Enduring Understanding:
Politics and government can create confusion among the masses but the ultimate aim is to create an orderly society.
Essential Questions:
How do politics and government work hand in hand?
Is the true focus of American government work on what the masses want and need?
How is the judgment of American legislators in the best interests of their constituents?
Does the influence of political agendas weigh too heavily on legislating in the federal, state and local governments of the United States?
Assignment:
Choose an issue, policy, piece of legislation, etc. that you can research and show the audience why it has been critiqued and whether it has been effective or not in your opinion
You will need to research the piece extensively in order to show your audience proof of your viewpoint.
Use the essential questions above and always refer back to the Enduring Understanding
Paper will be a minimum 3 pages and a maximum of 6, single spaced, 12 font, Times New Roman, standard margins done on a Google Doc and turned in on Google Classroom.
Remember you must document correctly using MLA format for the works cited page, in-text notation, charts graphs, etc.
Rubric/Guidelines for your work:
Research Design
– correct citation format: MLA
– appropriate reference style: in text
– Works cited page paper
– Documentation in appropriate places, i.e. quotes, stats, borrowed ideas, etc.
– topic choice/identification
– development of research question and subsequent thesis statement
– organized notes, outline, rough draft and final draft
Critical Thinking
– writing shows careful analyses or explanation of a problem or issue within the discipline
– writing shows careful analyses of current attempts to address the problem or careful analyses of a current real world application of the issue
– writing shows a creative solution to the problem or creative/original adaptation/application of the issue
– presentation of argument statement
– evidence presentation
– consideration of counter-examples
– conclusion, and practical implications
Communication
– controlling idea (claim or thesis statement) is present, clearly communicated, powerful, precise.
– An arguable thesis statement has potential counter-examples, so in the absence of actual
counter evidence, the thesis can be supported. A statement that is too vague to qualify as a thesis statement has no possible counter evidence, so it cant be supported as a valid thesis.
– controlling idea is powerfully defended or elucidated
– writing is logical and well argued
– clear flow of ideas with obvious relationship to the controlling idea
– no monster paragraphs
– every main idea should have a new paragraph? Sometimes, sub-ideas should have a new paragraph. When in doubt, make a new paragraph and avoid the monster paragraphs
– syntax is powerful
– no vague word choice
– no awkward constructions
– writing style is appropriate for social science writing; clear, precise, objective, straightforward (this would include several of the sub-points above). While English teachers tell students to avoid the use of the passive voice, the passive construction is often appropriately used in social science and scientific writing; the subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire (because the focus of the writing is on the subjects, and the researcher keeps himself/herself purposefully in the background)
– use of the personal pronoun I (me, myself, my, mine) while not prohibited should be restricted. Acceptable is a phrase such as The argument I will present in this paper is that.. Unacceptable is a phrase such as As I was reading this book, I thought to myself, thats an interesting idea
