Apply: Case Study Analysis
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Students are required to submit one written assignment during the course of the semester. The
required content of the assignment is set forth below. The written essays must be submitted
electronically by the student into the course Safe Assign system. Only Word format is accepted by the
system. THE WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT IS DUE NO LATER THAN THE DATE AND TIME SET FORTH ON
THE COURSE SCHEDULE. ABOLUTELY NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Students are NOT allowed to submit papers they have written for any
other course including written assignments and papers submitted in POLS 2301. If a student is retaking
POLS 2302 for a grade replacement, the student is NOT allowed to submit a paper previously submitted
in any POLS 2302 course or any other course. Submission of a paper previously submitted by you or any
other student in any other course will appear in SafeAssign and be considered by the instructor to be
plagiarized. A paper submitted in this course – written by the student or any other person - that appears
in any other course will result in an assignment score of zero. Your name and work will be submitted into
a permanent file marked “plagiarism” and may be used by the instructor or subsequent instructors for
evidence of one-time or repeated plagiarism and may be used as evidence of academic dishonesty
resulting in expulsion from Lamar University.
• Your essay must include a title page containing your name, POLS 2302, Written Assignment (with
an essay title), semester, and the date of your submission of the assignment through Safe
Assign. (The title page is not included as a numbered page and your essay should meet the page
number requirement exclusive of the cover page.)
• The written assignment MUST be uploaded as ONE document (title page, essay, works cited
should all be in the SAME document). Students may NOT submit the assignment via email inside
or outside the course Blackboard system. Students may not cut and paste essays into the
assignment window - the assignment MUST be uploaded as a WORD document and MUST be in
ONE file. Do NOT upload more than one written assignment document. The system will only allow
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you to select ONE file, so make sure that file is the combined cover page, paper, AND
bibliography. Assignments uploaded in any format other than WORD, such as a PDF, RTF, ZIP,
etc., will automatically receive an overall assignment score of zero. Assignments submitted only
via email will automatically receive a zero as will assignments submitted outside of Safe Assign.
In summary, you MUST submit your paper:
1. As one complete paper (no separate submissions of title pages or bibliographies);
2. In Word format (no zip drives, PDF, RTF or other forms of submission);
3. As an uploaded document from your computer; with the box checked for your
agreement to submit your paper to the Global Reference Database;
4. No later than November 4, 2022, at 11:59 p.m.
You should note that the assignment folder closes precisely at 11:59 p.m. Submissions
submitted at 11:59.1 will be rejected by the system, registered as a late submission, and result in an
assignment score of zero.
The written assignment will be used to access the Critical Thinking and Communication Skills
Learning Outcome core curriculum requirements of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
(THECB). A copy of the assessment rubric designed to satisfy THECB requirements will be provided in
class.
Write a three-to-five page essay containing the following:
5. An introductory paragraph containing a brief description of three subject areas studied this
semester that you found most interesting and/or informative, and a statement about a
contemporary political problem or issue related to the course that will be discussed in greater
detail later in the paper. The three subject areas you discuss MUST be from POLS 2302 and
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cannot be topics studied in POLS 2301 (i.e., parties, the media, interest groups, elections).
Subject areas should focus on topics listed in the syllabus. In POLS 2302, one of your topic areas
should be one of the three branches of government.
6. Identify, discuss and describe a specific contemporary political problem in one of the three
subject areas you identified.
7. Construct and communicate a solution to the problem you identified (above). Make sure to
develop and express your solution in the form of an argument that is supported by well-
documented and properly cited facts and data. A good paper will have at least 3-5 scholarly
sources in addition to the course textbook(s) and course videos.
Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, complete sentences, and CITATION of your
sources is required. Textbook readings with page numbers (or chapter headings and subheadings for
digital textbooks without page numbers) and textbook citation; lectures or video instruction (title and
presenter/author of the video); and outside scholarly research must be included in your assignment.
Wikipedia/Encyclopedia/Dictionary/Spark Notes and other similar sources are NOT allowed
and will result in an assignment score of zero. Failure to submit the assignment by the deadline will
result in a grade of zero for the overall written assignment grade. Citations must be provided in both the
body of your essay and in a “Works Cited” section at the conclusion of your essay. Also note that
references to court cases must be italicized (Brown v. Board of Education) or underlined (Brown v. Board
of Education). If you are using internet citations, you MUST include the FULL URL, title, author (if
available) and access date.
Your written assignment should be typed and double spaced with 12-point font and one-inch
margins top, bottom, and side. Political Science as a field has adopted the APSA Manual of Style;
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however, you are free to use the citation style adopted by your major department or the style used in your
English composition courses (MLA or other style). Regardless of citation style, all sources must be
properly, thoroughly, and consistently cited. Careful attention to grammar, spelling, and the mechanics of
presentation is expected. Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information. Any citation of Wikipedia,
Dictionary.com (or any Dictionary related website), E-Encyclopedia (or any Encyclopedia website), Spark
Notes, Cliff Notes, Reference.com, Shmoop.com, Socialstudieshelp.com, Study.com, Vocabulary.com,
Ask.com , Softschools.com, Scholastic.com, biography.com, study.com, quotationspage.com,
legallanguage.com, totallyhistory.com, history.com, UShistoryscene.com, The Bible, Major Motion
Pictures, or anything similar in a term paper or other assignment in this course will result in an automatic
score of 0 (zero) on the assignment. Scholarly resources would include journal articles, books, and news
organization websites.
Carefully read the Course Management Policies, “Academic Honesty Statement” for additional
guidelines for your written assignments. Any cut and paste, plagiarized, or Wiki cited posts or papers will
result in an automatic grade of zero for the overall assignment and possible expulsion from the course
and Lamar University. NO late papers will be accepted, this includes papers posted a minute or more
late. Students have ONLY one chance to upload papers to Safe Assign and the version that is uploaded is
the version that will be graded.