Research Paper

Political Science 1101 American Government Your Name

Mr. Kevin W. Wright Paper due date

“Paper Title”

Political Science 1101; Introduction to American Government

Presented by

Your Name

Section #_____

for

Mr. Kevin W. Wright

and the American People

This paper provides instructions on your paper requirement which comprises 20% of your total grade and is due, hard copy, no later than the start of class on the due date. NO LATE PAPERS accepted. An excel spread sheet is posted in the folder with this word document which is a rubric outlining the basis of my grading/evaluation of your paper. It complements and adds to this document's guidance with specific details. I am happy to review any of your draft work and provide comment up until the week prior to submission. Papers will be no fewer than 6 and no more than 8 pages in length not including the cover page and bibliography. Your paper is a Critical Thinking Essay (this is a hyperlink to an article that describes an approach to writing a critical thinking essay and what it is).

Your paper is a proposal for an Amendment to the United States Constitution. It may be either a revision to current "law of the land" (which is the U.S. Constitution) or an entirely new proposal. It can replace or revise either existing amendment(s) to the Constitution or the main body of the Constitution. Either way, you must be absolutely clear about what your proposal will do and convince the reader to agree with your proposal. Your explanation of your proposal must be precise in what words will be removed from the Constitution, or its Amendments, and what words will be added AND where. It is not easy to amend the Constitution-for good reason. There is more than one means for a proposed amendment to be ratified. Your proposal and critical thinking must take this into account. Your argument(s) must be supported with documented evidence.

The substance of your paper must address each of the following:

1. What words will be removed from the Constitution, or its Amendments, and what words will be added AND where.

2. Rationale for why you propose the Amendment. What problem do you want to remedy or fix and how does your proposal fix it?

3. Why does it require a Constitutional Amendment and not some lesser means such as legislation?

4. Of the several methods of ratification which one do you suggest is the best approach and why?

5. How does your Amendment transcend ideals of any political party? Why should both Democrats and Republicans support it?

6. How does your amendment support or adhere to the Constitutional ideals of balance of power and separation of powers between the branches of government and between the national/federal and state/local governments?

7. What is your strategy to use the media, political parties, interest groups and(or) state legislatures to win over Americans to fast track your proposal to ratification?

Papers must be appropriately and correctly documented. Papers will include a cover page (an example of which was provided as the first page of this paper). I am most interested in a paper that demonstrates a complete understanding of course objectives while providing sufficient evidence to support your argument. The paper can adhere to any acceptable style essay format. The text is to be double spaced, one sided and each page following the cover page should have a header-an example of which has been provided as part of this paper. Each page after the cover page will be numbered. This paper is an example of acceptable margins to be used. Either Times New Roman 12 point font or Arial 11 point font is acceptable.

Any standard style format of source citations that you may use are acceptable. I suggest that the easiest method is to use end notes. An example citation for a quote is as follows: “The social-psychological approach emphasizes attitudes. By contrast, the rational choice approach postulates that voters chose their actions on the basis of which action gives them greater benefits” (Niemi and Weisberg, 1993, p. 9). See the included example on how this citation is noted in a bibliography. Longer quotes (more than three lines-use them sparingly) can be cited using tabs and single spacing as in the below example:

Erikson and Wright provide the explanation for why this is true in the following:

There are two leading explanations for midterm losses: the withdrawn coattails argument in which it is thought that the midterm elections are a return to the norm or “right” amount of support- a decline from the coattails effect. Historically, the stronger the coattails effect, the stronger the decline so it has plausibility. Second, there is the ideologically balancing argument that says voters provide a hedge against the sitting president by voting in more form the opposing party. If the president’s election is reassured, the coattails effect can be diminished and the argument, used for midterm elections, to elect opposing party congresspersons gains strength. (Erikson and Wright, 1996, p. 72)

The bibliography/citations page should include all the resources that you use as evidence in your paper which you attributed using end notes. I have included below what a bibliography looks like as it would appear in your final paper. Note that it is alphabetical by author and includes books, periodicals and articles from professional journals. Statistics and polling data are likely sources for you to consider. Your final paper should include at least four different sources. Web sites are acceptable resources so long as they are appropriately and accurately acknowledged.

It is useful to learn to spend more time thinking and making notes than it is in writing your college papers. Drafting an outline is a useful and professional tool to organize your thinking. You are not required to submit your outline for a grade, but I am happy to review and comment on it just as I am your draft paper. An outline should be approximately one to two pages in length and can be “bulletized” and should also include a complete thesis statement-the one or two sentence bottom line argument why you your proposed amendment to the US Constitution should be accepted. A thesis statement succinctly captures the theme, tone and supporting arguments of your paper. The main supporting points of the paper, the premises, should be clear from your outline. It is often useful if the bullets of your outline each correspond to what will later become the topic sentence (main idea) of each paragraph of the paper. A paper of eight pages in length would reasonably contain anywhere from eight to fourteen paragraphs. Paragraphs are “min-papers” in that each has a controlling idea (topic sentence which is similar to a conclusion) and a body with sentences that support the controlling idea (similar to premises).

In generic form, your outline and paper would be organized as follows:

I. Introduction which includes the thesis statement or succinct bottom line one or two sentence argument as to why your candidate should be president.

II-IV (or more paragraphs as necessary) Each paragraph being a supporting argument tied to your thesis or bottom line. Through deductive reasoning a reader would think “if the topic or main arguments of paragraphs II-IV are each true, then the writer’s main argument is true and I agree.

V. Conclusion. Without simply repeating what you have written bring the reader back to your main argument. Readers and listeners oftener will only remember what you open with and what you close with-make them count!

A thesis statement is a statement of the argument that you intend to prove. The proposed thesis statement ought to include two elements. One element is a broad premise and the second element is a conclusion. The conclusion will be demonstrated in your final paper to be true on the basis of evidence you provide to support the premise(s). A complete thesis normally can be restated in such a way as to say “because premises a, b, and c are true, therefore conclusion z is true”. The thesis statement is normally found in the first or introductory paragraph of a paper, but in some cases (papers of greater length than yours) it is found in the second.

Bibliography (example)

Aldrich, John H. and Niemi Richard G. “The Sixth American Party System: Electoral Change, 1952-1992” (1995) from Broken Contract, by Stephen Craig, Westview Press.

Aldrich, Sullivan and Borgida. “Foreign Affairs and Issue Voting: Do Presidential Candidates “Waltz before a blind audience”? John H. Aldrich, John L. Sullivan, and Eugene Borgida, American Political Science Review, 1989.

Flanigan, William H. and Zingale, Nancy H. Political Behavior in Midterm Elections, CQ Press, 2003

Fraser Forum, “Understanding the 2006 Congressional Elections” October 2006.

Giroux, Gregory. CQ Weekly, November 13, 2006. “Voter Discontent Fuels Democrats’ Day”

Mackuen, Erikson and Stinson. “Macropartisanship” American Political Sciences Review, 1989, Michael B. Mackuen, Robert S. Erikson, and James. A. Stinson

Mann, Thomas E. “How to Think About the November 2006 Congressional Elections” Issues in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution, No. 5, July 2006.

Markus, Gregory B. “The Impact of Personal and National Economic Conditions on the Presidential Vote: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Analysis”, American Journal of Political Science, 1988, University of Texas Press.

McWilliams, Wilson Caret. “The Meaning of the Election: Ownership and Citizenship in American Life” in The Elections of 2004, Michael Nelson ed., Congressional Quarterly Press, 2005.

Mellow, Nicole. “Voting Behavior: the 2004 Election and the Roots of Republican Success” in The Elections of 2004, Michael Nelson ed., Congressional Quarterly Press, 2005.

Niemi, Richard G. and Weisberg, Herbert F. Controversies in Voting Behavior, 3rd Edition, 1993.

Niemi, Richard G. and Weisberg, Herbert F. Controversies in Voting Behavior, 4th Edition, 2001.

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