Description

This is part one of the class project assessments. [ Click here to see the overview of the assignments.]

An important purpose of this assignment is to examine what the different branches and layers of government do to address a policy using a current issue to illustrate it.

Complete a research essay on the government and national security. Remember this is being written for the president to read. 

Here are the aspects and questions to address for this essay:

Identify a current issue being debated about American national security.
Explain two competing solutions to this problem.
Evaluate which one is preferable.
Address the responsibilities of each level of government, which are federal, state, and local. (Most of the essay will be about the federal government).
Address the responsibilities of each of the three branches of the federal government.
REQUIREMENTS:

500 word minimum and 600 word maximum length, not including references listed at the end or footnotes if used.
Incorporation of concepts and terms from the required readings.
Inclusion of facts from a recent news article about the topic/solution.
Correct spelling, grammar, and formatting, whether it's APA, MLA, or Chicago/Turabian.
See the essay rubric for further details on grading.
Writing tips:

1) Write concisely! More is not necessarily better if the required points from the rubric are missed. A 500-word essay can earn an "A," while a 700 word essay may lose points for going too long.

2) Essays should be written in the third person perspective. (Avoid using "I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, you, your").
POLS210 Class Project:
There are three parts to your class project: the first two are essays. The final part is a PowerPoint presentation that will display the combined work on the essays. For each assignment, there will be detailed instructions and rubrics with scoring criteria available in the “Assignments” section of the course.
OVERVIEW:
1. You are a White House Staff Member working for a newly inaugurated President. The President is preparing the first “State of the Union” address to Congress which will outline the president’s vision for addressing current issues facing the United States.
2. You will research issues to create the President’s address. The president is not a dictator. The proposals must consider the Constitution, relevant court rulings, and public opinion.
3. After you have completed your research of the issues, you will then create a PowerPoint presentation reflecting your proposed State of the Union address. Think of it as your TV infomercial promoting your plan, and use it to grab the public’s attention.
Issue essays
Using the “Assignments” section of the classroom, you will write two essays together with cited research sources. They will be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 600 words per essay, and you may lose points for going too long! The rubric states an exemplary essay will be concise. The topics for the issues will be:
National Security
For each essay, choose a problem within the topic. What are two competing solutions to this problem? Explain which one is better and why. How will the different levels of government be involved (federal, state and local)? This will require research into news recent news articles (published within four weeks of each assignment’s due date). For each respective week, include relevant information from the required readings for that week too.