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Government Department

Completing the Government Computing Proficiency Requirement

Government majors must demonstrate the ability to use computers for (1) word processing, (2) searching electronic library catalogs and information sources, and (3) analyzing quantitative data to address issues of governance and politics. They must satisfy this requirement in Government itself (Note: there is no exemption for taking a Computer Science course or--in the case of double majors--for fulfilling the concentration computing proficiency in another department). Here are the options:

a) Intermediate/Upper-Level Courses:

Government 301, Research Methods
Government 307, Political Polling & Survey Analysis
Government 465, Seminar: Public Opinion & Voting Behavior

b) Department-Approved Exemption:

Alternatively, declared majors may satisfy the requirement by demonstrating computer proficiency in a research paper submitted for credit and a grade in another 300 or 400-level Government course, but only under the following stipulations

• The instructor of the course must agree to do so (Note: Such permission is solely up to the instructor; students may not necessarily expect all faculty to agree to such supervisions).
• The student must clearly demonstrate the following skills (click here) in his/her research paper.
• The student must acquire those skills on his/her own, perhaps through courses in another department, and cannot expect the instructor of the Government course to teach him/her those skills, e.g., how to use SPSS or analyze computer output.
• Both the student and teacher must certify that the student has demonstrated the necessary skills by submitting the following form (click here) and submitting the paper project to the Department.
• The student must already be officially declared as a Government major.