For this paper, you will search, read, analyze, and write based on articles from reputable mainstream news sources about various political, environmental, economic, or cultural topics that cover at least one region (and at least two countries from the region) from the eleven major regions we are exploring in this course. Check these important guidelines below:
At least four articles should be considered for this paper.
The articles selected should have been published no more than six months before the course began. Ideally, you should identify interconnections between events, as well as highlight some of the regional characteristics you read about from the course content that can be hinted at in the articles.
The final paper should be submitted in Word or PDF format.
It should contain about 1000 words, excluding references.
Articles must be referenced and cited using either MLALinks to an external site. or APALinks to an external site. format (consult the library website in case you need more info). Remember that a URL alone is not a proper citation. You must use in-text citations (for direct quotes and paraphrasing) AND works cited page.
Use appropriate articles. The articles should be from reputable mainstream news sources, such as The Conversation, The New York Times, the BBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, etc.
What to write —
The paper should analyze the four articles integratively – compare their perspectives on the issue of your choice, their scopes of agreement and disagreement, the limits of their argument, etc.
As far as the structure of the paper, I would suggest, in about 400 words, introducing the topic based on the articles and synthesizing them. In the remaining 600 words, do an integrated analysis of all these pieces from a regional perspective. Consider the following when doing the analysis:
– Show how your chosen articles relate to one or more of the themes we have touched on in this course.
– Identify spatial interrelationships. Highlight how your chosen topic/event occurring in a particular place and time might be influencing other spaces/countries/regions/landscapes/peoples, not necessarily from the other articles but in general. How is one event occurring in one place affecting other places? This is a good exercise to learn to identify the interconnections between locales.
– Demonstrate and apply how the concepts we learned through the course material help to analyze/expand your understanding of the topic/theme? Does the course material lead you to question some of the statements or assumptions in the articles or to see them in a more organized way?
– Think about how the articles add to what we learned in this course– does it add detail? Does it show how generalizations about the whole region may or may not apply to specific places within it?
Here’s the evaluation rubric for the final paper
Criterion
Points
Contemporary articles
15
Appropriate source
15
Grammar and style
10
Identification of spatial interconnections
20
Utilization of course concepts/ideas
20
Narrative cohesion/integration
20
Total
100
