North American Studies is a multidisciplinary program on comparative social institutions. The purpose of the introduction course is to familiarize students with the different approached and methods used to address the issue of social institutions in the fields of political science, economics, history, social policy and sociology. The lecture course is co-taught, with each field providing two lectures outlining their own approaches.

Class meetings: The class will meet once a week. Each class period will consist of lecture and discussion, and students are expected to fully participate in the discussions.

Lecture Diaries: Grading for the course will be based on 10 lecture diaries. Each student must write a lecture diary for each class. Each lecture diary must be typed and at least two pages long (single –spaced).

Each lecture diary must specify the content of the class: what issue was addressed, and how was the issue examined by the field of research.

The final, 10th lecture diary should be 4 pages long and should summarize differences and similarities in how the various academic disciplines covered in North American Studies address issues related to institutions.

The purpose of this assignment is to reinforce the main theoretical ideas of the course and their applications; and to give feedback as to how well you understand the material.

Lecture diaries may be sent to me by email or you may hand them to me in class.

Grades: Grades will be weighted in the following manner: Each lecture diary entry is 10 points, for a total of 100 points.