Weekly News Entries

This is a course that deals with Europe today, and I would like you to be informed about what is happening in Europe at present. It is expected that you will regularly read a European newspaper or weekly published text (such as The Economist, the Guardian, Financial Times or, depending on your language skills, a foreign language newspaper such as Sueddeutsche Zeitung, El Pais or Le Monde). A local or regional published news source from a European country of your choice is also acceptable. Choose a political, economic, social, or cultural topic in that weeks' paper and discuss how it informs your understanding of Europe, and how it reflects on the challenges that Europe faces. However local or small an issue you choose, we need to see you connecting it to the larger picture of Europe. Apply knowledge you acquire during the lectures and cite directly from the article you chose for that week. Reading a European newspaper will help you understand the "situatedness" of knowledge and give some perspective on how a specific European country assesses European matters. You might be able to identify national and cultural terms of engagement with Europe as well as outspoken – or hidden – national agendas in reporting.

Limit yourself to discussing ONE topic, even though you may use more than one article on that topic from that week. Your Weekly News Entry is due in your Peer Facilitator sections. Entries should be about 300 words long, typed, with 1.5 spacing, size 12 font, 1 inch margins, your name and section in the header, and with a copy of the article attached. Your first Entry is due in your Peer Facilitator section in Week 2. You will complete a total of 8 Entries. The Weekly News Entries comprise 20% of your grade. The 8 Entries will be graded individually each week by your Peer Facilitator and the average of the 8 Entries taken to form your final Weekly News Entries score at the end of the quarter.

Each Weekly News Entry will receive a grade of: 4.0, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0 or 0.

4.0 is for an Entry that:
a. tackles an interesting and evocative theme of the week
b. reports on the article accurately, including formalities (day of publishing, source, author)
c. uses quotes from source
d. analyzes the implications of an article with reference to our course themes
e. reflects on specific national/EU angles in the reporting
f. meets the length requirement
g. is stylistically concise

3.5 is for a good Entry that:
meets 5 to 6 of these requirements

3.0 is for an acceptable Entry that:
Meets 3 to 4 requirements

2.0 is for a not sufficient Entry that:
meets 2 requirements
0.0 is for not submitting an entry