Political Science Opinion Essay

Description:
Each of the topic descriptions contain several guiding questions that should help give you some direction with your research; however, you are not required to answer these questions specifically. After having done some research on your topic, you will need to develop a thesis statement to build your paper around, and then support that main thesis idea through the evidence and argumentation that you provide throughout the rest of the paper. There is no “black and white” answer as to whether this is an opinion paper. Rather, the task before you is to appropriately utilize and convey the evidence that seems to best support your thesis statement; the formation of that thesis idea is of course up to you, and will be based on your own normative political judgments. Your total paper length should be at least four pages. You may use any standard formatting (MLA, APA, etc.), so long as you stay consistent with your format throughout, and you should type in Times New Roman, size 12 font. The paper should be double-spaced.

You must use at least five outside sources for your paper, and you must appropriately cite any information that you specifically obtain from any outside source. Furthermore, any outside source that you cite in the paper must also be included in a works cited page at the end of the paper- additional to the assigned number of pages to write. Examples of good sources include major news organizations such as The Economist, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, The Atlantic, Washington Post, etc. (where you access the articles through the websites of these kinds of news publications); think tank organizations such as the Rand Corporation, Brookings Institute, Peterson Foundation, CATO Institute, and Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (which also have plenty of analysis on their websites); and the websites of government departments and agencies, such as the CIA world factbook, or the Justice and Treasury departments, among many other examples. Furthermore, you may always cite our own textbook wherever relevant. Lastly, you may also access and utilize academic journal articles as well, though this is not at all a requirement.