Learning Objectives

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Upon completion of the POLS program, students should:
1. Have developed critical thinking skills necessary for the evaluation of social scientific concepts, including the ability to distinguish between, and use, techniques of deductive and inductive reasoning.
2. Have developed persuasive analytical thinking and writing skills (e.g., the ability to articulate, support, and defend an argument).
3. Understand the research process in the social sciences (e.g., differences between normative and empirical perspectives; the differences between probabilistic and deterministic reasoning; and the differences between the major analytical approaches used in applied research).
4. Have a comprehensive understanding of the concept of power and how it is manifested in various ways in political interactions, including through the processes of democracy itself.
5. Acquire the requisite skills for sophisticated information competency and civic literacy.
6. Comprehend the obligations and expectations of citizenship at all levels.
7. Understand the dynamics between citizens and political institutions for shaping political outcomes.
8. Comprehend the multiple motivations and constraints underlying political behavior.
9. Be able to identify the multi-causal nature that characterizes the political world.
10. Be able to present a reasoned argument in support of a policy position of relevance to Social and Political Science topics.
11. Have designed, implemented, written up, and presented to their capstone seminar an original research project.