This guide will help you identify and locate sources for your writing assignments.
Library-related questions? Please email me. I am here to help.
Judy Markowitz
judym@umd.edu
"A fictional nonprofit organization is concerned about the lack of theoretical knowledge of politics. They fear that citizens do not fully understand the nature of political controversies because they only hear from politicians, advocates and the media. They have hired your group to
write a report demonstrating how the themes and concepts of political theory help to understand the practice of politics."
"Each group will be assigned a theme from the course and then write a report, applying the thinkers, theories and concepts of the thme to three cases. Each case should be a recent event, controversy, problem or trend in political or social life. The goal is to create a report that demonstrates how political theory illuminates the deeper nuances of your cases, beyond how they are reported in the media."
- Each report must make use of at least 6 scholarly sources
-You can use non-scholarly sources (journalistic articles and websites) to describe cases
-Do not cite the textbook - cite the primary sources the textbook points you toward
Is banning (or regulating) fake news a restriction on liberty?
"This essay requires you to make two arguments. To address the first question you must argue how a conical thinker (from our text) would answer this question. The evidence you must supply are ideas and passages from a primary text. The second questions requires you to make your own
argument, including theoretical or empirical evidence.
Your essay must conform to the following guidelines:
- Between 700 – 1000 words (excluding quotes and bibliography)
- APA or MLA format (although cover page is not necessary)
- Makes use of at least three scholarly sources, one of which must come from the textbook*
bibliography (non-scholarly sources are welcome beyond the three scholarly ones)
NOTE: this essay is a political theory essay and not a legal one, so the Constitution is not a
sufficient reason to support your arguments.
