 points): Students will take an in-class written exam with multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short identification questions that test them on their knowledge of the readings and lecture material during the first half of the course. The midterm exam will take place at the time and place designated by the University of San Diego.
- Extra Credit (3): Students may earn up to 3 extra credit points by writing a 250-300 word summary and reflection on special events identified by the instructor. Each summary is worth up to one point toward the student’s final grade. Students may not submit more than 3 extra credit summaries.
TRANS-NATIONAL CRIME AND TERRORISM 