6 FULL pages double spaced

Assignment:

Research and report on a public policy or political topic.

Topic Guidelines. Your chosen topic must:

1. Be a national/federal issue. Not a local/state issue. Most topics do play out within the states

and that is fine. But the management or solution of your topic must be the responsibility of the

national branches of government.

• Example of a national issue: abortion rights is predominately a national issue driven by

the U.S. Supreme Court. It does play out in the states and that is ok.

• Example of a local issue: police misconduct is a local issue driven my municipal branches

of government. It does play out at the federal level in terms of calls to the Department

of Justice to intervene but the predominant issue swirls at the local level and therefore

does not fall within the themes of this course.

2. Have sufficient resources/research materials available with which to do your paper. Very new

or very small issues are less likely to have sufficient sources for your use. Additionally, the

resource/research materials must be factually reliable and unbiased.

3. Not be overly broad. For example, immigration covers many different things. Avoid talking

about several subjects within one broad policy field, which will result in only a very superficial

treatment of everything. Instead, focus on one slice and explore it more deeply. For example,

you can write about the DACA issue, which is one specific thing within the broad immigration

debate.

*** IMPORTANT: You must present your chosen topic in an entirely neutral way. This is not a position or

debate assignment. This is a research assignment. Present to me the research you have conducted on

both sides of the topic. Remain neutral. Pretend you have been selected to teach me about the topic.

You may choose to explore your own opinion only after you have completed your paper, using the

concluding paragraph to do so. Papers that do not follow this core requirement will not score well.

Some questions to ask yourself to help develop material for the paper:

• What are the significant milestones in your topic’s history? The idea in this paper is not to throw

in every detail/development. Part of your task is to exercise judgement and select what is

important enough to include and what is not.

• Are there any national laws or Supreme Court decisions around your topic? If yes, these are

significant aspects and it is necessary to give these them proper attention in your paper.

• Does your topic play out at the state level too? If yes, what is going on among the states? Do

these state actions contradict the federal position? Explore.

• Is your topic controversial or debated? If yes, what is the controversy about? What are the

major arguments on each side? Or, what are the politics around the topic? Or, what action or

inaction is happening among government leaders?

• Where does your topic stand today? Or, what is the next step that is due to happen?

• Lastly, as part of your closing comments, what is your own opinion on this topic, know that you

have done our research? It’s ok to not have a clearly developed opinion; use the space to

explore where your thinking is heading.

4. Research your selected topic in an unbiased manner. Give both sides of the story. As a

researcher you hold back your opinion, preferring instead to explore all arguments, all evidence.

Only after you have reported on all your research, in the final paragraph you can and should

explore your own opinion. Again, this should remain in the closing portion of your paper, only

after you have presented your research into all sides of the issue.

Format Rules:

• Minimum 6 full and complete pages. A cover sheet (not part of the 6 pages) should capture your

name and any other items you wish to include. The 6 pages should be full text. Can’t come up

with 6 full pages? The deduction starts at 4 points.

• Absolutely no plagiarism. We discussed this at length in class.

• Follow standard college writing guidelines. For example:

• Double spaced

• Times New Roman

• 12 pt font

• 1 inch margins

• APA, MLA, or Footnote citation style. Choose one and use it consistently and correctly

• Use quotations judiciously; the rule of thumb is to quote when you cannot reasonably

improve on what was written in your source.

Paper topic ideas (These are just a few to help get you thinking. Feel free to choose something else as

long as it meets the guidelines at top)

Abortion rights

Second Amendment and gun control policy

Gay Marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act

Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

Death penalty and the Eighth Amendment

Hate speech and First Amendment

Right to privacy and homeland security/ government surveillance

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

History of the electoral college

Federal criminalization of marijuana vs state legalization