II. Written Assignment: 20% of total course grade
Students are required to submit one written assignment during the semester. The expected content of the assignment is set forth below. The written term assignment must be submitted electronically by the student into the course Safe Assign system. Only documents submitted in Word.doc format will be accepted. Assignments submitted in .PDF or any other format will receive an automatic assignment score of zero.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Students are not allowed to submit papers they have written for any other course including written assignments and papers submitted in POLS 2301. If a student is retaking POLS 2302 for a grade replacement, the student is not allowed to submit a paper previously submitted in any POLS 2302 course or any other course. Submission of a paper previously submitted by you or any other student in any other course will appear in SafeAssign and be considered by the instructor to be plagiarized. A paper submitted in this course – written by the student or any other person – that appears in any other course will result in an assignment score of zero. Your name and work will be submitted into a permanent file marked “plagiarism” and may be used by the instructor or subsequent instructors for evidence of one-time or repeated plagiarism and may be used as evidence of academic dishonesty resulting in expulsion from Lamar University.
· Your essay must include a title page containing your name, POLS 2302, Written Assignment (with an essay title), semester, and the date of your submission of the assignment through Safe Assign. (The title page is not included as a numbered page and your essay should meet the page number requirement exclusive of the cover page and the Works Cited or Bibliography page.) Failure to include a title/cover page, in-text citations of sources, and a Works Cited page will result in an automatic score of a zero on the written assignment.
· The written assignment must be uploaded as ONE document (title page, essay, works cited should all be in the same document). Students can find the link to submit their written assignment by clicking the “Written Assignment” folder in the course Blackboard. Students may not submit the assignment via email. Students may not cut and paste essays into the assignment window – the assignment must be uploaded as a Word document and must be submitted as one file attachment. Do not upload more than one written assignment document. The system will only allow you to select and submit one file, so make sure that file is the combined cover page, paper, and bibliography. Assignments uploaded in any format other than Word.doc, such as PDF, RTF, ZIP, etc., will automatically receive an overall assignment score of zero. Assignments submitted only via email will automatically receive a zero as will assignments submitted outside of Safe Assign. In summary, you must submit your paper:
1. As one complete paper (no separate submissions of title pages or bibliographies).
2. In Word format (no zip files, PDF, RTF, or other forms of submission).
3. As an uploaded document from your computer; with the box checked for your
agreement to submit your paper to the Global Reference database.
4. Your written assignment is due NO LATER than 11:59 p.m., April 28, 2024.
Absolutely NO later paper submissions will be accepted.
You should note that the SafeAssign assignment folder closes precisely at 11:59 p.m. Submissions submitted at 11:59.1 will be rejected by the system, registered as a late submission, and result in an assignment score of zero.
The written assignment will be used to access the Critical Thinking and Communication Skills Learning Outcome core curriculum requirements of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). A copy of the assessment rubric designed to satisfy THECB requirements is provided by clicking on the assignment in Blackboard. Once you click on the actual assignment, you will be able to review the rubric. The rubric used to grade the assignment is based on a 100-point scale. The rubric can be found under the “Resources” folder in Blackboard.
Write a three-to-five-page essay containing the following:
1. An introductory paragraph. Your introductory paragraph should introduce three distinct topics you found most interesting this semester, and a statement about a contemporary political problem and solution you will be discussing at the conclusion of the paper.
2. Body of the paper. The three topics you identify and discuss must be distinct (civil rights, civil liberties, federalism, etc.). You may not discuss topics covered in POLS 2301 (i.e., the media, parties, interest groups, elections), or any material contained in Module 4 (Texas Constitution and government). One of the three distinct topics you discuss must be one of the three branches of U. S. government (legislative, executive, judicial). The contemporary political problem and solution you present may but is not required to be related to material specifically covered in POLS 2302.
3. Citations and specific academic information gained from the course must be provided in both the body of the text and in the Works Cited section at the conclusion of the paper. Note that your three subject areas must be distinct. In other words, you cannot write on three cases studied in civil rights. Rather, one topic may be civil rights and various cases examined in the subject area may be used to communicate your knowledge of the topic.
An example of a proper in-text citation is: (Davis, p. 18, 2017). An example of a proper citation in your Works Cited page:
Davis, Jason and James P. Nelson, The Texas Constitution: The People, History, and Government of the
Lone Star State, Howard Literary Press, 2017.
An example of a proper in-text citation of a course video or course lecture is: (Davis, “Federalism,” 2022). An example of a proper citation in your Works Cited page:
Davis, Jason, “Federalism,” Howard University, Spring 2022.
If you are using internet citations, you must include the FULL URL, title, author (if available) and access date. Example of in-text citation: Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Example of Works Cited citation: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954), https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483 (accessed date).
NOTE: All Supreme Court case names must be italicized or underlined in the body of your paper and in Works Cited.
4. Identify a contemporary political problem and construct and communicate a solution to the problem you identify. Make sure to develop and express your solution in the form of an argument that is supported by well-documented and properly cited facts and data.
5. Additional Information:
· A good paper will have at least 3-5 scholarly sources in addition to the course textbook(s) and course videos. Well-written papers tend to rely on cited course materials to discuss the three required topics and outside scholarly journals and government websites when discussing the identified contemporary problem/solution. Papers that do not include in-text citations of sources and/or a Works Cited section will receive an automatic grade of zero and recorded as plagiarized.
· Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, complete sentences, and citation of your sources is required. Include textbook readings with page numbers (or chapter headings and subheadings for digital textbooks without page numbers) and textbook citation; lectures or video instruction (title and presenter/author of the video); and outside scholarly research must be included in your assignment.
· Wikipedia, encyclopedias, dictionaries, SparkNotes, and other similar sources are not allowed and will result in an assignment score of zero (see below). Failure to submit the assignment by the deadline will result in a grade of zero for the overall written assignment grade. Failure to provide a cover page, in-text citations, and Works Cited will result in an overall assignment score of zero.
· The paper must be a minimum of three complete pages. A score of zero will be recorded for papers submitted with less than three complete pages. A partial third page, regardless of length, does not constitute a full, complete page.
· Make sure to double space throughout the paper, including between paragraphs, and to use 12-point font. The professor will re-paginate papers submitted without proper double spacing and 12-point font to determine if the paper meets the assignment page requirements. An automatic deduction of 15 points will be assigned if the professor is required to repaginate a paper.
Your written assignment should be typed and double spaced with 12-point font and one-inch margins top, bottom, and side. Political Science as a field has adopted the APSA Manual of Style; however, you are free to use the citation style adopted by your major department or the style used in your English composition courses (MLA or other style). Regardless of citation style, all sources must be properly, thoroughly, and consistently cited. When citing a URL, you must have the full URL, title, author, date of publication, and access date. Careful attention to grammar, spelling, and the mechanics of presentation is expected. Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information. Any citation of Wikipedia, Dictionary.com (or any Dictionary related website), E-Encyclopedia (or any Encyclopedia website), american-historama.org, Ask.com, bensguide.gpo.gov, biography.com, Cliff Notes, Collegeamericangovernment.org, ConstitutionalCenter.org, Constitutionfacts.com, Constitutionlaws.com, Constitutionus.com, Constitutionweekusa.com, gunlaws.com, history.com, judiciallearningcenter.org, infoplease.com, legaldictionary.net, legallanguage.com, nationalparalegal.edu, presidentialsystem.org, procon.org, Quimbee.com, quotationspage.com, Reference.com, scholastic.com, Shmoop.com, Socialstudieshelp.com, Softschools.com, Spark Notes, Study.com, thepoliticalguide.com, thoughtco.com, totallyhistory.com, USA.gov, USconstitution.net, UShistory.org, UShistoryscene.com, USlegal.com, The Bible, Vocabulary.com, youtube.com, Major Motion Pictures/Netflix Shows or TV series, Book Reviews, or anything similar in a term paper or other assignment in this course will result in an automatic score of 0 (zero) on the assignment. Scholarly resources would include journal articles, books, and news organization websites.
Scholarly sources are required for this paper, and you need to cite 3-5 scholarly sources in addition to your textbook and lectures. The information gained through scholarly sources must support the points made and discussed in your paper.
Carefully read the Course Management Policies, “Academic Honesty Statement” for additional guidelines for your written assignments. Any cut and paste, plagiarized, or Wiki cited posts or papers will result in an automatic grade of zero for the overall assignment and possible expulsion from the course and Howard University. NO late papers will be accepted, this includes papers posted a second or more late. Students have ONLY one chance to upload papers to Safe Assign and the version that is uploaded is the version that will be graded.
The term written assignment scores for students will be posted to the course Blackboard gradebook after the student has completed and submitted all four required course examinations.
