Civic Engagement Assignment
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Civic Engagement Assignment
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What is the nature of this assignment? Your Civic Engagement project
is a semester long project design to help you become engaged
(actively, publicly involved) with the current politics of an issue
that is very important to you personally.
II. What, am I expected to turn in for this assignment, and how? each
student will submit a written, typed paper (6 to 8 pages in length)
documenting your research (and engagement experiences) relevant to the
topic that you have chosen. In order to gain insight on the general
expectations for formatting and/or presenting a college-level research
paper, please refer to the resources provided in this assignment\’s
organizer on our iCollege homepage. Also, GPC\’s library is an
excellent resource for these kinds of assignments:
http://www.gpc.edu/library/
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III. What am I supposed to write my paper about? The student is
encouraged to link his or her individual, personal interests, or life
circumstances, to the content of American politics. Having reflected
on your own interests, and those things that are important to you
personally, you should take time to scan local & national newspapers,
the Internet (* http://civicleagueatlanta.org/
http://botw.org/top/Society/
yahoo.com/politics; msnbc.com; CNN–you-tube, or politics1.com)
looking for stories or general topics that are interesting and
relevant to you. Toward the end of the semester, Each student will
submit a paper to www.turnitin.com (11/01, noon)–which will also be
posted on a iCollege discussion board (accessible by the whole class)
as a final presentation.
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A significant aspect of this assignment will be for you to show some
imagination and creativity in linking your chosen topic to our course
content, as well as finding opportunities to advocate for– or attempt
to influence decision-makers about– a community, state, national, or
global problem. In other words, become ENGAGED with the current
politics of your chosen topic! If you begin to consider a topic for
which there are no currently relevant politics in which to become
engaged, that should be a good hint that you need to keep thinking.
So, you may ask, \”What kinds of things would count as becoming
involved (click here)?\”
Once you have considered your possible options, and arrived at your
chosen topic (for students in the Atlanta area:
http://civicleagueatlanta.org/
discuss your initial thoughts with me—either in on-line office hours
or simply by i- college e-mail prior to the end of the first test.
This will be the topic for your project.
Your Paper Should Consist of Three Parts:
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1) a Policy Exploration section in which you explain the topic of your
choice, why it is important to you personally, how it is relevant in
the context of current American politics, as well as the recent
political events/ controversies relevant to your topic and the current
status of politics dealing with your topic. this is the section most
like a conventional college research paper, in which the student is
expected to use well researched, quality sources in order to present
an informative overview of the chosen topic. well-documented research
is a priority in this section.
2) the Civic Engagement section of the paper in which you explain/
explore the various options available for expressing your own
preferences, concerns or ideas on the topic of your choice by means of
civic engagement.
Civic Engagement Assignment
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IV. So, what is the \”Civic\” nature of this assignment? The public
nature of civic engagement should imply the necessity for you to
become proactive in expressing your concerns, preferences or opinions
in a public manner. Please don\’t infer that this assignment will
require you to paint some radical posterboard, go to a local street
corner in your community, and scream your ideological worldview at
innocent passerby\’s.
Rather, this project should give the student insight that individual
ideas, concerns and preferences are much more likely to be influential
in American politics when expressed publicly, preferably in
coordination with a network of people with common interest in the
topic. Does this mean that I have to join an interest group, or find
another organization of people to work with? — Not Necessarily. As
long as you find a way to express your preferences, concerns or ideas
on your chosen topic \”publicly\” you will meet the \”civic
engagement\” requirement for this project. (Ex: 1. create a website;
2) write letters or e-mails to influential government officials with
the authority dealing with your topic; 3) contact influential public
figures with similar concerns as years regarding your topic; 4)
attended public rallies, hearings, protests or seminars dealing with
the topic of your choice…
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3) The Reflection section of your paper will conclude the paper. Here,
it is appropriate for the student to continue with the first person,
familiar tone of voice allowed in the \”engagement\” section above (
using I, me, mine…). I am interested in observing your critical
assessment of the nature of politics that are ongoing relevant to your
topic, the potential biases or objectivity of information learned from
various sources on your topic.
I also want the student to discuss in this section their critical
observations of their own personal engagement experiences with the
politics of the topic. Did you, individually, make a difference? Did
the experience of political engagement on an important personal topic
effect you personally? Did this assignment have any impact at all on
your personal views regarding the topic? As far as the public nature
of this assignment, did your engagement have any effect on other
people regarding this topic? Please critically evaluate the relative
influence of other people, groups or organizations involved in the
politics of your topic.
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V. Okay, so what is this guy looking for in a perfect paper?
The entire paper is expected to be a minimum of six typed pages
(target length = 8 pages), double-spaced, with 12 point-font &
one-inch margins. Please use a title page. You are expected to list at
least 8-10 good, reliable sources on a reference page correctly
formatted according to the APA citation style (please refer to
http://www.gpc.edu/library/
any hyperlinks accessible from that same homepage cannot be countered
as separate, distinct sources. For example, if you obtain useful
information from the FBI’s Office of Counterterrorism link, you may
legitimately cite this as only one source, not 1) the FBI homepage,
and 2) the FBI Office of Counterterrorism. It is the student’s
responsibility to be proactive in getting out there and finding/
reading good, independent, legitimate material to enhance their
knowledge of their selected topic.
Papers must be submitted as MS-Word docs by noon, 11/01 using
Turn-It-In (class id & password will be forthcoming). Late paper will
lose 10 points for each class day late—up to two class days. Beyond
that is a 0. Papers that include citation mistakes (missing citations,
wrong format, not according to an accepted citation style…) will lose
5 points for each such mistake. However, the line between simple
mistakes described above and plagiarism is quite thin, & subjective in
many cases. I will use my discretion to determine if the case is
plagiarism or not, and I tend to be quite strict. If a paper includes
plagiarism (intentionally presenting someone else’s work as your own,
or failing to credit a quote or specific data/information to its
original source within the text), the student will get a 0 for the
assignment. Don’t even think about it!!! I do use software to help
detect plagiarism.
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Finally, be aware that your project will be posted in a class
discussion board– as a Final Class Presentation– toward the end of
the semester. Good luck, and enjoy this!
Before writing an academic paper, you should:
Formulate 1–4 clear, concise questions you are posing and write them down.
Answer the questions. Formulate some clear, straightforward thesis
that directly answers the questions. A good rule of thumb: if you
can\’t make a simple diagram of your thesis, you probably can\’t
explain it clearly either.
Edit your informal notes for the project, producing a 5–10 page,
crisply written paper. Outline your argument. Rearrange your outline
to increase its coherence. Rearrange it again.
Strive for strong opening and concluding paragraphs that clearly
state your thesis. Try to grab the reader\’s attention and explain why
he/she should care about your topic. Aim for specificity in your main
point, and make sure it\’s an argument and not just a description.
Underline, italicize, or bold your thesis statement. Use the first
paragraph to lead up to your thesis statement. This paragraph is your
chance to convey the payoff of your paper. It should explain why your
thesis is interesting and why it makes sense.
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Tightly organize the structure of your paper. Divide the paper into
sections, each of which should elaborate part of the argument you
outlined in the first paragraph. Within each section, each paragraph
should build off the previous paragraph leading the reader to the main
point of the section. Within each paragraph, each sentence should
logically lead to the next. I strongly recommend generating a
sentence-level outline of the paper, paragraph by paragraph.
End the paper with a convincing conclusion. The paragraphs should
recap your argument. This may seem repetitive to you. Do it anyway!
This is an academic paper. You therefore need to engage the academic
literature on your topic in the first part of the paper. You will need
to find, read, and cite the relevant academic literature.
You must use evidence in your paper for every major point you make.
Avoid unsubstantiated assertions of fact. When you make a claim,
provide evidence to persuade your reader that your claim is true.
Often, this only requires a single citation.
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Do not ignore contrary evidence. Either acknowledge that such
contrary evidence limits the generality of your argument or show why
it is not actually contrary to your argument.
Draw on the most potentially relevant, reputable sources of information.
Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
Stylistic Guidance
Check your spelling and punctuation.
Avoid awkward sentences. To help check for awkward sentences, read
them aloud to yourself or to a friend.
Use active, not passive verbs.
Tighten every sentence by cutting unnecessary words.
Break up long paragraphs by topic. Make sure each paragraph
completes a point/subpoint that supports your argument/thesis.
Paragraphs should usually begin with an introductory sentence and end
with a concluding sentence.
Consultant standard reference on grammar and language use (C. W.
Strunk and E. B. White\’s Elements of Style, Diana Hacker\’s A Pocket
Style Manual, or Joseph M. Williams\’ Style: Toward Clarity and
Grace).
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Do not protect your writing from your editing. Take it for granted
that you will delete sentences or even whole paragraphs as you edit.
The most important aspect of editing is not to correct individual
sentences (though you should do this too), but to ensure that each
paragraph makes a clear and distinct point, and the paper makes a
tight, coherent argument!
Use a proper citation format in your bibliography (e.g. APA).
Do not use impersonal pronouns (e.g., it) when the referent is
unclear or nowhere in sight. The \”it\” should refer clearly to a
specific noun used in the preceding clause, not to a general concept
contained in the previous clause, nor to a specific noun two or more
clauses away. Similarly, avoid using \”this\” and \”that\” as subjects
or direct objects.
Thus, you would not write: \”Dahl and other scholars have advanced
the argument that democratization depends little on international
influence. But this ignores important exceptions, such as Greece,
Argentina, Taiwan, and the Eastern Europe.\” Instead, write: \”Dahl
and other scholars have advanced the argument that democratization
depends little on international influence. But this argument ignores
important exceptions, such as Greece, Argentina, Taiwan, and the
Eastern Europe.\”
In formal writing, never use the second person as a substitute for
impersonal or general references. Thus you should not write: \”living
in a democracy makes you less likely to be arrested for political
reasons.\” You might write instead: \”Citizens in democratic societies
are less likely to be arrested for political reasons.\”
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