The Assignment
Create a
genogram
of your party identification. That is, make a diagram
which indicates your partisanship as well as the party identification
of as many of your relatives as you can find out. Write a short
paper discussing your genogram and critically assessing your own party
identification. Some questions you may address include: What
patterns are evident? Why do you think you have your particular
partisanship? How has your family influenced your party
identification? What other factors have influenced your
partisanship? What role do demographic factors related to
partisanship seem to play for you and your family? 5
pages maximum.
See full guidelines
here.
Grading
An "A" paper will use the knowledge that you
have gained from this class (both lecture material and
course readings) in conjunction with your own unique partisan
autobiography in order to address the questions in the assignment in
an interesting, accurate, and analytical manner. Additionally, it
should be well-written-- no typographical errors, no awkward
sentences; clear, coherent, and focused arguments. No outside
resources are necessary, but effective use of class resources is
important.
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.
Additional Notes
- Democrat(ic) and Republican should always be capitalized when
referring to political parties.
- Party identification ≠ ideology
- Party identification ≠ party registration
- Though an autobiography, your genogram and the writing of this
paper should be written in a way that does not reveal your name.
- A red/blue/purple color code for the genogram is generally
helpful.
- The genogram diagram does not count against your page limit. I
recognize that some of you may have fairly limited
genograms. That said, here's a nice example
from a previous class. Do not use your first or
last name in the genogram-- I grade these blind.