Week Assignment II

POL 201 Assignment Guide
There is a written assignment in weeks 2-5 of the course. Each assignment builds
toward the Week 5 Final Research paper. After you receive feedback in Weeks 2, 3,
and 4, use it (and any additional research) to construct your Week 5 Final Research
paper. In the sections following, you will see specific guides for each week of the
course to help you understand each part of the overall process.
 
It is important to understand the overall purpose of the final paper before beginning your
assignment in Week 2, 3, and 4, as we will build towards your final paper. The first part
will involve selecting your topic and finding your research in the Week 2 Discussion and
the Week 2 Annotated Bibliography Assignment. The second part will focus on
establishing a thesis statement and developing a detailed outline in the Week 3 Outline
Assignment. In Week 4, you will develop a rough draft of your paper and send it to the
University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center for feedback. In Week 5, you will
combine all of the parts and the feedback you have received to develop your Final
Paper.
 
Week 5 Final Paper
The primary goal of your final assignment is to critically analyze the specific policy you
will choose that focuses on aspects of the American national government.
Each week, you will prepare for the final assignment by constructing an Annotated
Bibliography (Week 2) and a detailed outline of the Final Paper’s main points (Week 3).
In these assignments, you will focus on the policy you choose and find research to
support your ideas relating to these four areas:
• Historical and constitutional basis for the American Government’s structure
• The system of checks and balances
• The various roles (i.e., public opinion, media, special interest groups, etc.)
concerning public policy and elections
• The voting system and election process.
 
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Your paper will evaluate a specific policy of our national government and recommend
ways to enhance what works and repair what is not working well. It is important that
your Final Paper utilizes your previous research and assignments, including the
feedback that you will receive from the University of Arizona Global Campus Writing
Center in Week 4.
The Final Paper should utilize the POL 201 Final Paper template and be at least six
pages in length (not including title page and references) and based on your previously
submitted assignments. It is important to utilize APA Style Elements headings for major
sections of your paper in order to ensure that the paper is easy to follow. A model
POL201 Final Paper Guide is provided for you to download and utilize when completing
your Final Paper.
 
Scaffold your paper around the following outline:
• Title page (see Introduction to APA)
• Introduction (half page) (see Introductions & Conclusions)
o Describe the paper’s overall thesis.
o Provide an overview of main points.
• First Main Point (one to one and a half pages) describes the historical and
Constitutional basis of American government’s structure and how this
relates to the policy.
o Describe the main point.
o Support the main point with research.
• Second Main Point (one to one and a half pages) explains how the policy
is involved within the process of checks and balances.
o Describe the main point.
o Support the main point with research.
• Third Main Point (one to one and a half pages) describes how the policy
relates to public policy and elections and how the policy is portrayed by
the media.
o Describe the main point.
o Support the main point with research.
• Fourth Main Point (one to one and a half pages) explains how the policy
impacts voting and the election process.
 

 
o Describe the main point.
o Support the main point with research.
• Conclusion (see Introductions & Conclusions)
o Review your main points.
o Review your overall thesis.
• References page (see Formatting Your References List)
 
The Final Paper Assignment
• Must be at least six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and
references pages) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the
Writing Center.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
o Title of paper
o Student’s name
o Course name and number
o Instructor’s name
o Date submitted
• Must use at least eight scholarly sources in addition to the course text. A
minimum of five of the resources must be from peer-reviewed scholarly
sources from the University of Arizona Global Campus Library.
o The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table
offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have
questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this
assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the
final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a
particular assignment.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to
APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
 
 

 
Now that you understand what the Final Paper will focus on, let’s focus on the different
parts of the assignment that will help you to research and develop a strong final paper.
 
Part I: Week Two – Annotated Bibliography
In Week Two, you will begin the process of developing your final paper. The first part of
this process will be to determine your topic in the Week 2 discussion forum using the list
of potential topics.
The next step will be to start the research process through your Week Two assignment,
which focuses on the Annotated Bibliography.
Utilizing the Week 2 Annotated Bibliography Worksheet, you will complete the following:
A. Discuss and develop the topic/policy you will focus on for this
assignment. Policy suggestions can be found in the Week Two
Question and Policy Resource and are also addressed in the
Week 2 Discussion.
B. Annotated Bibliography of sources
1. Identify four peer-reviewed scholarly sources obtained
through AU Library Databases to support the four main
points of your final research paper, AND briefly explain what
the sources are about.
2. Detail how and why those sources are important to the point
you will be making.
Model Annotated Bibliography Example: The library provides an example of what an
APA formatted Annotated Bibliography should look like.
Part II: Week 3 Final Paper Outline Assignment
The next step in the development of your Final Paper is developing an outline and a
thesis statement.
You will scaffold your paper around the following outline that is provided for you in the
Week 3 Outline Worksheet.
• Title page
• Introduction (half page)
o Describe the paper’s overall thesis.
o Provide an overview of main points.
 

 
• First Main Point (1 to 1.5 pages) describes the historical and Constitutional
basis of American Government’s structure and how this relates to the
policy.
o Description of the main point.
o Research that supports the main point.
• Second Main Point (1 to 1.5 pages) explains how the policy is involved
within the process of checks and balances.
o Description of the main point.
o Research that supports the main point.
• Third Main Point (1 to 1.5 pages) describes how the policy relates to
public policy and elections and how the policy is portrayed by the media.
o Description of the main point.
o Research that supports the main point.
• Fourth Main Point (1 to 1.5 pages) explains how the policy impacts voting
and the election process.
o Description of the main point.
o Research that supports the main point.
• Conclusion
o Review your main points.
o Review your overall thesis.
• References page
 
At least 4 of your sources must be peer-reviewed scholarly sources obtained through
the University of Arizona Global Campus Library database (completed in your Week 2
Annotated Bibliography). The additional 2 sources for this assignment do not have to
be from the University of Arizona Global Campus Library, but should be reliable,
verifiable, and as free of bias as possible.
Part III: Week 4 Final Paper Draft Assignment
Utilizing your work on your Weeks 2 and 3 Assignments, you will develop a draft of your
Final Research Paper, that you will submit to the University of Arizona Global Campus
Writing Center Paper Review for feedback.
 

 
Instructions: Review the Final Paper Assignment instructions for the full requirements.
Be sure to download the POL 201 Final Paper Model, utilize any feedback provided by
your instructor, and use APA formatting throughout your draft. Your draft should be
complete with an introduction, thesis statement, full body paragraphs to support your
ideas, a conclusion, and a full reference list of at least eight resources as detailed in the
earlier assignment instructions.
Once your draft is complete, you will upload your paper into the University of Arizona
Global Campus’s Writing Center Paper Review area for feedback. Feedback is typically
returned in approximately 24 hours. You will need to have your draft complete by Day 7
(Monday) to have time to upload it to the Writing Center and receive feedback. You will
upload the feedback you received from the Writing Center into Waypoint to confirm
completion of your draft and feedback received, to earn the point for the assignment.
You may submit your Writing Center feedback up through Day 3 (Thursday) of Week 5
without a late penalty.