Find any current and specific issue, story, or event that is occurring or has recently occurred within the past six months and is focused on the U.S. federal government. You could write about a proposal or legislation in Congress, a presidential initiative or action, an administrative decision or action, a story about the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, a recent federal court ruling, a foreign policy story or other interesting national government story that has recently been in the news.

■ Find any current and specific issue, story, or event that is occurring or has recently occurred within the past six months and is focused on the U.S. federal government. You could write about a proposal or legislation in Congress, a presidential initiative or action, an administrative decision or action, a story about the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, a recent federal court ruling, a foreign policy story or other interesting national government story that has recently been in the news.

•     YOU’RE STRONGLY ADVISED NOT TO CHOOSE COVID-19 as a topic. Papers that cover the history and spread of the pandemic won’t earn credit. This is a government class, so your paper needs a government topic. (If you decide to take on a topic related to COVID- 19, then you must write ONLY about a government angle, such as very recent actions of the Congress, the president, the Federal Reserve Board or a federal government agency, like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).) If you have any questions or concerns about whether your topic will work for this assignment, Inbox message me before you write it.

EXAMPLES:

–         Presidential executive orders or actions, such as immigration, military, trade, travel or foreign policy decisions

–         Election news about the upcoming 2022 federal elections

–         Administrative news from a department of the federal government, such as a new drug or medical device recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

–         Current legislation that has moved or is moving through Congress in 2022

–         U. S. government involvement in an international news story or event

•    DO NOT cover a state- or local-level issue or a non-government topic area, unless it has a strong national government angle and you can show a specific and direct connection to the U.S. national government. DO NOT write about a broad topic, such as global warming, stem­cell research, immigration, gun control or gasoline prices. You must find a story that is narrowly focused, specific, current and governmental or political in nature.

•   Research your topic and provide information from at least three sources in your paper, but be sure to use legitimate, objective and scholarly sources. You may find that news sites (such as National Public Radio) provide you with a start. Avoid obtaining information from biased sources, such as interest group websites, and do not use biased or opinionated information as fact.

•   Provide a detailed summary of your topic and be sure to UPDATE it as much as possible by using the most current research available. You must have up-to-date, 2022 research.

•   Explain the significance of your topic in the context of your overall study of American Government. You must tie in/connect your topic to information learned in class and from our reading materials and include specific information from our class readings and Lesson materials when explaining the topic. Your grade will be largely based on your ability to link your topic to what you have learned in this class.

•    Provide your personal opinion about and analysis of the topic. What do you think about it? Why did you choose this particular topic to write about? What is so interesting about it?

■  Write in MLA or APA style. Any information obtained from a source must be parenthetically cited in your essay, and you must include a Works Cited or References page at the end of the paper. Avoid even the appearance of plagiarism.

•   Do your own, original work. Do not submit the same paper to two or more instructors or submit a paper previously prepared for another course without first discussing the matter with all instructors involved. Since you may have to verify your paper’s authenticity and/or authorship, save all of your notes, rough drafts, materials used in preparation, copies of sources, etc. until the paper is graded.

■  Your paper must be at least 1000 WORDS, double-spaced, and in a standard size (10-12 point) type. It should be free of grammatical and style errors. Be sure to save your file in .doc, .docx, .pdf or .rtf format before uploading it.

•    This assignment is worth a maximum of 30 extra-credit points toward your overall total for the class.

A paper that lacks any of these items, doesn’t follow the proper format or isn’t submitted correctly (through the Assignments area of the Canvas course site)

won’t earn credit