political science related homework

4 and half pages double spaced paper 

Do you think that the mass public has significant influence in today’s democracy in the United States or are politics more dominated by ‘elites’?

In order to properly defend the answer, the student must evaluate all arguments, material, and discussions presented in class and in the assigned reading.  Selectively omitting or ignoring persuasive arguments against your stated opinion, but discussed in class or the reading, will result in a lower grade.  Students should use the evidence and arguments presented in class and the reading to arrive at an opinion they can properly defend rather than picking their initial opinion and reciting only selective evidence that matches it. 

There is no right or wrong answer to this question (even political scientists disagree passionately about the answer).  That said, some opinions may be easier to defend than others.  Even if the arguments in class persuade most of the class of specific position on this question, the best papers are usually the ones that defend the opposite opinion, and defend it well.

All plagiarized material will be reported to the proper authorities in the university.  Copying and pasting anything besides a properly attributed quote is not allowed.  Your words have to be your own.  When in doubt, cite your sources in the format used in political science articles or your text book---i.e.(Hetherington and Larson 2008, 2010; Hershey et al. 2010)---and enter the referenced material in your bibliography, which does not count towards the page limit.  Wikipedia or uncited sources on the internet are NOT legitimate sources for an academic paper.  It is ok to go to the materials properly referenced on those websites and read them firsthand.  See also the statement on academic integrity below.

Exams: