Purpose: 1. Become better informed about the politics of campaigns and elections. 2. To familiarize you with the candidates who seek the presidency and the issues they face. 3. To become better acquainted with research tools and resources available.
Assignment: 1500 word minimum research paper on a single candidate (winner or loser – not both) for a recent presidential election, 1980-2020 ( max 12 font, Arial or Times New Roman font, remember that references do not count toward your page count nor does non-standard bizarre extra spacing at the top, your name and the title will suffice). Submitting less than the minimum 1500 word length requirement is not college work and should be avoided (i.e. severe penalties will apply). Please submit your document as a word document or simple text file (no apple pages files, PDF files, or google doc links please – both of those programs allow you to save/download papers as a word document). Please submit word (.docx) files.
You must choose from these candidates:
1980 – Jimmy Carter (D), Ronald Reagan (R)
1984 – Ronald Reagan (R), Walter Mondale (D)
1988 – George H.W. Bush (R), Michael Dukakis (D)
1992 – George H.W. Bush (R), Bill Clinton (D), Ross Perot (I)
1996 – Bill Clinton (D), Bob Dole (R)
2000 – Al Gore (D), George W. Bush (R)
2004 – George W. Bush (R), John Kerry (D)
2008 – John McCain (R), Barack Obama (D)
2012 – Barack Obama (D), Mitt Romney (R)
2016 – Donald Trump (R), Hillary Clinton (D)
2020 – Joe Biden (D), Donald Trump (R)
Instructions: The paper must analyze the candidates’ views on key issues, how the campaign was waged (i.e. was there a vicious ad campaign?), what strategies/tactics did he employ, why one candidates would have received your vote, why this candidate was or should have been elected the president, where did the candidate stand in the polls during the campaign, was he a long-shot or the favorite to win? A minimum of ten sources are required. All internet sources must be from reputable sites. Newspaper sites, major news network sites, and dot orgs are the only acceptable sources for internet sources. Please do not use your friends blog, myspace page, facebook, twitter account or JoeShmoe’sPoliticsPage.com. You may use the candidate’s official site as one source (all recent former presidents have Presidential libraries with good web sites). Sources must be documented via a bibliography (works cited) with the name of the article, publication name, publication date, website address, and page number if applicable. You are required to document your sources via full MLA, or APA bibliographical citations (other citation standards can be used but must be cleared with me first). If you are not familiar with how to cite bibliographical citations in MLA or APA format, the writing center can assist you through the process.
Advice: Start early and do not procrastinate. This assignment is not hard but will take some time to complete. Take advantage of the writing center. Students that take their paper drafts to them for help always receive higher grades on this assignment.
This research paper will consist of your analysis of the issues and candidates and it is therefore crucially important that you use your own words and not “borrow” words from others. Usage of AI tools is not permitted on this assignment. Once submitted your paper will be processed through a system to check for plagiarism and AI. I take plagiarism very seriously and warn you not to attempt such a deception. This is supposed to be a fun assignment where you write about a candidate you like, please don’t be disrespectful to me and attempt to cheat on it. The consequences of doing so are not fun and are potentially severe (see student code of conduct).
