Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Read and Analyze the following Texas Tribune article; instructions and tips after link:

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/10/george-floyd-protests-find-texas-organizers-new-allies-police-reforms/ (Links to an external site.)

Note: please be aware it does discuss/describe deaths from police brutality. 



Instructions
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate a literacy of power, politics, and government as we usually encounter it in our lives, especially interpreting the news.  What is going on in the article represents and illustrates in real life what we've learned about politics, government, and power in the course.  You will be graded upon your ability to properly identify power, politics, and government concepts, to correctly apply these course concepts in the analysis, and to correctly explain how the concepts explain what is going on in the article.

Write a 5-page paper, double-spaced, 1" margins, 12 point font.  Please cite as appropriate and provide a works cited list (any citation format is fine).  Do not summarize the article; stick to analysis.  For help, answer the questions below  in your paper to aid in your analysis.



Analysis Tips

This article covers everything we've learned this semester.  It discusses all the institutions and actors in Texas politics, and implies policy and political ideas also addressed in the course.  Answer the following questions to help you analyze the article:



1.  What institutions do you see in the article?  What are they doing and why?  What vocabulary, concepts, and theories have we learned about these institutions and behaviors?

2.  What political behaviors are the people doing?  What have we've learned about these behaviors--vocab, concepts, theories?  How are people interacting with the institutions?

3.  How does Texas political history, culture, power affect what is going on?  What vocab, concepts, and theories have we learned to explain the context?



We have learned about:

political cultures & power
political participation
interest groups and political parties
three branches:  Congress, Courts, Governor
various policy issues, including access to justice issues, access to voting issues, etc. 
the Constitution and federalism
local governments (county, city, special districts)

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Paper Instructions:

Writing Assignment Part 1: Analyze Sources



The purpose of this assignment is to aid students in analyzing sources. Students are to evaluate several potential sources that could be used for an essay. You will need to judge the quality of the eight sources given below. In a paragraph or two for each source, the student should describe it and evaluate its quality. The student should not just ascribe a high or low quality to the source, but discuss the reasoning behind those conclusions. Hopefully, after reading and analyzing these sources you will also have a good handle on the topic and some of its major arguments and issues.



The 8 Sources for Govt 2305 & 2306 Fall 2018 Writing Assignment topic of Regressive Taxation in Texas:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/in-texas-the-joys-of-no-income-tax-the-agonies-of-the-other-kinds.html

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/tax-cuts-are-big-texas-not-low-income-residents

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Brown-Texas-has-a-revenue-problem-and-it-s-11091993.php

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/sep/17/states-income-taxes-surprising-inequality-burden

https://forabettertexas.org/images/BT_2013_03_PP_WhoPaysTaxes.pdf

https://www.texaspolicy.com/library/doclib/2006-02-PP-taxincidence-bs.pdf

https://money.cnn.com/2015/01/15/pf/taxes/poor-state-taxes/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2015/01/30/regressive-taxes-are-neither-new-nor-good/#2940ffe45f15





Writing Assignment Part 2: Developing a Thesis statement; Outlining an argument; Preparing the Works Cited.



The purpose of this assignment is allow students to practice forming and outlining their argument and understanding the elements of a traditional essay.



Students will produce an outline for an essay, which eventually you will turn into your final essay. As a preparation for writing that essay, the student should focus on formulating their argument. The sources from assignment one are to be used in the outline, and if you desire, additional sources can be used as well. Students must attribute (cite) all of their sources used in the outline. You will use MLA style, which is the system taught in WC English courses. Remember the list of links located in the introductory module of Canvas to help you with your formatting and preparation of your works cited.



You will turn in an outline (including a thesis statement, topic sentences, evidence to support topics, and a concluding statement). Also, you will include a Works Cited (bibliography). We will talk more about this in class as the semester progresses.



Writing Assignment Part 3: Final argument construction - Your Essay



For this assignment, you will write a well-formulated and organized essay. Specific emphasize should be placed on synthesizing information and making well-supported conclusions. Utilizing the information from the Part 1 sources assignment and the outline from part 2, write your essay in which you discuss thoroughly the question being asked. The final essay needs to be 750-1000 words (3 to 4 pages), not counting the Works Cited portion. You may add your Works Cited at the end of your essay, so that you will have only one file document to upload into Canvas. Remember, I cannot read pages, so if you do not have Word, please upload your document as a .pdf file.



There you go! If you put in the time at the beginning and I would recommend you take notes while doing the source evaluation exercise, and then complete assignment 2, your essay will be all but written up, and you will find that the largest part of this process is the quickest, if not the easiest. I want you to also express your own opinions and attitudes but remember your position needs to be backed with facts from the readings.



While I encourage students to discuss amongst themselves these common assignments, I expect everyone to turn in their own, original work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated- whenever you are expressing someone else’s ideas, words or positions, you MUST give them the proper credit through a citation reference. Remembering this when you are taking notes will make it easier when you are writing your final paper.

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Paper Instructions:

What is the history of the Electoral College? How has the Electoral College changed the outcome of elections throughout history?  Is it still necessary in today’s election process given the availability of information about each candidate?  Compare and contrast the Electoral College to the use of the popular vote.

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Paper Instructions:

Welcoming different methodological and theoretical approaches, this wide-ranging programme offers exciting, timely and prize-winning books that are invaluable for researchers and students alike. Series such as New Security Challenges, Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies, and Critical Security Studies in the Global South demonstrate the programme’s variety, prestige and innovation, and further bolster our reputation as the go-to publisher for the most exciting and significant security and peace research.

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Paper Instructions:

Explain the significance of the Columbian Exchange in terms of how it has shaped world history.

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Paper Instructions:

More than 5,000 words.
More than 10 references to international relations journal articles (see journal list on Canvas) or books by university presses over and above class reading.
A coherent answer to the question that you select from the choices below.
A consistent style for references, headings, subheadings, etc.
Clear writing with appropriate grammar. 
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

How do the approaches to International Relations (Realism, liberalism, constructivism, etc) inform scholarship on terrorism, guerrillas, international law, ethno-nationalism? How do they lay the groundwork and marshal the field of international relations and allow for this more practical, perhaps substantive, content?
One of the birth stories of international relations claims that it was intended to provide the United States with a cadre of civilian experts on conflict and war to balance the expertise of the military and allow for civilian oversight of the armed forces. To what extent do international relations as a discipline, and the readings in this course specifically, lay the foundation for achieving that intent. 
What is missing from this course? Choose some other perspectives and readings from international relations literature and show how they would compliment and/or supplement what we have read here. 
DESCRIPTION

The main project for this course is the course research question. Choose a focus from the options above. You should choose one only and get to work on it straight away. This will be your main deliverable in this course and all other assignments are set up to support it directly or indirectly. 

This project will be a single 5,000-word paper that you should work on throughout the course. The research question assignment should help you with this project. There are 11 research question assignments and so if you answer each of those, your own, questions in about 500 words, and if they are related to each other in such a way as to allow a coherent answer to the course research question, and if you write every week, this should be a very manageable project. If you try to write 5,000 words in two hours before the deadline, you will find that very challenging. 

Aside from the length requirement, you are required to cite readings both from our course readings and from other sources. While there is not a specific number of sources from outside the class that you should include, it should be a number larger than 10. Also, the sources should be from peer-reviewed journal articles and books published by university presses and should be predominantly from the international relations field. See the list of IR Journals on Canvas for help with this requirement. I would be happy to help you if you have any questions about specific books or articles. 

Choose any format for footnotes/inline citations and make sure your writing is clear and answers the question as written. 

I will read your draft twice throughout the semester and give you feedback at set times but you may request feedback at any time throughout the class period.

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Paper Instructions:

Trumps Muslim Ban and its Effects

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Paper Instructions:

The question of this essay is “Can the political theory of Thomas Hobbes, of John Locke, of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and of Immanuel Kant be applied to solve climate change and/or Corona virus outbreak? How?”

- Divide each political thought of these 4 thinkers equally. 
- The essay  must heavily focus on critical substance
- Factual details regarding international relations are necessary 
- The argument put forward in the essay must be based upon clear set of reasons, evidences, and examples linking back to their political theories
-In general. The essay must shed light on their influences on International Relations theories as well as norms and practices of the international society, especially on the questions about power and justice

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Paper Instructions:

Why is Government important?

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Paper Instructions:

In what ways do colonial legacies continue to hamper development efforts by the least developed countries? Do current international institutions mitigate or exacerbate such problems?

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Paper Instructions:

Write an essay based on the following prompt.
· Identify three public policies enacted by the 85th (2017) and/or 86th (2019) Texas Legislature that are designed to promote social responsibility. Write an essay in which you 1) provide some brief context on each issue, 2) why or how, specifically, each policy is related to social responsibility, and 3) to what degree will the people of Texas or community benefit from this legislation.
ASSIGNMENT EXPECTATIONS
1. Use at least two (2) different outside sources of information in addition to that source used to identify the public
policy discussed.
2. Write at least 500 words of text (not counting your Reference or Works Cited page).
3. Adhere to academic-style writing, structure, grammar, and punctuation rules.
4. Utilize appropriate in-text source citations.
5. Include a properly formatted Reference or Works Cited page.
6. Consult your Grading Rubric for grading information.
PURPOSE
1. To enhance your understanding of social responsibility
2. To advance your communication skills
3. To practice critical thinking and advance reading and writing skills
4. To practice the process of research and writing
AUDIENCE
Academic—members of your GOVT 2306 class
LENGTH AND FORMAT

· At least 500 words (not counting your Reference or Works Cited page). A significant number of points will be deducted from your paper’s grade if it falls short of 500 words.
· You must use appropriate MLA or APA rules for citation and formatting.

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Paper Instructions:

Government 2306: Texas Government Writing Assignment # 2
  PROMPT

· Write an editorial on a hot button, Texas public policy issue (an issue that you did not write about in your Writing Assignment #1) that impacts the general population of Texas. In your editorial, you will want to 1) identify and explain your position on this issue, 2) provide some brief context or background on this issue, and 3) identify and discuss specific actions you want the people of Texas as well as the government of Texas to take regarding this issue,
specific actions that you believe will address this issue. (SR/PR/CM)
ASSIGNMENT EXPECTATIONS

Write at least 500 words of text (not counting your works cited or reference page)
Adhere to academic-style writing, structure, grammar, and punctuation rules
Must incorporate into your editorial at least two (2) supportive sources
Be sure to use appropriate in-text citations
Be sure to include a properly formatted Reference or Works Cited page
See the Writing Assignment #2 Grading Rubric for additional assignment expectations
Consult the Grading Breakdown checklist from Writing Assignment #2 for guidance
PURPOSE
To improve your Communication skills
To stimulate your sense of Social Responsibility
To enhance your understanding of Personal Responsibility
To practice critical and analytical reading and thinking skills
To practice the process of research

AUDIENCE
Academic—members of your GOVT 2306 class

LENGTH AND FORMAT
· At least 500 words (not counting your Reference or Works Cited page). A significant number of points will be deducted from your paper’s grade if it falls short of 500 words.


No more than 20% of your writing assignment’s text should be directly quoted material.