Guidelines

Your name should appear on a separate title page and nowhere else on the paper.

Papers must be double-spaced.

Page maximums provide an explicit maximum length for the main body of the paper. Generally speaking, to properly and thoroughly cover the assignment you should be writing at least 75% of the maximum length. Title page and bibliography do not count towards the paper length.

Papers should use MLA, Chicago, or APA format to cite appropriate references in text and in a Works Cited page. That is, I really want to see your references in the form (Greene 2012) in text. Do not site long, temporary URL's in the works cited page.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. View NCSU's plagiarism Policy

Papers are due-- submitted to the appropriate Moodle link-- by 11:59pm on the due date.

Before Turning In Your Paper...

The following is a list of items that you should really think about in order to get the best possible grade on your paper. Please leave yourself adequate time after completing an initial draft of your paper so that you can go back and address these issues as needed. A written assignment is a very important reflection of your ability and how you approach academic work and you should plan your time accordingly.

Proofread! Read your whole paper. Make sure there are no typographical errors, extra words, etc.

Read for grammar, flow, etc. Read the paper aloud to yourself. Does what you are writing sound funny/awkward to you? If so, it will sound even worse to someone else.

Read for organization. Does your paper follow a logical flow? Is it clear why you are moving from one topic to the next? Consider using sub-headings to guide the organization.

Use the present tense and active voice (first person is fine!)

Look for excessively long paragraphs. Each paragraph should deal with a single main idea. Overly long paragraphs are a sign of poor organization.  Sections and headings, where appropriate, help the reader understand what you are trying to communicate.

Are your word choices appropriate? Do not use a particular word if you are at all unsure of the meaning it conveys. I am not impressed by attempts at a sophisticated vocabulary that fall short.

Avoid common traps, e.g., "I believe" "It is obvious that" "It is important to" "This proves" etc., to establish your "expertise" rather than make a meaningful point.

Have you appropriately answered all the questions in the assignment?! Also consider if you have included extraneous-- thus distracting-- material that does not actually address the assignment.

Have you taken the opportunities to directly apply course material where it is relevant to what you are discussing?

Do your conclusions make sense based upon the information you have supplied? Where appropriate, are your conclusions supported by appropriate research and have you correctly cited the research?

Would your arguments persuade a skeptical reader?  Whatever my personal position on the issue you write about, to ensure fair grading, I approach all arguments with skepticism.  Convince me with thorough research, strong, logical arguments, and demonstrated depth of understanding.

Do you really have enough references that bear directly upon the questions in the assignment and have you used them appropriately?

Make Sure You Have Read All The Guidelines

AI Policy

AI (ChatGPT, etc.) is a useful tool for generating ideas and for improving your writing. I will not penalize you simply for using AI-generated text.  That said, you, as the human, are fully responsible for what you end up submitting.  If you overly-rely on AI and include fake/hallucinated references, AI-generated false statements, etc., your grade will be substantially penalized. 

Furthermore, the capacity for AI to write really nice sentences about public policy means my grading will place great emphasis on the things which AI cannot do well and reflect your engagement in this course.  AI is very poor at backing up claims with actual, relevant references, so I will be paying particular attention to that.  Furthermore, while AI can write coherently on all sorts of aspects of American government and political science, it has quite clearly not been a student in this class and I will therefore be placing great emphasis on your ability to demonstrate you have learned concepts particular to/emphasized within this particular class. 

If you do use AI assistance in the writing of your assignment, I would like you to indicate so, the tool, and the nature of the assistance within you references.  E.g., "ChatGPT: I used ChatGPT to read over my paper and improve the overall writing style.  I asked it to help me create a basic organization structure for this assignment."