Week 1 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Political Science Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 1 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 67–84 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (18–20 min total)

① What political science studies

Chapter 1, Section “Define politics: study the question, not the opinion” · Session 1, Segment 1, “Politics and political science” · Remember: political science starts from a question and checks its answers against evidence anyone can apply.

What is Political Science? — Study Hall — a lively tour of what people who study politics actually work on, from public policy to international affairs; as you watch, note which of the chapter's five subfields each topic belongs to. Use it while working through the Week-1 module overview. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
What is Political Science? — PHILO-notes — a two-and-a-half-minute whiteboard explainer on the meaning of the term; compare its wording with the chapter's definition and decide which parts are about politics and which are about studying it. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)
For Students: Political Science Opportunities — American Political Science Association — the discipline's professional association describes in a few short paragraphs what the field studies and lists its subfields; notice that its list differs from the chapter's five, a reminder that the count is a convention. Skip the opportunity listings below the introduction. (reading, 3–5 min)

② Taking an argument apart

Chapter 1, Section “Use the toolkit: four moves for any political question” · Session 1, Segment 4, “The toolkit” · Remember: an argument is a conclusion plus the premises offered for it, and every argument rests on assumptions worth naming.

How to Argue - Philosophical Reasoning: Crash Course Philosophy #2 — CrashCourse — a fast introduction to premises, conclusions, and how a deductive argument works and fails; pause after each example and say which line is the conclusion. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
What Is an Argument? Premises and Conclusions Explained — Let's Get Logical — a three-minute explainer on premises, conclusions, and the indicator words that often signal them; try its standard form on the chapter's library-fee speech. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)
Argument — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — a reference article on what an argument is; read only the first section, on the structural approach to arguments, and skip the rest unless you want more depth. (reading, 8–12 min)

③ Is it a fact or a value?

Chapter 1, Section “Sort claims: empirical versus normative” · Session 2, Segment 5, “Empirical versus normative” · Remember: an empirical claim can be checked against evidence and found false; a normative claim must be argued from values.

Fact or Opinion — CTRL-F: Digital Media Literacy — a short media-literacy lesson on telling a checkable statement from a statement of belief; map its two labels onto the chapter's empirical and normative claims. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
Distinguishing Between Factual and Opinion Statements in the News — Pew Research Center — a survey report that tested whether adults could sort news statements into factual and opinion; read its definitions first, and notice that it counts a statement as factual when evidence could prove or disprove it, accurate or not, which is the chapter's point that empirical means checkable. Its sample statements touch live political topics and name one former president; treat them as test items, not as positions this course takes. (reading, 8–12 min)

④ Reading the Declaration as an argument

Chapter 1, Section “Run the four moves on a founding text” · Session 2, Segment 6, “The four moves on a founding text” · Remember: analyze the paragraph as an argument, quote it exactly, and notice that it never names who judges.

The Declaration of Independence, EXPLAINED — Heimler's History — a four-minute walkthrough of the document's ideas and setting; check every phrase it quotes against the National Archives transcript, and listen for whether it keeps the trio as Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)
The Declaration of Independence: A History — U.S. National Archives — the archive's own account of how the Declaration was drafted, edited, and adopted; read the first few screens for the sourcing step of the four moves, who wrote it, for whom, and why. Stop at the drafting story; next week, Power, Authority, Legitimacy & the State, takes up legitimacy and the consent standard in full. (reading, 10–15 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription — U.S. National Archives — the transcript every quotation in this week's materials comes from; read the second paragraph and find the consent of the governed, and skip the long list of grievances that follows. (reading, 3–5 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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