Writing Assignment. Each student will be given a research assignment on a topic pertaining to American national government. It will be graded on the following criteria: breadth of analysis, depth of research, accuracy, and compliance with format requirements. Your instructor does not review drafts of term papers in this course. Please be advised that these papers do not qualify for UM writing credit.
Length. The research paper should be eight to twelve pages in length, excluding the title page and/or abstract (which are optional) and table of references or list of works cited (which are mandatory). (Note: Do not include a “bibliography”. Your list of references should only include sources cited in the body of the paper.) The term paper must be double-spaced with standard (12 point) font and standard margins.
Citations. Your research paper should be fully developed with appropriate, specific and verifiable citations (in the body of the paper) to source material. An in-text (parenthetical) citation usually requires the last name of the author(s) and year of publication, and also when necessary for clarity the page or chapter number, if any. A page number, if any, must appear for any directly quoted material. Do not use footnotes or endnotes. Do not use/cite any UM textbooks as sources.
