Directions for Political Issue Essays
PRE- APPROVED TOPICS: Essay Approval is not required if one of the following topics is used: death penalty, legalization of marijuana, gay marriage, stem cell research, gun rights, tax reform, lowering legal age of alcohol consumption, and immigration reform. NOTE: abortion is not an approved topic.
Essay Requirements.
-The Political issue essays are expected to highlight both sides of a political issue. Students are allowed to take a political standpoint as long as both sides of the political issue are explored. For example, a student may want to explore the political issue of gun control. A student should provide a very brief historical perspective of gun control and explore both the pro gun control and the anti gun control political perspectives. Finally, students can argue whether they feel that gun control is appropriate or under which conditions and circumstances that gun control is acceptable or unacceptable.
Papers may be refused if they do not adhere to the following basic requirements:
-The essay should be at least 1000 words in standard academic format, not including the references/works cited list.
-All resources are cited in the body of the essay with in-text citations and corresponding full citations in a works cited page.
-12pt. Times New Roman Font, and double spaced formatting.
-Students are required to utilize at least three academic resources (There is a link to Galileo from the course home page- wikipedia and ask.com are not academic resources and may not be used).
-The paper must be in MLA or APA format.
-All essays must be in a word document format (.doc or .docx) NO OTHER formats will be accepted.
-You are encouraged to use the services of the Writing Center.
-This project MUST be submitted through this assignment link and MAY NOT be emailed to me.
Penalties– If a paper is not submitted by the deadline then the paper is considered late. Papers will be accepted at any time prior to the deadline, although papers will not be graded until the deadline has closed.
Papers will be graded as follows:
Automatic Deduction of 50 points taken off the final grade for lateness.
-Content (100 points) The appropriate discussion of a political issue including arguments from the perspective of both sides of a political issue is central to the assignment. An appropriate discussion would include adherence to the 1000 word minimum.
-Resources and Formatting (100 points) Students are required to use three academic resources and the proper utilization of these resources within the paper as supportive of the content is imperative. These resources must be listed within the paper and also in a works cited list. Papers must adhere to MLA or APA formatting and must be properly organized in a logical manner and with proper grammar.
Helpful Resources:
Students should use the writing center:
–https://www.asurams.edu/archives/west/programs/Humanities/writing/online.php
