Assignment details:
1. Select a current American political issue and briefly describe the issue and what the
different viewpoints are. For example, the topic could be legalization of marijuana in
the U.S. The viewpoints are either for legalization or against it.
2. Research the topic using three professional sources (books, journals, newspapers,
magazines, or websites that end in .org, .edu, or .gov) and compare and contrast the
different viewpoints and positions on your topic. Fully address the different sides of
the issue and demonstrate an understanding of its complexities.
3. Draw a personal conclusion based on your analysis of the issue and present an
informed evaluation from the evidence.
4. Your paper will include the body of work and a Works Cited Page (list or resources
used).
5. Submit your paper through Canvas by the due date as posted in the Course Syllabus.
Fyi, the paper will automatically be run through a program that checks for plagiarism.
Plagiarized work will receive a grade of zero (0) with no opportunity for make-up.
• Completed in Microsoft Word
• Use MLA (Modern Language Association) Formatting o Details and helpful
information can be found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
• 12 font size
• Verdana font
• Double spaced
• The body of the research paper must be a minimum of 1,000 words.
• The research paper must be original work from the student and may not be
recycled from a different class. In other words, if you’ve already submitted the
paper in a different class, ever, you may not use it for this assignment. All
information must be properly cited using in-text citations; place the author (e.g.,
Brown) or the source name (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau) in parenthetical citation
after paraphrasing their work.
• Use 3 separate professional sources.
• Information from sources must be paraphrased and not quoted. Do not put any
quotes within your paper. The resources cited within the body of the work must
match the listed resources on the Works Cited page.
