3am Paper Writing Marathon...

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Mine is due Tuesday, so I'll probably be in your shoes Monday night. For now, my mind is still on hockey.
I wish I could write my paper on the playoff race, but somehow that just doesn't seem to work for Political Sociology of the Middle East.

Hahah, do it. I have a friend who wrote a 20 page Political Science paper on Machiavelli in modern politics. He used Star Wars as his model. He failed though.

[rockstar]

I've got one due on Monday morning, and one due Wednesday. I also have a test Wednesday. Needless to say, the second paper won't even be started before Monday afternoon.

And I'm just now starting the first one.

My priorities:
1. Flames vs. Oilers, Flames vs. Avalanche
2. Other NHL games on TV
3. Having drinks with friends while watching priority #1
4. Writing the first paper
5. Watching the Blue Jays
6. Sleep
7. Writing the second paper
8. Preparing for Wednesday's exam

There's just not much room for 6, 7, and 8.

Cerebral, way to go. That must have been a pressure-packed situation, but you pulled through.

[Rathji]

I am so glad I have only had to write one paper. I guess the trade off is 20+ hours of coding for each of 4-5 assignments over the semester.

[enthused]

I am so glad all of my final papers were due earlier in the week, because now I can focus on hockey all weekend (and not study for my exam on Tuesday).

[Lombogirl]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

Final Update: 9:11am, Paper completed and e-mailed in 13 minutes late. Hours of sleep tonight: 0. Hours of fun had tonight: 0. Number of games of 9-ball played: 23.

Congrats on finishing, Cerebral! I feel your pain... my independent inquiry isn't due until Wednesday though. I am in my 2nd year of Education at U of C. I am so sick of inquiring...

[CalgaryPride]

I'm working on a massive UBST 451 group project. Have written 17 pages so far, and it's due thursday.

Taking a break today to watch hockey (hope my group doesn't mind).

[Cal-Gal]

Originally Posted by peter12

Ugh... good luck, man.

I have one more paper to write. It's only a 10 pager, but it's for Flanagan's Bio-Politics class. I still have to read my other book.

Ah, the Monkey Porn class. Biopolitics with Dr. Tom was easily one of my favorites in University....lots of reading though.

I'm curious what texts books you had to read?? When I took the class it was Selfish Gene, Dark Side of Man, Chimpanzee Politics and Guns, Germs, and Steel. Did you have to read a separate book for the term paper?? I find the course material fascinating, so that's why I'm curious.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Cal-Gal

Ah, the Monkey Porn class. Biopolitics with Dr. Tom was easily one of my favorites in University....lots of reading though.

I'm curious what texts books you had to read?? When I took the class it was Selfish Gene, Dark Side of Man, Chimpanzee Politics and Guns, Germs, and Steel. Did you have to read a separate book for the term paper?? I find the course material fascinating, so that's why I'm curious.

It's easily the best political science course in the faculty. I wouldn't consider a UofC poli sci degree a real education if the student hadn't taken this class. Just a great, great course. The Ghigleri book was so amazing, gave me chills. Freaky stuff. Flanagan is by far the best professor in the faculty as well, I got him to be my Honours supervisor for next year. He's incredibly helpful, what a guy.

We read those books, except we replaced the Chimp book with a more recent De Waal book, Our Inner Ape. It has more up-to-date research on conflict resolution.

Yeah, for the paper, we had to read another book and then compare it to the course material. I'm reading Robert Ardrey's, The Territorial Imperative. Basically, the first book that punched a hole in the "nurture" argument by contemporary sociology and anthropology. It's just that his biology is way out of whack. Dawkins gives him a good slap in"The Selfish Gene".

[Cal-Gal]

Originally Posted by peter12

It's easily the best political science course in the faculty...... Flanagan is by far the best professor in the faculty as well, I got him to be my Honours supervisor for next year. He's incredibly helpful, what a guy.

I whole-heartedly agree. I think many students write him off or challenge his teachings because he is part of the "Calgary School" and they miss out on how much wisdom and insight the man has to offer. Lucky you for having him as a graduate advisor!!

I think you're right though, students from not just Political Science, but Biology, Sociology, Anthropolgy and a bevy of other disciplines could learn ALOT from this couse. The Jared Diamond book was probably the best book I read in all four years at U of C.

I did my paper on Colapinto's book "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl". That book and that course changed my entire outlook on issues of 'sex' and 'gender'.

Good luck in the class.

[Phanuthier]

For my 4th year design project (engineering) the lab was packed the night before at 2am... the deadline was at 4pm, and at 2:33pm when I left, people were still madly programming, testing, debugging, soldiering et al.

Whether you finished your project or not determined whether you were going to pass the coarse, or fail and come back next year.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by kootenayguy9

As a High School Social Studies teacher I would be interested in what your thesis is Cerebral. The High School SS Curriculum is starting to change next year and the focus will change in Grade 10 from Canada to Globalization. So how would you make it more relevant to Junior High Kids? Get rid of Russian and Brazilian history?????

Well, I stressed within my paper the importance of using current affairs and inquiry as vehicles with which you can establish relevance. I feel that topics like Brazil and Russia are often taught in essential isolation from the real world and this really tends to lead to student apathy. Why in the world will a student feel enticed to work on something if he/she feels there is absolutely no relevance to it? Heck, I just finished teaching a unit plan on the Russian Revolution and the biggest thing I worked on was trying to stress why learning about the Revolution is important.

I actually did a lot of work with the students on critical thinking and perspectives - I got the students to look at Russia today and to essentially trace it back to 1917 to get a sense for how things have changed/how things have remained the same (continuity and change). This was difficult for many students but some kids managed to actually do some really strong analysis.

The new grade 10 curriculum is golden in terms of establishing relevance, there is just so much that you can do with globalization (it's actually a little overwhelming when you consider just how large in scope the topic area is). I'm planning on teaching Junior High but my background is in Political Science so I am obviously very interested in the new grade 10 curriculum.

The new grade 8 curriculum is really neat as well, Brazil has been completely scrapped and the students will now look at Japan, Renaissance Europe and the Aztecs. Given that my minor was in Latin American military history, I am absolutely stoked to get the chance to talk about the Aztecs. Heck, I'm fairly confident I could teach a full unit on the Aztecs tomorrow just based on much of the work I have already done.

While I'm not sure if Japan and the Aztecs are really any more "relevant" for students than Brazil, there are a lot of exciting things to talk about in each of the units that should keep things interesting.

Originally Posted by LomboGirl

Congrats on finishing, Cerebral! I feel your pain... my independent inquiry isn't due until Wednesday though. I am in my 2nd year of Education at U of C. I am so sick of inquiring...

I'm probably going to snap if I hear the word inquiry again.

It's funny, I had six classes in my last semester of my undergrad and I had a span of a week where I had six papers due. It was certainly a very stressful week but I had no problem getting all six papers done.

Fast forward a year and I struggle to get even one paper down on the computer. This lack of marks business really messes with my mind as my motivational levels drop to the floor at times when it comes to the university work (and it is the complete opposite when it comes to my work effort in regards to my field school).

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by peter12

Flanagan is by far the best professor in the faculty as well, I got him to be my Honours supervisor for next year.

I'm partial to Baron and Dube (although they're both sessional instructers) but Flanagan is great as well. Huebert and Harasymiw are the only two Poli Sci profs I had who I was really not a big fan of.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I guess everybody has their favourite profs...see I detested Flanagan. He came off as a pompous, disinterested prof to me. I'll admit that Flanny being from the "Calgary School" didn't endear him much to me either though. Believe it or not, I actually preferred "Senator" Ted Morton...

I liked Huebert and Harasymiw though. My favourite was Livianna Tossutti but she went to Brock a few years ago. I don't know if anyone else had her as a prof but she could make any course interesting.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

I'm partial to Baron and Dube (although they're both sessional instructers) but Flanagan is great as well. Huebert and Harasymiw are the only two Poli Sci profs I had who I was really not a big fan of.

Flanagan can just come off as a bit of a cold duck. It think it's just shyness as when you talk to him he is very interested and genuine. Dube is great, love the guy, can be a bit fluffy though. Baron was good too, although you can totally tell he is a bleeding red Marxist.

I think Huebert is excellent, although he overrates himself a tad. I've had Lisa Young a few times, she's pretty decent. All in all, it's actually a pretty great Poli Sci department at the UofC. One of the best in Canada apparently.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I never had Lisa Young without Anthony Sayers at the same time... I found her to be an interesting prof to listen to but I questioned her ability to mark papers. She never came off as particularly friendly outside of the class.

I didn't like Doreen Barrie at all.

[peter12]

Speaking of bad professors... Keith Archer is an ***hat. Just terrible.

[Cal-Gal]

Well...I see this thread has gone astray - but for me I would say the Poli Sci Profs I really loved were: Flanagan, Dube, Gavin Cameron....the ones I liked were Sayers and Huebert, I really disliked Doreen Barrie and Lisa Young. The rest I either never took classes from or am indifferent towards. Just my humble opinion of course. I think if at all possible, every Poli Sci student at U of C should take a course from Dr. Cameron. The man is an intellectual giant.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by peter12

Flanagan can just come off as a bit of a cold duck. It think it's just shyness as when you talk to him he is very interested and genuine. Dube is great, love the guy, can be a bit fluffy though. Baron was good too, although you can totally tell he is a bleeding red Marxist.

I think Huebert is excellent, although he overrates himself a tad. I've had Lisa Young a few times, she's pretty decent. All in all, it's actually a pretty great Poli Sci department at the UofC. One of the best in Canada apparently.

Huebert is a good guy but he is extremely arrogant and he definitely overrates himself to the extreme. Dube's definitely a little fluffy but he's a great person and, while not as strong as some of the others academic-wise, I still really enjoyed taking classes from him.

I tend to agree, the Poli Sci department at the UofC is really strong overall. I like the mix of profs in the department - they have their fair share of academic wizards and researchers but they also have a number of very personable individuals who are fantastic teachers.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

I tend to agree, the Poli Sci department at the UofC is really strong overall. I like the mix of profs in the department - they have their fair share of academic wizards and researchers but they also have a number of very personable individuals who are fantastic teachers.

What exactly does a Poli Sci researcher research?

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

What exactly does a Poli Sci researcher research?

There are millions upon millions of topics to consider. I know Huebert's primary area of interest is Northern sovereignty - he has done a lot of research and work focused around Canada's northern interest. Heck, I'm pretty sure he dragged my girlfriend down to some rally on the topic of Ellesmere Island a few years ago.