The Assignment

Choose a “swing state” which both campaigns contested. Analyze why the presidential outcome turned out as it did in this state.  What were the major factors explaining the outcome?  How did the outcome compare to 2020 and what accounts for the difference? How did the historical, demographic, and ideological features of the state affect the outcome?  What was the role of the campaign (spending, ads, visits, issue emphases, voter mobilization) in this state? How did national factors play out in your state?  What other factors that we learned about in class helped shape the outcome in this state? 7 pages maximum.  Due November 21.

Metacognitive self-reflection: Answer the following questions in approximately two additional pages. How/why did you choose the sources you did? Which were most valuable and why? How did your understanding of the issue change over the course of working on the assignment? What do you think are the strongest and weakest aspects of your argument? What is something doing this research made you want to learn more about? 

Grading

It is expected that you will make thorough and appropriate use of outside sources.  Generally speaking, the more effort you put into finding and effectively using good sources, the better your paper will be. The best sources will be objective analysis-- not opinion columns, random news articles that tangentially address the issue, or websites with a strong ideological agenda. You will need to properly cite these sources using an in-text citation style and Works Cited page.  The best papers will remain focused on answering the relevant questions in the assignment. I am looking for you to address these questions thoroughly and analytically.  Most importantly, you will be graded upon how effectively you combine your research with your knowledge of course material to answer the questions in the assignment. You are encouraged to express well-founded opinions in the paper, but recognize legitimate counter-arguments and try to remain as objective as possible.  Though the main focus of grading is on the substance of your paper, to receive the highest grade the paper should be well written, well-organized, and have few if any typographical or grammatical errors.  Papers will be downgraded to the degree that they fail to meet these standards.

I am especially interested in you demonstrating strong critical thinking.  This page is a great summary of key standards of critical thinking.

I am also serious about following proper instructions for the paper. Failure to do so will affect your grade. Please see this link.

Small note: We are all democrats and republicans (I hope) in that we believe in the idea of a representative democracy. Members/supporters of the Democratic party are Democrats and members/supporters of the Republican party are Republicans.

Paper Submission Guidelines (and helpful guidance)

Late Policy

It is expected that exams will be taken and assignments turned in when they are scheduled on the syllabus. Assignments will be downgraded a partial letter grade (e.g., B to B-) for each day they are late.

Helpful Links
Guide to APA, MLA, and Chicago style for citations
Open Secrets
The Hill
New York Times 2024 Election Guide
538 Election Coverage
Real Clear Politics Election coverage
Congressional Quarterly Researcher
Lexis-Nexis
NCSU Library Research Tools
NCSU Library Research Tutorials (very useful guide for writing a research paper)
NCSU Plagiarism resources
A nice guide to social science writing
A note about citations: The most important aspect of citations is that I should be able to quickly and easily find the work you have referenced. While on-line style guides call for the precise URL, please no not include any temporary URLs in your citations.

About citing your sources
When it comes to citing your sources, the most important thing is that I can find them if I need to. If there is a really long URL that will not actually lead me back to the actual article anyway, please do not use it. If you do include URL's in your sources, please make sure they are permalinks and not temporary links. When it comes to in-text citations, I strongly prefer author-year, e.g., (Greene 2012), even if you are using MLA format. I really have no interest in particular page numbers. If you use APA format, I hate the first initial only for authors on the works cited page. Please use full names.  To be clear, an in-text citation style means you are not using footnotes or endnotes for your citations.  Please see the citations guides.