Assignment Background
In order to provide you with the opportunity to do a bit of research in the area of American
Governmental institutions and to provide the administrators with the grades that they so
crave in a somewhat more meaningful format than multiple-choice/guess and true-false
quizzes; an essay exam and three topics from which to choose from…
Assignment Description
Your task; to choose whichever one of the three topics listed below causes you the least
revulsion, and following the instructions listed below (yeah there is a lot of below, here…),
to write a more or less creditable and substantive paper using both the required readings
(listed in the syllabus) and five or more outside sources (no, not wikipedia…) within the
time frame provided.
Assignment Instructions: (Read these carefully, or suffer the severe consequences of
not doing so…)
In lieu of writing the essay exam in class, you are expected to turn in a paper, covering one
(only one) of the three topics provided you, of your choice. The papers are expected to be of
a length of 5-7 pages double spaced, and should not exceed the length of 8 pages double
spaced (anything exceeding this specified length might simply not be read.) Use the
information provided by the required textbooks, and at least three other books and/or
periodicals and/or valid web sources, as well as your own reasoned understanding,
knowledge (or even imagination) to answer the topic question chosen.
I will be expecting you to provide proper foot-/end-notes, and a bibliography. By proper, I
mean that your foot-/end-notes will be individually and sequentially numbered, and will
follow the format known as Chicago/Turabian style. This is the style to be used for both
foot-, end-notes and also for the separate bibliography. If this style is not known to you, or
clear, either click on (if I can link it up) or type into your browser the following URL, which
covers the topic quite exhaustively (or you can google it on your own as well):
h tt p s: //w w w. c h i c a go man u al o f s t y l e. o r g /tur a b i a n /tur a b i an -n o t e s- a n d –
bibliography-citation-quick-guide.htm h ttp s: //w w w. y o u t u b e. c o m/ w a tc h ?Please note that Chicago/Turabian style allows for two citation systems: notes and
bibliography and in-text author/date citations and reference list. The system I require and
the only one I will accept as correct in this essay is notes and bibliography.
The foot-/ end-notes and bibliography for your essay, do not count as part of the 5-7 pages.
Improper, or non-existent foot-/end-notes and separate bibliography will incur a hefty
penalty in your essay grade. Please remember to keep notes of sources used as you put
together your essay, as such material will be much harder to gather or recreate once the
essay is written.
Your completed essays are to be posted in the form of attachments (which allow properly
formatted foot-/end-notes and bibliographies to be uploaded quickly and easily) to the Essay
Turn-In Module of the website. Papers should be attached in .doc, .docx, .odt, or .pdf format.
Anything else, I may not be able to open on my computer. Do not, I repeat do not attach
anything in .pages or .wps format. If I am unable to open your essays (and hence, unable to
grade them), your grade will go down as 0.0 points (and no, I am neither smiling now, nor
kidding about this, as this particular issue as cost me far too much personal pain and
heartache in the past. I actually do care, and I suffer if I have to grade you down on this type
of peccadillo, but I will, because I must.)
Poor spelling (please at least use a spell-checker anyway), and poor grammar will not be held
against you (unless I simply can’t understand what you are trying to get across), but
defeatism, or a clear lack of effort will. The paper will be due on Wednesday July 10th
, and is
to be turned in at the latest, by 22:00 (10:00PM), online to the module which will be provided
for that purpose. If the paper is turned in late, or not at all, you will be downgraded
accordingly. It will be far better for you to turn your paper in on time and not need to find (or
invent) excuses for why you could not.
To help you write the essay, you are strongly enjoined to take a look at Module ZP (don’t
even ask where that came from, unless you wish to talk about sci-fi…) in the website Modules
section. It is designed to give you some extra information that the book may not provide, and
give you also some avenues to explore while writing your essays. Make use of it, or not at
your discretion.
What are the main powers (expressed powers) granted the president directly by the
Constitution? What are inherent powers? What are some of his delegated (statutory) powers?
What are some examples of duties/powers assumed by the president in more recent times?
(Think FDR and the president as Chief legislator.) How and why has the power of the President
increased over time, while that of the party (Democratic or Republican) has lessened in the
past few decades, and has this led to greater presidential independence? (Think campaign
finance/bribery, and the change over time in its sources.) Please provide examples of this power shift.
(Note that I am not asking you here primarily about the president’s roles, but rather the powers which allow him
to carry out those roles. If you cannot understand the difference, this might not be the right question for you.)
