PSC101 Community Meeting Term Paper
Political Science 101
One important aspect of political science is understanding how politics works in reality. A practical understanding of politics, as seen in community meetings in general, will help heighten your understanding of individual responsibilities in communities, states, and the nation. It will also open doors to personal involvement in local, state, and national politics.
For your term paper, you will be required to view one archived regular meeting from one of the following sources:
- Clark County Commissioners Board
- Clark County School Board
- Henderson City Council
When choosing a meeting to view, it is important that you look over the agendas and make sure that the meeting contains items of discussion that will allow you a topic to research. Make sure to read all of the Term Paper instructions before selecting your meeting.
Preparing for the Term Paper:
Begin by viewing at least an hour of an archived community meeting from one of these three sources (Note: When you see the options, please make sure to view a “Regular” meeting.):
- Clark County Board of Commissioners: http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/public-communications/Pages/Agendas2.aspx (Links to an external site.)
- Clark County School Board: https://ccsd.net/trustees/meeting-agendas/2019 (Links to an external site.)
- Henderson City Council: http://henderson.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/meetresults.aspx?SortBy=Type+Asc&year=2019&month=3 (Links to an external site.)
While viewing the community meeting, take notes regarding the following two questions:
- What are two fundamental ideas or principles of American government that are associated with this community meeting?
(Consider the ideas and principles that we have studied in class, particular in chapters one, two, and three of the textbook.)
- What aspects of American or Nevada political culture are a part of the meeting?
[place-order-2]
Writing the Term Paper:
After viewing the community meeting, you will need to write a term paper that includes the following:
- Present a detailed introduction and summary of the meeting that you viewed (including the exact date and name of meeting).
- Identify and discuss two fundamental ideas or principles of American government that are associated with this community meeting.
- Identify and discuss aspects of American or Nevada political culture that are a part of the meeting.
- Provide a strong conclusion for the paper that summarizes your main points.
You will need to use three or more academic sources in your paper. It is important that you integrate your research from your academic sources into the answers you provide in the paper.
You will be graded on the content of the paper as well as proper writing, spelling, and grammar skills.
Your paper should be about 4-6 pages, double-spaced, not counting the cover page, Works Cited page, or appendices.
Each section will need to have a section heading. Thus, you will need to include the following four section headings in your paper:
- Introduction and Summary of Meeting
- Fundamental Principles of American Government Associated with this Meeting
- Aspects of American or Nevada Political Culture that Included in the Meeting
- Summary and Conclusion
A Cover Page and a Works Cited page must be included. The cover or title page must include:
- A paper title,
- The student’s name,
- Student ID number (or last 4 digits of SSN),
- The course name, semester/year, section number, and the professor’s name.
- Honor Statement
* Points will be deducted for failure to conform to these instructions.
*Papers will not be graded that do not contain a cover page with the Honor Statement on the cover page.
The Fine Print of the Term Paper:
- The paper must be submitted only as a Microsoft WORD or PDF file
- You are required to use MLA formatting (see Academic Research Linksunder the Community Meeting Term Paper module in Canvas for MLA websites.)
- The margins must be 1 inch on all sides. Page numbers must be inserted according to MLA format. The font size is to be 12-point except for headings, titles, and cover page material (which can be larger than 12-point font). The paper should be no more than 8 pages total.
- You need to include a minimumof 3 academic Remember, that not all sources are considered academic sources. Academic sources are usually peer reviewed and edited to account for accuracy. Government websites are considered academic sources but blogs about the government are generally not considered academic sources. Do not use Wikipedia or similar sites that permit the public to edit the page.
- Cutting and pasting from various sources is not “writing” a paper. Cutting and pasting requires little mental effort and students do not benefit from that. Not to mention that it is plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the paper and further consequences in the class. Please do not plagiarize.
- The paper is intended to allow you to gather research, process it, and then critically evaluate what you experienced and learned—and share that in writing. It is designed to get you marketable skills you will need in the future.
- Part of demonstrating your research is to include it in your writing. It is important that you show the reader where you got your information—and you do this by including in-text citations. Please follow MLA formatting for in-text citations.
- You need to submit/upload your paper to the appropriate Term Paper Submission Boxby the due date listed in the syllabus. (There is a 5-point penalty for each day the paper is late.)
- Please use the resources that the school has to offer to help you as you research, write, review, and finalize your paper. (See the Student Resourcessection in the course syllabus.) This term paper should be a paper that is real, interesting, and scholarly—one that demonstrates that you have done research and written a college-level paper. You will be graded according to the following scale:
Term Paper Grading:
Term Paper Research Help
TERM PAPER RESEARCH HELP
One important part of a term paper is learning how to do proper research. You need to have credible information to use in order to present your term paper ideas in an academic way. It is one thing to write about US Foreign Policy using official government websites, political science research that is academic and has been peer reviewed, and other primary sources. It is quite another thing to write a paper using unofficial websites, personal blogs, shady newspaper articles, or just personal opinions.
The term paper should demonstrate that you know the academic information that is out there regarding your topic–and that you have been able to weave that information in with your own analysis, ideas, and personal experience. You must always cite your research in your writing–that lets that reader know that the information you are presenting is not just your own personal opinion–and it gives more credibility and authority to your paper.
Remember, for this term paper you should use
- academic journal articles (see list below for political science examples),
- newspaper articles, and
- academic books or websites (if a group has an official website, that would count)
as references for your paper. Your academic journal may come from the field of political science, or another field. You are encouraged to have more references than the required three. Your textbook may not be used to fulfill the academic sources requirement.
The librarians at the CSN library are always more than happy to help you with your research and the school often has library subscriptions to online journals so you don’t have to pay for access.
The following are possible political science academic journals that you might consider using:
American Political Science Review
- The leading journal of political science research presents peer-reviewed research articles by political scientists of all subfields. APSR continues to be the foremost scholarly research journal of political science.
American Journal of Political Science (AJPS) (Links to an external site.)
- Committed to significant advances in knowledge and understanding of citizenship, governance, and politics, and to the public value of political science research. AJPS
Journal of Politics (Links to an external site.)
- Publishes theoretically innovative and methodologically diverse research in all subfields of the discipline including, but not limited to, American politics, comparative politics, formal theory, international relations, methodology, political theory, public administration and public policy.
Annual Review of Political Science (Links to an external site.)
- Covers significant developments in the field of Political Science including political theory and philosophy, international relations, political economy, political behavior, American and comparative politics, public administration and policy, and methodology.
The Annals
- The American Academy of Political and Social Science has served as a forum for the free exchange of ideas among the well informed and intellectually curious. In this era of specialization, few scholarly periodicals cover the scope of societies and politics like The ANNALS . Each volume is guest edited by outstanding scholars and experts in the topics studied and presents more than 200 pages of timely, in-depth research on a significant topic of concern.
Perspectives on Politics (APSA)
- A space for broad and synthetic discussion within the political science profession and between the profession and the broader scholarly and reading publics.
Political Science Quarterly (Links to an external site.)
- The most widely read and accessible scholarly journal covering government, politics and policy. A nonpartisan journal, PSQis edited for both political scientists and general readers with a keen interest in public and foreign affairs. Each article is based on objective evidence and is fully refereed.
Political Studies (Links to an external site.)
- An alternative, critical voice of the social sciences. The journal’s editorial mission is to encourage a tradition of critical analysis through the development of Marxist, post-Marxist and other radical perspectives. It presents rational and engaged discourse, and reconstructs social inquiry though scholarship that addresses fundamental questions of politics, theory and policy.
Politics and Society (Links to an external site.)
- Committed to the publication of a plurality of approaches to the study of politics.
Public Opinion Quarterly (Links to an external site.)
- A trusted source for a wide range of high quality research. POQ selectively publishes important theoretical contributions to opinion and communication research, analyses of current public opinion, and investigations of methodological issues involved in survey validity– including questionnaire construction, interviewing and interviewers, sampling strategy, and mode of administration.
MLA Formatting Links
Here are a few links to help you with the MLA formatting:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ (Links to an external site.)
http://citationmachine.net/index2.php (Links to an external site.)