Paper Assignment: American Government POS
Write an essay on the topic below, 5-6 typed (12-pitch) double-spaced pages long (not including reference page or cover page).
Use paragraphs. Use (with proper referencing - see below) the required American Government: Your Voce, Your Future text and two other academic journal sources, i.e. Political Science Quarterly, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, etc. (Newspaper articles, news magazines, and WEB sites do NOT count as academic journals.) This will require a little library research.
Topic - Political Socialization
Examine what effects the major agents of socialization have had on you and your thinking about politics. Here are some things to think about as you plan this paper. What is your earliest memory of thinking about politics? When did you first begin to know something about presidents or political parties? What influence along these lines did your family have on you? Your school(s)? Your neighborhood (maybe the one in your former country)? Your peers, experiences, etc.?
When did you begin to form political opinions of your own, not just repeating what you had heard? Do you consider yourself conservative - liberal - radical - moderate - nothing? What are your general attitudes toward authority in its various forms? Are you usually obedient, respectful, resentful, passively aggressive, openly hostile? If you have no real political leanings or beliefs, why do you believe that is the case?
Format
You need to open with an introductory paragraph describing what you intend to convey and end up with a concluding paragraph that ties the paper together. Do not just list facts and definitions from the text book and article. Analyze them and show how they fit together, and how they fit into the general theme of your essay. You have many options for approaches. Write this so that it is meaningful to you as well as meeting the course requirement as provided herein.
First Paper
It completed in time to meet the due date. I will post a presentation on finding sources through the library. If you need help with doing this library research, let me know. I am here to help as needed.
Referencing
An important part of an academic paper is proper referencing. There are numerous formats, but for this paper use one of the following:
Option 1 - Footnotes: Personal computers make this easy. Use either footnotes at the bottom of the page or endnotes but be consistent. First time a work is cited use full citation: [author's name, title, publisher, publication city & date, and page number.] I.e., for a book.1 For an article.2 If you use the source again, and the footnotes follow each other, use.3 If there is another citation in between use just the last name and page.4
Option 2 - In-Text citation: Use the author's last name, year of publication, and page number in parentheses within the text (Patterson 2006. p. xx) and also a bibliography page listing all sources in alphabetical order:
Patterson, Thomas E. We the People: A Concise Introduction to American Politics, Sixth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 2006.
Putnam, Robert D. "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital." Journal of Democracy: Volume 6. January 1995. (include the page range of the article, i.e. pages 234-263)
When you quote something (allowed; but use sparingly) be sure to use "quotation marks" and use the author's exact words. When you are not quoting, use an author's ideas by explaining them in your own words. Do not copy down a sentence or two and change a word or two. In either case, use proper referencing. There are different styles for references, pick one from above and be consistent. Remember: plagiarism is a major no- no in academic work. Plagiarism is defined as "the deliberate use and appropriation of another's work without any indication of the source and the passing off of such work as the student's own. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas or materials taken from another is guilty of plagiarism." (FIU Student Handbook, page 15)
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.