Assignments

• All written work for this class must conform to the following guidelines:

• All written work must be typed, in WORD format, double line-spaced with one inch margins, and twelve point font. All paragraphs should be indented five spaces (using tab button) and insert a line space between paragraphs.

• All written assignments must include a cover page with the student's name, the class for which you are writing the paper, the due date and instructor.The cover page should not have a header or a page number on it. All pages must be numbered. Note: The cover page, citation page, or any appendices with charts or figures do not count towards the page requirements of written assignments.

• All sources must be cited and all citations must be footnotes. Guidance on how to compose citations can be found in the Chicago Manual of Style. An abridged, online version of the Chicago Manual can be found at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The UDC writing center has created an online tutorial for composing citations. Contact the writing center for more details.

• NO sources for any paper can be from the Internet, except if the site itself is the subject of a paper, example Congressional member's website and/ or if the site lists statistics that cannot be found in printed form.

Assignment #1 - Current Events Discussions

Every day Congress is in the news. Current events and issues involving Congress will be interwoven throughout all class discussions. Therefore, students are expected to find articles relating to Congress from daily/weekly current and non-current publications or television programs such as, but not limited to, the Washington Post, Washington Times, Afro-American, theWashington Informer, Roll Call, Politico, news magazine i.e. Time, Newsweek, The Nation, The Spectator, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and the Daily Show, Hardball, Meet the Press, The Melissa Harris Perry Show, The O'Reily Factor, On The Record 9 with Greta Van Susteren, etc. Although you should keep abreast of current events for all classes, a written submission of an analysis of a current event will be due by the end of the followings dates Nov 4th&Nov 16th.Please summarize and analyze the major highlights of the article or video. What is the primary issue? Defend your opinion/position. Each current event discussion should be between 2 and 2 ½ pages long.

Assignment #2- The Influence of Money in the Election Process and on Congress |

Discuss the impact of money in the election of members to Congress and once they become members of the institution. Go to http://opensecrets.org follow the money interest in Congress.

Review the overview of the elections of the 113th and 114th Congress paying specific attention to:

Summary data, donors, races (hot races, most expensive races); which candidates raised the most or least money? Who spent the most? Who were the top PAC recipients? Top Self-funders? Top in/out of state funding sources? What has been the impact of the Citizen United Supreme Court case? Prepare a minimum 5-page paper in response and reaction to the information gather from this site. You might consider answering what does this tell us? What can we infer from all of this? Why does it matter? What does it say about the state of democracy and politics in general?

Assignment #3 | Research Paper |

This particular assignment is designed to improve your writing and critical thinking skills. In addition the paper provides students with the opportunity to conduct a critical analysis about an issue that is currently impacting the field of black politics (i.e. voting rights restoration, unemployment, mass increation, Black Lives Matter, poverty, gentrification, unemployment, urban schools, etc.). A research paper rubric will be provided to help guide your writing. The research paper should be 12-15 pages, not including the cover and work cited page. A minimum of 10 sources are required for the paper; only five of these sources may be internet sources the rest must come from a scholarly journal, newspaper, magazine, or book.

• Look at the proposal.

Assignment #4 | Research Paper Presentation

Students must prepare a ten slide power point presentation that provides an overview of the 12-15 page research paper. Students who do not present their power point presentations will receive zero points for their power point presentation=