FORMAT: The only guidelines here will be that the paper must be at least five to seven pages long, double spaced and it should have one inch margins. Make a title page. Use font size 10-12 pt. You need to have a separate bibliography showing your sources in detail…
You will be required to prepare a brief analysis of a current event in U.S. government during the course. This assignment involves selecting an issue in current American politics that is likely to be highly visible during the time you are taking the course. The topic will be tracked in the print media, especially the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Philadelphia Inquirer supplemented by weekly news magazines, and the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, all located in most local libraries. You may also want to use the Internet to gain news articles from The New York Times and the Washington Post on the World Wide Web, (Links to an external site.) and (Links to an external site.). The presidential Web site is (Links to an external site.) and the Congressional Web site is (Links to an external site.). You are expected to cite your sources appropriately and include a “Works Cited” or bibliography at the end of your assignment.
Sloppy note-taking during the preparatory phase prior to writing a draft is the number one cause of inadvertent plagiarism. As you collect articles in your notebook, be sure to record bibliographic information for every article so that you can properly cite the author’s work in your report (author, date, and page number). Exercise care in documenting direct quotes and paraphrasing or summarizing the author’s work in your report.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTION TO THE CURRENT EVENTS PROJECT
As you proceed through this course, you should build a bibliography of sources you are citing for your current event analyses. You should include appropriate citations with this paper. Your assignment now is to write a five-to-ten-page discussion of the role of the media, voters, political parties, and interest groups in the context of your current event. Your paper must deal with the following questions:
What are the various “sides” to the issue, and who are the players associated with each side? For example, what interest groups, political parties, public opinion polls, or individuals have emerged related to your topic?
What are the objectives and concerns of these actors, and what policy options are they advocating?
Finally, how have the governmental actors (President, Congress, and courts) responded to these pressures?
