government writing assignment

25 Essay Topics for American Government Classes

Writing Ideas That Will Make Students Think

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If you are a teacher searching for essay topics to assign to your U.S. government or civics class or looking for ideas, do not fret. It is easy to integrate debates and discussions into the classroom environment. These topic suggestions provide a wealth of ideas for written assignments such as  position papers , compare-and-contrast essays , and  argumentative essays . Scan the following 25 question topics and ideas to find just the right one. You'll soon be reading interesting papers from your students after they grapple with these challenging and important issues.

• Compare and contrast what is a direct democracy versus representative democracy. 
• React to the following statement: Democratic decision-making should be extended to all areas of life including schools, the workplace, and the government. 
• Compare and contrast the Virginia and New Jersey plans. Explain how these led to the Great Compromise .
• Pick one thing about the U.S. Constitution including its amendments that you think should be changed. What modifications would you make? Explain your reasons for making this change.
• What did Thomas Jefferson mean when he said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants?" Do you think that this statement still applies to today's world? 
• Compare and contrast mandates and conditions of aid regarding the federal government's relationship with states. For example, how has the Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered support to states and commonwealths that have experienced natural disasters?
• Should individual states have more or less power compared to the federal government when implementing laws dealing with topics such as the legalization of marijuana  and abortion ? 
• Outline a program that would get more people to vote in presidential elections or local elections.
• What are the dangers of gerrymandering when it comes to voting and presidential elections?
• Compare and contrast the major political parties in the United States. What policies are they preparing for upcoming elections?
• Why would voters choose to vote for a third party, even though they know that their candidate has virtually no chance of winning? 
• Describe the major sources of money that are donated to political campaigns. Check out the Federal Election Regulatory Commission's website for information.
• Should corporations be treated as individuals regarding being allowed to donate to political campaigns?  Look at the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling on the issue. Defend your answer. 
• Explain the role of social media in connecting interest groups that have grown stronger as the major political parties have grown weaker. 
• Explain why the media has been called the fourth branch of government. Include your opinion on whether this is an accurate portrayal.
• Compare and contrast the campaigns of U.S. Senate and House of Representatives candidates.
• Should term limits be instituted for members of Congress? Explain your answer.
• Should members of Congress vote their conscience or follow the will of the people who elected them into office? Explain your answer.
• Explain how executive orders have been used by presidents throughout the history of the U.S. What is the number of executive orders issued by the current president?
• In your opinion, which of the three branches of the federal government has the most power? Defend your answer.
• Which of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment do you consider the most important? Explain your answer. 
• Should a school be required to get a warrant before searching a student's property? Defend your answer. 
• Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail? What kind of campaign could be run to see it passed?
• Explain how the 14th Amendment has affected civil liberties in the United States from the time of its passage at the end of the Civil War.
• Do you think that the federal government has enough, too much or just the right amount of power? Defend your answer.
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Writing in Government

How do i write a gov paper .

Expos teaches you about the fundamentals of writing an analytical argument. As you write papers in Gov, you are adapting the elements of argument to a particular audience: readers in the social sciences. These readers have specific expectations about how to present arguments and supporting evidence. Writing successfully in Gov requires you to identify those expectations in assignment prompts and then  respond to them by making well-supported and clearly reasoned arguments.

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"Everybody's work has to stand or fall on the basis of the arguments presented and the evidence." - Prof. Eric Nelson

Do the Exercise

In these exercises, you have two goals: to identify the common elements of essay prompts, and to learn strategies for developing arguments that respond effectively to the expectations presented by a given prompt. 

Decoding Prompts

Developing a thesis.

What to Do:

• Prepare  by reading about the elements of paper prompts in the "Tips" tool to the right.
• Read  the three sample prompts below and select one to work with.
• Answer  the questions in the text boxes below the sample prompts.
• Write  a 1-sentence version in your own words of the prompt you have selected. You can do this in the first “Re-write” box below the questions.
• Try re-writing  the other two prompts in a single sentence. 

Please note that these forms are not monitored; no feedback will be sent at this time.

Sample Prompts

1. The traditional definition of democracy is captured by Schumpeter’s statement that democracy is the “institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote.” Is Schumpeter’s “free competition for the free vote” a sufficient conceptual and normative definition of “democracy”? What else, if anything, would you add to this definition?

2. The majority of Gov 97 has focused on state actors, but the Internet is a whole new non-state world that currently has little to no formal governance. Should the Internet be governed democratically? What does it mean to have democratic governance of the Internet? (Will there be elected bodies? Will the Internet be governed by democratic principles?) If you were on a committee to develop Internet governance, what democratic processes (if any) would you recommend? Why?

3. How do new technologies affect democratic politics? We have read a number of accounts of traditional forms of democratic participation and democratic institutions – choose one topic or outcome (e.g. elections, campaign finance, regime change, economic institutions, the welfare state, democratic peace etc.) that we have read about, and think about how new technologies challenge or add to traditional theories about that outcome.

( Taken from Gov 97, Spring 2015)

Understanding Prompts

Design and purpose.

Instructors have two main goals with most prompts: First, they want to test how well you’ve understood assigned material for the course and gauge your progress over the term. Second, they want to encourage you to think about certain questions in a way that may not be directly covered in the course materials themselves. In this way, prompts facilitates guided learning through writing.

In most cases, the instructor will have both of these goals in mind. Depending on the assignment, though, one goal may carry greater emphasis than the other. 

Central Question

This is the main question that the instructor wants you to answer. It may be a yes/no question, where you need to agree or disagree with a given statement. Or it may be an open-ended question, where you need to develop your own line of argument. Either way, the central question is the core of the paper, i.e., the question your instructor is asking in order to test your knowledge about material from the course or to encourage you to develop a reasoned opinion based on that material. Your thesis statement should respond directly to this central question.

Example of a central question:

What do you think is Aristotle’s strongest justification for participatory citizenship?

Example of a multi-part central question:

What do you think is Aristotle’s strongest justification for participatory citizenship? Does it translate from ancient democracy to the present; does it apply today?

Supporting Questions

In addition to the central question, prompts typically include additional points to consider as you write your paper, and these points often come in the form of secondary or supporting questions. Supporting questions are meant to prompt your thinking and can help remind you of important debates that may exist within the topic you are writing about.  

That being said, prompts made up of more than one question can be harder to decode. For one thing, the first question in the prompt is not always the central question, and it might be possible to interpret more than one of the questions as the central question. This ambiguity might be intentional (to allow students to write a range of essays), or it might be unintentional. For these reasons, it is always helpful to try putting the prompt in your own words. What is the central question being asked? And what is the central question your paper is answering with its thesis? What are the supporting questions being asked? And how will your paper answer those questions in relation to your thesis?

In the following example prompt, notice how the first set of questions (greyed out and in italics) form a multi-part central question about an idea of Aristotle and its relevance to the present day. The subsequent supporting questions provide a number of possible directions in which to elaborate on this question, but none of these supporting questions should be the main focus of an argument responding to this particular prompt.  

Example:        

What do you think is Aristotle’s strongest justification for participatory citizenship? Does it translate from ancient democracy to the present; does it apply today? How do modern democracies define citizenship? Do modern democratic institutions (representation, voting and elections, political parties) and/or the organized groups of civil society (voluntary associations, demonstrations, social movements) provide arenas for political participation? If so, how and why is participation valued? If not, why not, and how is the division of political labor justified?

Additional Cues

Prompts often provide cues about what should or shouldn't be the focus of a writing assignment. For instance, there may be debates or themes that have been raised in the course, but which are not meant to be the particular focus of the paper at hand. In the following excerpt from a prompt, you can see that Aristotle's definition of "citizen" is crucial, but the goal of the essay is to  use  the definition to make a further point, rather than getting bogged down in the definition itself. 

Example from a Gov prompt:

In the Politics , Aristotle defined a citizen as someone who takes turns in ruling and being ruled, identified who was eligible (and ineligible) for citizenship, gave an account of citizens’ judgment, and set out reasons for popular political participation.

Restrictions

Prompts often include additional requirements that either guide or limit a writing assignment. These restrictions are usually straightforward requirements for the essay's form (how long it should be) or for its content (what question(s) it should answer and which sources or cases it should use). 

• You must analyze Aristotle’s text
• You may pick just one or two government institutions or civil society groups to 
illustrate your answer.
• You must refer to at least two authors (in addition to Aristotle) in composing your 
response. 
• Prepare by reading about the elements of thesis statements in the "Tips" tool to the right.
• Read the sample prompt below.
• Answer the questions in the text boxes below the sample prompts.  

Sample Prompt & Theses

Making reference to the cases of Rwanda and Yugoslavia, construct an argument that addresses the following questions: When you consider the various theories you've encountered about the emergence of ethnic politics in your readings as well as in lecture, how well (or how poorly) do specific elements of these two cases fit those theories? What is the strongest explanation overall for why ethnic violence broke out in these two cases and eventually assumed the proportions it did? Does the same answer apply to both cases, or do different answers best explain Rwanda and Yugoslavia separately?

• The Rwandan and Yugoslav genocides were similar in some ways. In other ways, though, they were different. 
• Ethnic politics leads to the emergence of ethnic violence.
• I argue that ethnic politics is important for understanding violence in Rwanda and Yugoslavia and for explaining the genocides there.
• Rwanda and Yugoslavia both experienced similar levels of ethnic politics and ethnic violence during the 1990s and followed similar paths to genocide.
• Ethnic politics does not always lead to ethnic violence, but in cases where the state collapses like it did in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, the path from ethnic politics to genocide will be similar.

Taken from Gov 20, Fall 2015

What is an Argument?

In the social sciences, an argument typically make claims about the way the world works. It argues that the world is one way rather than another, and explains why it is that way .

The first part of the bolded statement above is really important. In social science courses, you will rarely be asked to just summarize a set of facts. You will instead be asked to make assertions about how something came to be or how some phenomenon caused another.

This implies a counterfactual , which is a statement about how the world would have been, if something else had happened. For example, you might argue that polarization in American politics is caused by people moving to areas where most people share their political beliefs. This implies that if people didn't move to neighborhoods or cities with like-minded people, there wouldn't be polarization. But they do , so there is .

The first part of the bolded statement above also implies that you will give evidence to show us that your argument is correct.

The latter part of the statement, in turn, implies that you will show us the "why" of the phenomenon you're looking at: how exactly does it work?

Thesis Requirements

A thesis statement will be in response to a specific question, whether that question is explicitly asked in a prompt or is a question you have yourself developed in response to course readings or class discussions. Therefore, your thesis statement should clearly be an answer to a question!

Your answer should not just contain a "what is" statement, but a statement of "how" your argument works. What is the "mechanism" of your argument? If you say that wealth causes democracy, make sure the “how” or “because” is also clearly previewed in your thesis.

This is also your introduction to the reader of what the paper’s really about, and it is your chance to explain how the paper will work. It should prepare them for the direction the paper is going, so they know what kinds of evidence they should expect.

In college-level papers, thesis statements can be more than one sentence long. Being concise is good, but it's ok to have a slightly longer thesis statement if your thesis is somewhat complex, e.g., if there are two or three steps in the "how" part of your paper. 

Scope Conditions

Most papers are not about making universal arguments that showcase  everything you know, but about making an valid argument within a set of parameters that are either provided by the assignment itself, or that you decide to keep your argument clear and effective.

In writing, be clear: what are the “scope conditions” of your argument? In other words, under what conditions or in which cases is your argument valid?

Example: “In democracies,” i.e., not for every country we’ve looked at, but only for democracies.

Example: “Among late developers” i.e., only in those countries that developed recently.

Make sure your these boundaries are clearly stated in your thesis statement . Do you think it will be intuitive to the reader why you used these scope conditions in particular? If not, you may need to briefly explain why you're using them, either in the thesis statement itself or just before (or after) your thesis statement.

Evaluating Theses

Can readers take your thesis statement and test it like they would a hypothesis? Would they know what to look for in order to evaluate how well your argument is made? If so, it's probably a strong thesis.

A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested . For example, in the statement "wealth leads to democracy," we can imagine testing it by looking for wealthy countries that aren't democratic.

If readers can look at your thesis statement and come up new evidence to refute your claim, it might mean there's room for healthy debate on the topic--and it might mean there's a genuine weakness in your argument--but it also means you probably have a clearly written thesis statement! 

A really common thesis-related problem for students is that readers don't know how to evaluate whether the argument is right or wrong . This idea of being able to test arguments against new evidence is what makes political science "scientific."

Additional Tips

Be direct, and own your answer. Don’t say, “The purpose of my paper is to show that economic development causes democracy.” Say, “Economic development causes democracy, because…”

But it is OK to use the first-person voice in political science! (Example: "Wealth is a necessary condition for democracy. I show this by examining all countries with an average GDP above $6,000 per year")

Make it clear where your thesis statement is. You don’t have to put the thesis statement at the end of a short, first paragraph...but this is common, because it keeps you from writing too much/too little introduction, and it’s often where your reader will look first (because it is so common!)

Avoid the word “prove,” which implies definitive proof (which is rarely possible in social sciences)

Avoid overly stylized language in your thesis statement, and keep it as clear, specific, and unambiguous as possible.

It’s ok to argue that sometimes things work one way, and sometimes another. For example, “wealthy countries are usually democratic, but sometimes they aren’t.” However, it’s much stronger to try and make this difference part of your argument---”Wealthy countries are usually democratic because [reason], but oil-rich countries are an exception because [reason].”

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Interactive Teaching Unit: How to Use the 3 Branches of Government Materials

There are 5 main focal areas to these teaching materials:

Our Three Branches of Government and Balance of Power

Legislative Branch

Executive Branch

Judicial Branch

Each area has background information, activities and projects. Each area provides Internet links to other sites where information may be obtained for student research. We have provided two formats for teaching using these materials. The first is a DAILY SCHEDULE FORMAT and the second is PROJECT FOCUS FORMAT.

DAILY SCHEDULE FORMAT:

The entire unit could be taught as a 3 week (15 days) government focus, or separated into sections that fit areas of your curriculum as needed. A suggested schedule is listed below for the 3 week course including the Cabinet project. Suggest having students do the  How a Bill Becomes a Law  file folder game as an ongoing review activity.

DAY 1:  Students use the computer lab and access the site. Read  3 Branches of Our Government . Print off the accompanying worksheet and fill in the blanks as individuals or partners. Discuss in class together the main points and have students check their own worksheets and correct them. Keep these for review.

DAY 2 : Students use the computer lab and access the site. Read  The Legislative Branch  and  The House of Representatives  and complete the tasks as individuals or partners using the suggested web sites. Print off the  The Legislative Branch  worksheet and have students fill in the blanks.

DAY 3 : Review the Legislative Branch worksheet. Students check and correct their own work. Save this sheet for review. Review responses to House of Representatives tasks. Students use the computer lab and access the site. Students work in partners to read and complete tasks on  The Senate--Voice of the States . Print off  Questions for the Senate--Voice of the States . Students complete activities together. However, each student writes a report in his/her own words on one of the five famous senators listed.

DAY 4:  Review work from Day 3. Students keep corrected pages for review and read their senator report to a partner. Students spend time in the computer lab reviewing the sites suggested on  United States Capitol . Students then access the site  How A Bill Becomes a Law  and complete activities. Play in partners the folder game How a Bill Becomes a Law ( see games and puzzles section)  Print off the following as homework assignments:  Congress - Courts--Keeping the Balance ;  Congress - President--Keeping the Balance .

DAY 5:  Check homework. Print off  The Executive Branch  and run off copies for class. Print  What a President Can and Cannot Do  and make this a transparency.

Brainstorm with students about what they think a President's powers are. List these on board or overhead. Pass out the  The Executive Branch . Read together and discuss. Use the transparency you have made and have students compare this list with what is on the chart. Students come to the front to mark off the chart duties listed there that are not correct. Print off both the information sheet and worksheet  The Judicial Branch  and use as a homework assignment. Print off  Government Crossword Puzzle  and have students complete this at home.

DAY 6:  Check homework. Print off both the information sheet and worksheet  The Balance of Government  and do this in class. Review together in groups the worksheets they have saved and quiz each other over the material. Homework assignment: Each student writes a fill in the blank test of fifteen questions and a separate answer sheet. Answers -  https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/three-branches/balance-of-government-answers

DAY 7:  Students trade quizzes and answer them. Return to author and have them graded. Collect. Students get points for level of test questions submitted and their answers on the other test.

Give essay quiz over material presented. (Allow students to use their notes.) Essay possibilities are suggested below:

• Describe how a Congress can check a President.
• Describe why the job of a Supreme Court Justice is so important and powerful.
• Describe in detail which job you would prefer and why: President, Senator, Representative, or Supreme Court Justice. Use facts from your information sheets.
• Draw a diagram or picture showing the three branches of government and the main focus of what each one does.

DAY 8:  Cabinet Focus: Students use the computer lab. Access site and go to part called  Why Does the President Need a Cabinet? . Students read and complete activities. Then have students go to:  The President's Cabinet-Who are the Secretaries? . Have them read the list and access the listed web site to complete activity. Compare and report on answers.

DAY 9:  Cabinet Focus: Student use the computer lab. Go to web site and access  Cabinet Web Sites  information page. Divide into partners. Each partner group will prepare a report on one Cabinet department. See guidelines under  Cabinet Department Presentation . Suggest giving 2 days to complete.

DAY 10 & 11:  Students work on project.

DAY 12 & 13:  Project presentations. Students watching take notes on fellow classmates' presentations. Homework assignment: Study notes.

DAY 14:  Quick quiz over departments. Suggest writing role or area of focus and having student write the name of the department next to it. Do twenty questions so some departments have more than one blank.

DAY 15:  May do  "A Cabinet Meeting"  activity.

PROJECT FOCUS FORMAT: (15 days)

Students are given 4 days to complete all the activity pages and on-line tasks for each of the three branches and balance of power plus Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branch activity pages. Students may work in partners or individually. Students are given lab time and the teacher serves as the advisor and facilitator. However, students are expected to do some sections as homework. Students keep all work in an electronic or paper copy portfolio for future checking and presentation.

On the fifth day, questions and activities are checked in groups of four. Teacher roams around meeting with each group discussing their questions and which answers were being debated. Students make corrections so that they will have accurate information for the upcoming project. Introduce the "Teach Another Class Project" and decide on scoring guide.

Projects and Presentations:

Teach Another Class About What They Have Learned: (3 days preparation + 1 day presentation)

Students are divided into six groups (four each), two groups are assigned the Legislative Branch, two groups are assigned the Executive Branch, and two groups are assigned the Judicial Branch. Each group summarizes materials studied the first 5 days and conducts additional research on-line. Then each group designs a chart, backboard, PowerPoint presentation, a series of colorful overheads, or other format to teach another class about their subject. Arrange for students to make presentations to two classes. One set of three groups (Legislative, Executive, Judicial) presents to each class. Each group must time their presentation and keep it to ten minutes. Develop a scoring guide as a class to determine criteria for presentation. Students do a trial run for teacher before going "on the road" with their presentation.

Cabinet Project: (3 days preparation = 2 days presentation)

Students divide into partners for the Cabinet Project (see above). They are given 3 days to complete the project and 2 days are provided for presentations.

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Texas Government - McCauley: Assignment - GOVT 2306

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Information On This Page

This page includes your instructor's class assignment and choice library resources to assist you with this specific assignment. You'll find the library's best databases, selected Internet resources and government websites. When performing Internet searches, please refer to the tab above labeled Evaluating Websites for tips on how to identify credible information.

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Course Assignments

• Writing Assignment #1
• Writing Assignment #2

Writing Assignment #1: White Paper on "Does Texas Need a New Constitution?"

The State of Texas and TJC have developed these guidelines for this assessment:

Through a well-written assignment, students will:

•   Analyze a significant current political issue in Texas politics: This issue will be about our state constitution.
•   Identify/Explain the methods used by major political actors to present their proposed solutions to that issue.: You will explain how you or      others think the Texas state constitution can be improved OR you will defend how the current constitution is preferred to a new one.
•   Discuss/Describe how the student would address and present their solution to the issue in the context of their rights and responsibilities      as citizen of Texas. (Students may adopt a solution offered by one or more of the major political actors)
•   Discuss/Describe how the student would promote their adopted solution to the issue in the context of their rights and responsibilities as      a citizen of Texas. This is where you use information from your research to convince others your position is correct.

Here are the specifics for this assignment:

Texas has had six constitutions since it claimed independence from Mexico. The current constitution, adopted in 1876, is very long, detailed and has been amended 498 times as of November 2017. Some argue it is time to rewrite the state constitution; others say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Your assignment is to write a White Paper making a recommendation to Gov. Abbott about the position you believe he should take on this issue. 

• WHAT IS A "WHITE PAPER?": The best definition is  "a government or other authoritative report giving information or proposals on an issue."
• HOW DO I WRITE A "WHITE PAPER?": There are lots of examples and directions available to help you. Following this assignment in the Module One list is a good example of what a White Paper looks like. Although it is on a different subject and is longer than yours is required to be, you can still see how a White Paper is developed and organized, and what it includes.

Length & Typeface/font: I do not grade based on word count or number of pages, but it would be impossible to make a compelling argument in less than three pages of double typed, 12 pt type. (Use a serif type like Times New Roman for the body; that is easier to read. Your headings can be in any typeface, but no larger than 24 pt. type, bold faced.)

Your White Paper needs citations of any and all sources of information you use in your paper. Your paper should include at least four different sources from your research, but your textbook may count as one. Use APA Style to cite all the places in your paper where you use information from sources you find in your research. This link will take you to a website that shows you how to write in this style. APA Link here

In addition to your APA citations (author name, year published, page number inside parentheses) your White Paper needs a separate page entitled REFERENCES. On this page you will alphabetically list ALL your references with full citations. Again, see the Link above for how to write  a full citation on the Reference page. This page does NOT count in the minimum 3 pages/double spaced you should write for your paper. If you cite websites (which you probåbly will) be sure you give a complete and correct URL citation so I can look it up myself to check your sources.

 Your White Paper does NOT need a table of contents, although these are often used in professional white papers (see samples through the link above.)

You can choose to include images and illustrations if you wish to, but they are not necessary. Graphs and other statistical support are helpful and add to the credibility of your argument. Your grade is based primarily on the following factors:

1. Did you make a compelling, factual argument for your position? It doesn't matter whether you are pro or con a new state constitution; what matters is if you write a valid paper supporting your position.

2. Do your references support your claims and does your paper indicate you did solid research?

3. Is your writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation appropriate for college level readers? If this is your weakness, go visit the Writing Lab in the TJC Library, 2nd floor. Nothing will turn off a reader faster than sentences that are difficult to follow, poor punctuation or poor paragraphing, and misspelled words. Writing Center 

4. Does your white paper show evidence of personal responsibility and social responsibility? This means does your writing indicate that you are making sound, responsible recommendations that indicate you have considered how this decision will affect others.

Writing Assignment 2: Core Assessment "Did the Supreme Court Decide Correctly in Plyler vs. Doe? "

This is your  Second Major Writing Assignment  as part of the Core Curriculum requirements of the State of Texas and Tyler Junior College. Please read ALL of the instructions below before you begin your research. As always with writing, start with an outline, then build your argument from the information you have discovered in your research.  Review again the comments I made on your First Writing Assignment to make sure you don't make the same errors this time.  After reading the directions several times, if you have questions, please ask or email me.

HERE ARE THE SPECIFICS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT:  Issues dealing with the rights, services and protections afforded illegal immigrants are hot topics in the news today. Besides political historians, few people know that Tyler Independent School District played a major role in the Supreme Court's decision on providing free public education to  children of illegal immigrants. For this paper, you are to research the legal decision known as Plyler v. Doe, (1982). After researching this landmark case, write your White Paper as if you are advising the Supreme Court about whether they should reconsider this decision and why.

Y our instructions for this paper are exactly the same as with Writing Assignment #1:

•          WHAT IS A "WHITE PAPER?": The best definition is "a government or other authoritative report giving information or            proposals on an issue."
•         HOW DO I WRITE A "WHITE PAPER?": There are lots of examples and directions available to help you. Here are a few links to show you how to do it:

Your White Paper needs citations of any and all sources of information you use in your paper. Your paper should include at least four different sources from your research, but your textbook may count as one. Use APA Style to cite all the places in your paper where you use information from sources you find in your research. This link will take you to a website that shows you how to write in this style. 

APA LINK here

 In addition to your APA citations (author name, year published, page number inside parentheses) your White Paper needs a separate page entitled REFERENCES. On this page you will alphabetically list ALL your references with full citations. Again, see the Link above for how to write  a full citation on the Reference page. This page does NOT count in the minimum 3 pages/double spaced you should write for your paper. If you cite websites (which you probåbly will) be sure you give a complete and correct URL citation so I can look it up myself to check your sources.

 Your White Paper needs a REFERENCES PAGE (or you can call it "Works Cited") that you used to write your paper. This "References" or "Works Cited" will be the last page of your paper. If you cite websites (which you probably will) be sure you give a complete and correct URL citation so I can look it up myself to check your sources.

You can choose to include images and illustrations if you wish to, but they are not necessary. Graphs and other statistical support are helpful and add to the credibility of your argument. Your grade is based primarily on the following factors:

1. Did you make a compelling, factual argument for your position? It doesn't matter whether you are agree or disagree with the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Plyler vs. Doe; what matters is if you write a valid paper supporting your position.

2. Do your references support your claims and does your paper indicate you did solid research?

3. Is your writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation appropriate for college level readers? If this is your weakness, go visit the Writing Lab in the TJC Library, 2nd floor. Nothing will turn off a reader faster than sentences that are difficult to follow, poor punctuation or poor paragraphing, and misspelled words.

4. Does your white paper show evidence of personal responsibility and social responsibility? This means does your writing indicate that you are making sound, responsible recommendations that indicate you have considered how this decision will affect others.

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Understanding Writing Assignments

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How to Decipher the Paper Assignment

Many instructors write their assignment prompts differently. By following a few steps, you can better understand the requirements for the assignment. The best way, as always, is to ask the instructor about anything confusing.

• Read the prompt the entire way through once. This gives you an overall view of what is going on.
• Underline or circle the portions that you absolutely must know. This information may include due date, research (source) requirements, page length, and format (MLA, APA, CMS).
• Underline or circle important phrases. You should know your instructor at least a little by now - what phrases do they use in class? Does he repeatedly say a specific word? If these are in the prompt, you know the instructor wants you to use them in the assignment.
• Think about how you will address the prompt. The prompt contains clues on how to write the assignment. Your instructor will often describe the ideas they want discussed either in questions, in bullet points, or in the text of the prompt. Think about each of these sentences and number them so that you can write a paragraph or section of your essay on that portion if necessary.
• Rank ideas in descending order, from most important to least important. Instructors may include more questions or talking points than you can cover in your assignment, so rank them in the order you think is more important. One area of the prompt may be more interesting to you than another.
• Ask your instructor questions if you have any.

After you are finished with these steps, ask yourself the following:

• What is the purpose of this assignment? Is my purpose to provide information without forming an argument, to construct an argument based on research, or analyze a poem and discuss its imagery?
• Who is my audience? Is my instructor my only audience? Who else might read this? Will it be posted online? What are my readers' needs and expectations?
• What resources do I need to begin work? Do I need to conduct literature (hermeneutic or historical) research, or do I need to review important literature on the topic and then conduct empirical research, such as a survey or an observation? How many sources are required?
• Who - beyond my instructor - can I contact to help me if I have questions? Do you have a writing lab or student service center that offers tutorials in writing?

(Notes on prompts made in blue )

Poster or Song Analysis: Poster or Song? Poster!

Goals : To systematically consider the rhetorical choices made in either a poster or a song. She says that all the time.

Things to Consider: ah- talking points

• how the poster addresses its audience and is affected by context I'll do this first - 1.
• general layout, use of color, contours of light and shade, etc.
• use of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity C.A.R.P. They say that, too. I'll do this third - 3.
• the point of view the viewer is invited to take, poses of figures in the poster, etc. any text that may be present
• possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing I'll cover this second - 2.
• ethical implications
• how the poster affects us emotionally, or what mood it evokes
• the poster's implicit argument and its effectiveness said that was important in class, so I'll discuss this last - 4.
• how the song addresses its audience
• lyrics: how they rhyme, repeat, what they say
• use of music, tempo, different instruments
• possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing
• emotional effects
• the implicit argument and its effectiveness

These thinking points are not a step-by-step guideline on how to write your paper; instead, they are various means through which you can approach the subject. I do expect to see at least a few of them addressed, and there are other aspects that may be pertinent to your choice that have not been included in these lists. You will want to find a central idea and base your argument around that. Additionally, you must include a copy of the poster or song that you are working with. Really important!

I will be your audience. This is a formal paper, and you should use academic conventions throughout.

Length: 4 pages Format: Typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point Times New Roman, 1 inch margins I need to remember the format stuff. I messed this up last time =(

Academic Argument Essay

5-7 pages, Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins.

Minimum of five cited sources: 3 must be from academic journals or books

• Design Plan due: Thurs. 10/19
• Rough Draft due: Monday 10/30
• Final Draft due: Thurs. 11/9

Remember this! I missed the deadline last time

The design plan is simply a statement of purpose, as described on pages 40-41 of the book, and an outline. The outline may be formal, as we discussed in class, or a printout of an Open Mind project. It must be a minimum of 1 page typed information, plus 1 page outline.

This project is an expansion of your opinion editorial. While you should avoid repeating any of your exact phrases from Project 2, you may reuse some of the same ideas. Your topic should be similar. You must use research to support your position, and you must also demonstrate a fairly thorough knowledge of any opposing position(s). 2 things to do - my position and the opposite.

Your essay should begin with an introduction that encapsulates your topic and indicates 1 the general trajectory of your argument. You need to have a discernable thesis that appears early in your paper. Your conclusion should restate the thesis in different words, 2 and then draw some additional meaningful analysis out of the developments of your argument. Think of this as a "so what" factor. What are some implications for the future, relating to your topic? What does all this (what you have argued) mean for society, or for the section of it to which your argument pertains? A good conclusion moves outside the topic in the paper and deals with a larger issue.

You should spend at least one paragraph acknowledging and describing the opposing position in a manner that is respectful and honestly representative of the opposition’s 3 views. The counterargument does not need to occur in a certain area, but generally begins or ends your argument. Asserting and attempting to prove each aspect of your argument’s structure should comprise the majority of your paper. Ask yourself what your argument assumes and what must be proven in order to validate your claims. Then go step-by-step, paragraph-by-paragraph, addressing each facet of your position. Most important part!

Finally, pay attention to readability . Just because this is a research paper does not mean that it has to be boring. Use examples and allow your opinion to show through word choice and tone. Proofread before you turn in the paper. Your audience is generally the academic community and specifically me, as a representative of that community. Ok, They want this to be easy to read, to contain examples I find, and they want it to be grammatically correct. I can visit the tutoring center if I get stuck, or I can email the OWL Email Tutors short questions if I have any more problems.

Creating a Government Class Assignment

Published: Sep 15, 2020 Contributor: Rachel Bzostek Walker License: CC BY NC SA 4.0 license – Allows revisions and additions but forbids commercial use.

In this active learning class assignment, students are asked to think about what type of government they would create if all options were on the table and they were starting a new country. In this respect, it gets the students thinking about the implications and consequences of different regime types, systems of government, and various powers granted to the government. The only parameters given to the students are that the country is large in size and population and that it is diverse in population–and the government must be able meet the needs of the large and diverse population. Deployed after discussions regarding political culture, the Constitution, and federalism, this assignment serves as a good way for the students to be able to tie together the information from those parts of the course and think about if they would have done anything differently.

Key words: active learning; lower division course; in class assignment; federalism

• Creating a Government Link opens in a new tab.
• Rachel Bzostek Walker - Creating a Political Party and Party Platform activity Link opens in a new tab.
• Rachel Bzostek Walker - Amending the Constitution activity Link opens in a new tab.
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Resource Type

• Writing assignment

Course Topic

• U.S Government and Politics

Course Level

• High school
• Introductory
• Lower division

Course Type

Peer reviewed.

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Going Public: Creating, Implementing, and Curating Public Writing Assignments

Thursday, May 9, 2024 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Facilitated by Julio Alves, Director of the Jacobson Center and Co-Director of the Writing and Public Discourse Committee; Abril Navarro, Instructional Technologist

How important is it for students to write effectively for both academic and public audiences? Have you asked your students to write for the general public or made the work of your students publicly available for others to read? Join us for a workshop where colleagues talk about their public writing assignments, assignment curation, and teaching experiences. We will address questions like the following: What makes for a good public writing assignment? What are the pedagogical gains and challenges of making student writing public? How do you curate the work online? What kind of support is available to help me write the assignments and curate the student work? In partnership with the Committee on Writing and Public Discourse, the Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning, and the Learning, Research and Technology Team.