Instructions
You are required to attend a co-curricular activity or watch a documentary related to American politics, then write a report. Either choice (activity or film) is acceptable, so long as it is related to U.S. politics and your instructor approves it. You must contact the instructor no later than two weeks before the paper is due to obtain his/her approval. Here are some examples of what would work:
- Watch a documentary, series episode, televised political debate, or movie related to a topic in our class. Some examples include an episode of “House of Cards” (Netflix subscription required), a live parliamentary debate in the House or Senate via C-SPAN, or the PBS documentary “Trump’s Takeover” (free on PBS);
Based on your selection, write a 2 ½ – 3 page (650-1,000 words) report that includes:
- a summary of the co-curricular activity or documentary,
- how it relates to this class, and
- how you feel about it.
This assignment is 100 points, so it carries a substantive weight of about 20% of your final grade. Keep the following guidelines in mind to avoid having points deducted from your work:
CategoryGuidelines
Activity Choice-The co-curricular activity or documentary has to do with either a topic we learned in our course or U.S. politics in general. Instructor must provide approval at least two weeks before the paper’s due date.
Minimum Word/Page Count-No fewer than 650 words (2 ½ pages)
Maximum Word/Page Count-No more than 1,000 words (3 pages)
Format-1” margins
12 pt. Times New roman Font (or Palatino Linotype)
Double-spaced (no extra spaces between paragraphs)
Summarizing, Quoting, or Paraphrasing-
You should use your own words to summarize your experience. If you choose to quote or paraphrase someone else’s work, however, you must give proper credit to your source(s). Visit Purdue OWL: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing for instructions on how to do this properly. Referencing someone else’s work also requires that you select a citation format – APA, MLA, or Chicago – and use that format consistently throughout your report.
Final Report-
Submit the Final Co-curricular Activity Writing Challenge in the corresponding Assignments dropbox. The report will be run through Turnitin, a plagiarism detection software. Visit the Academic Honesty section of the syllabus for our plagiarism policy. Your work must be a product of your own efforts. It cannot be identical or similar to another student’s paper.
