Now that we are at this halfway mark, I want you to submit a paper as the second part of your midterm. This paper should be well written, well researched with good sources, have paragraphs and follow proper grammar. It should be 12-point font and have normal page margins. It should be 4-6 pages in length and have a Works Cited page at the end. It should be political and pertain to US politics. You may pick any “controversial” topic we have covered so far (or have yet to cover). This list includes: abortion, civil rights, civil liberties, feminism, the electoral college, framing, gun control, ideology, immigration, media bias, new voter laws, elections, vaccines, party re-alignment, party politics, the pervasive nature of rhetoric and socialization, money and the economy…
I am giving you leeway with the subject matter, but remember the following: this is not an opinion paper, and you need to check your bias and your ideology in order to make a compelling argument in your paper. Your topic should be argumentative (if possible) and you need to use sources, logic, and precedent to drive home your thesis (which it must have) and have me ready to rethink my ideology (you can assume that I always believe the opposite of you, as all professors should). 😉
An example thesis might be (and I am using assisted suicide here because we did not cover it in this class), “It is a violation of an individual’s Constitutional right to interfere in assisted suicide.” You might go on to cite Roe v Wade and its use of “right to privacy” as a means to allow abortion. You might also use the fact that the Federal government does not view execution as cruel or unusual punishment. You could bring in a case of someone you researched who is fighting for the right due to an illness, etc. You might personally disagree with it (as might I), but I need not know if you do or not. You should avoid using straw man arguments, appealing to passion, or using religion (which not everyone shares) when arguing such a claim. Hopefully this makes sense. If you need clarification, please reach out.
Good luck!
Dr. G
Rubric
25% grammar and writing
25% content that is pertinent and compelling
25% keeping bias and opinion in check while writing
25% proper work cited from good sources and used well throughout (anything that isn’t common knowledge)
