MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVENMENT MANDATORY WRITING ASSIGNMENT
PROFESSOR JOHN BEN SUTTER, J.D.
FALL 2020
You are to read in your paper each of the hyperlinked articles I have provided you and use material from each of them in your paper to explain the issues to support any arguments and opinions you may have based on them. You do NOT have to do any additional research. Use only these articles for the sources I have provided you. I have provided you with articles on topic that keenly analyze and exam the issues relating to the topic in order to assist you in learning about and intelligently discussing this topic and your thoughts about it.
When using material (direct quotes from an article or paraphrased material– written in your own words–from an article) you MUST show where you got that material otherwise you are guilty of plagiarism and could receive a severe penalty on your grade for such plagiarism (all the way down to ZERO depending how egregious the plagiarism…for example, you copied someone else’s paper).
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You are to use a variation of the APA method to cite and document the use of these sources. Normally, you would show that you are quoting or paraphrasing an article by putting the author’s name and perhaps a portion of the article’s title in parentheses at the end of the sentence. However, for your essay, I have numbered the articles that you are assigned to use in the paper. So, to easily identify the source you used in the sentence you may simply put in parenthesis at the end of the sentence the number of the article you have used rather than the name of the author or title of the article. If you quote or paraphrase from this article again in your paper, you simply use the same number again in parenthesis at the end of that later sentence.
You do not need to use any articles in your paper other than the ones I have provided you.
Do not include a “Works Cited” section at the end of your paper. Everyone in the class is to use the articles I have provided. Since both you, your fellow students and I all have the same numbered list of the articles, there is no need for a “Works Cited” section. If you do decide, despite my directions to the contrary, to include a Works Cited section at the end of the essay, be aware that a Works Cited section will not be included as part of your required minimum word count.
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You are to present in this essay the information in a coherent fashion to detail the topic of the paper. You may include your opinions and thoughts on what you know, where you learned it in general, and why you’ve made the decisions you did about this issue and arrived at the opinions you have about the election. This is a writing assignment in the form of an objective research paper. However, I will also allow you to include your opinions based on your research and your previous examination of these political issues (if you have done so). If you are inclined to include personal opinions, you may do so in addition to the objective examination of the topic based on the material you have been provided. I will not share your opinions nor your paper with anyone (unless to a supervisor in case of any problems.) I do not grade papers on whether the student agrees with my opinion or what you may think my opinions might be. I grade on how well you examine the issues, and how well you meet the requirements for this assignment as set out in your instructions. I am grading your ability to gather and express the issues raised in the articles provide and, if you choose to, how well you express your opinions relative to the issues at hand. You grade depends on how well written, how organized, and how well you have analyzed in your paper the information presented to you.
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Do not worry if you believe you are not a strong writer. Do not worry if you are an ESL student and have, at this time, weak English language skills. Do your best. Get a tutor to help if you need to through the college. Write in your best form and style and language skills. Obviously, I must grade on the writing and organization of the paper, but I am will be as generous as possible in grading as long as you show a demined effort to do well and meet all the requirements as set out in your instructions. I am also interested in reading not only how well you organize your thoughts and express them based on the material I have presented to you in the articles, but also, if you wish, what you think, what you believe, what you have heard from your family and friends, and what your hopes or your fears may be. All of this, I believe, in important in studying and understanding politics and this country.
MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAPER:
- 1,200 to 1,500 WORDS. You can write beyond the minimum number of words if you wish. However, points will be deducted for papers under 1,200 words—five (5) points off for every 25 words under 1,200. The 1,200 word-count is a MIMIMUM. You may certainly exceed that minimum-word count. (I recommend you stay within the 1,200 to 1,500 word range; you can deal with the requirements of the paper adequately in 1,200 to 1,500 words. No penalty, however, if you exceed 1,500 words)
- Write your essay on a word processor, preferably with Microsoft Word, or a word processor similar to it, and then highlight your document, copy it, then paste it onto the dialogue box on the Canvas site for submission of your paper. Look over the document you pasted into the dialogue box before submitted it to make sure nothing has been left out. Do NOT write your paper in the submission site’s dialogue box. If you were to do so and there are a millisecond power problem, whatever you had written would be lost. If you write your paper on a Microsoft Word and most major word processors, it automatically saves your work as you type and you will not lose all or at least the bulk of your work. Also, the word processor gives you a word count which you are required to include at the very end of your paper.
- PROVIDE THE word count at the end of the paper. When you type a document on Microsoft Word, Word automatically counts the number of pages and words at the bottom left of the workspace in the status bar. If you don’t see the word count in the status bar, right- click the status bar and click “Word Count.” You can also go to “Tools” on a classic Word menu, pull down, and click on “Word Count.” On some versions of Word you can click on “Review” and then on “Word Count.” If your word count is below 1,000 then you lose points. And, IF YOU DO NOT TYPE THE WORD COUNT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAPER I WILL PENALIZE YOUR PAPER BY 5 POINTS. (If you do forget to put it on your paper but remember it soon after you post the assignment, put the word count on the “comments” section found to the right of the page. Do NOT mail the word count to me afterwards. I will not accept any prompt addition of the word count unless submitted in the comments section next to your paper submission.)
- Write this paper in your own words. Don’t worry if you’re ESL or if you don’t think you’re a good writer. Do your best work. If you believe you are a terrible writer, have a tutor or a friend to look over your work. Do you best. I want to read how you process information, read your ideas, your experiences, your impressions, all in your own words. I won’t be grading for grammar except for the most egregious errors. I’m grading primarily on content and on your meeting the minimum requirements set out in the instructions.
- DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! Do your own work. You have to write what is in your head, your heart, your mind. YOUR words are better than anyone else’s in telling me about what you know and what your think and believe. Don’t risk flunking this assignment by plagiarizing because you can do really, really well on this assignment without plagiarizing. I have provided you with the articles to use in your writing assignment. I have numbered each of the articles. To document a direct quote or paraphrase in a sentence, simply type in parenthesis at the end of that sentence the number of the document you used to show what source you quoted or paraphrased.
If you do not fully understand what constitutes academic plagiarism I urge you to review the very well organized and succinct examination of this important issue at the following Web site produced by Austin Community College (where I started teaching part-time while working in state government). If you have any doubts about the importance of avoiding plagiarism and what actually constitutes plagiarism, please take a few minutes to review the material on this site: https://researchguides.austincc.edu/c.php?g=434855&p=2965466
- DO YOUR OWN WORK! Do not work on this with another student. If you copy another student’s paper in part or whole, both you AND the student you copied from will be severely penalized. You will likely receive a grade of F…perhaps even a grade of ZERO. Be aware, I check carefully for plagiarism and sharing of work. And I am quite good at finding cheating and had, sadly, to flunk a few students over the years for plagiarizing and copying another’s work. BUT if you do your own work, if you correctly cite and document where you got words or information from a source, if you follow these instructions, then you likely will earn a very good grade, a grade which will be 25% of your final course grade.
- Type the paper on your word processor and the highlight and copy the paper, then paste it into the submission box on the writing assignment module and submit it from there. Double space when writing on your word processor (to aid you in editing and revising your work product) but note that after copying pasting your essay into the dialogue box, Canvas turns a double-spaced paper into a single-spaced paper. Do not worry…the single space is fine. (Besides, there’s nothing we can do to change how Canvas handles this.)
- I DO NOT ACCEPT PAPERS SENT TO ME AS AN ATTACHMENT BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF A VIRUS. I DO NOT ACCEPT PAPERS E-MAILED TO ME. YOU MUST SUBMIT THE PAPER IN THE MANNER PRESCRIBED: PASTED INTO THE DIALOGUE BOX ON THE SUBMISSION SITE.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPER BY POSTING IT IN THE DIALOGUE BOX ON THE CANVAS ASSIGNMENT SITE AND SENDING IT VIA CANVAS IS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020, BEFORE 11:59 P.M.
If you have questions about the assignment or need help, don’t hesitate to write to me.
ONCE AGAIN, BE SURE YOU READ CAREFULLY AND USE IN YOUR PAPER EACH OF THE ARTICLES FOR THIS WRITING ASSIGNMENT AND INCLUDE MATERIAL FROM EACH OF THE ARTICLES IN YOUR PAPER (BE SURE TO CITE TO THE SOURCE WHENEVER YOU QUOTE FROM AN ARTICLE OR PARAPHRASE MATERIAL FROM AN ARTICLE).
