Libertarian Party

For this course, you will be asked to write a 5-7 page paper (typed, double-spaced, with a bibliography of cited sources) on one of the following areas of American politics and government:
A) a Supreme Court case of your choosing, in which you provide:
1) a brief summary of the particular case in question, as well as the Constitutional question involved (What constitutional issue needed to be cleared up by the court?)
2) a brief background of the Courts previous rulings in this issue area
3) how you think the case should be/should have been decided, based on Constitutional precedent and/or interpretation (not simply your gut feeling!)
NOTE: You cannot choose Roe v. Wade or Brown v. Board of Education as your topic. Both cases have been covered excessively in previous class papers and are also thoroughly discussed in class.
B) a recent or pending bill or legislative action of your choosing (national or California state level), in which you:
1) provide a brief background and history of the legislation in question, explaining its purposes, as well as the political issues it addresses
2) identify the major players or groups involved (supporters and opponents, including policymakers, interest groups, etc.), and well as the basic parts of their public arguments and any private benefits which they may get if the legislation is passed or rejected (i.e. an oil company will not publicly push for legislation because it helps increase their profits)
3) identify and explain the reasons for the eventual outcome (will it or did it pass and why?)
NOTE: The bill does not have to be recent or pending but newer bills are easier to find information on.
C) a particular interest group, PAC (political action committee), political party, or political organization active in current politics, in which you discuss:
1) the organization, its goals, its primary issue area(s), its resources, and its leadership
2) its membership and/or target audience or constituency
3) the history of its involvement in the political arena, your assessment of its influence in the political arena, as well as its potential for involvement and influence in the future
Topic Description
To make sure that students have chosen a topic in a timely fashion, each student must turn in a brief description of the court case/piece of legislation/political organization which they wish to look at by Saturday, April 18th at 11PM via e-mail.
This brief description should in one paragraph describe the topic which you will focus on. 5% of your papers grade is dependent on turning in the one paragraph description. Just as with the paper, students will be penalized 1/3 of a grade for every day the topic description is late.
Paper Requirements
* 5 to 7 page length (you are allowed to go a page or two over 7 pages but you will be penalized if your paper is less than 5 pages). The page count only includes pages of text. Any cover pages or works cited/bibliography pages do not count as pages of text.
* The paper should be written with a size 12 font. The margins should be one inch all around. Please insert page numbers somewhere on the pages.
A cover page is not required. However, you are free to include one if you wish. Either on the cover page or top

right of the first page of text, you should have the following information:
Your Name
Political Science 110
Your Course Section # (30946, 36282, 36283, or 36285)
Date
Question (A, B, or C)
You should have a title either in the middle of a cover page or in the middle above the beginning of the papers text. Try to catch the readers interest with your title. Dont just call your paper Political Science 110 Paper.
Sources
You must cite AT LEAST 4 different sources in your paper. AT LEAST 2 of these sources should be from academic type sources. These sources include a number of online resources, books, and academic journals.
What is an Academic Source?
An academic source represents a scholarly writing that is reviewed by peers (academics have their work reviewed by other academics). Most of these will be found in a reference directory online.
Magazines and newspaper articles are NOT academic sources. Academic journals and research studies ARE academic sources. The instructor will also accept official websites (for organizations such as political parties or interest groups), and government run and university run websites (ending in .gov or .edu) as academic sources.
Check with the instructor if you are unsure about the acceptability of your sources. Unacceptable sources include encyclopedias (both written and online, such as Wikipedia) and websites not approved by the instructor (i.e. Rons Politics Site). If you have any questions about whether a website is a legitimate source, simply e-mail it to the instructor. Official and academic websites are the most reliable and dont need to be confirmed by the instructor. Try to use sources outside of popular magazines (i.e. Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report) and newspapers. These sources are often good for background information but dont provide as much substance as books, academic journals, or online research resources.
To begin your search for information, start at the Rio Hondo College Library website:
http://library.riohondo.edu/
NOTE: You need your Rio Hondo ID number and pin number to access the search engines
There are several academic search engines listed along with library resources. You can also access library resources by clicking on the Library button in the Access Rio Portal.
Helpful Websites to Begin Your Research With Beyond Rio Hondo Library Website
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/govt/pubpol.php Public Policy Issues and Groups http://thomas.loc.gov/ – details of Congressional legislation http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/ – details on California legislation https://votesmart.org/interest-groups#.XVjwM3t7mUl list of interest groups by topic https://www.politics1.com/parties.htm – list of American political parties http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ – information about Supreme Court decisions http://www.scotusblog.com Blog covering the latest Supreme Court decisions http://www.usa.gov/ – Variety of government resources

Citations
Because your paper contains a good deal of information which comes from outside sources, you must tell the reader where you found this information through a system of citations. All the information you need about citations is found on the front of the Rio Hondo Library website under Citing Sources.
While I will not deduct points if your citations have some errors in them, you MUST cite information that you use in your paper. The general rule of thumb is that any information that you use in your paper which comes from outside sources (namely information that is not common knowledge to you) must be cited. The library website provides information on how citations work and I am happy to assist you with this process as well. I simply ask that you cite material thoroughly and consistently throughout the paper (i.e. use one style of citation throughout the paper MLA or APA).
Go to https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/writing/cite_sources (from UC Santa Cruz) for guidance on Citations. The following website, http://citationmachine.net/
allows you to type in your citation information and will compile the citation for you.
Plagiarism
I am an expert at detecting plagiarism and have resources to detect anything taken from or purchased from the Internet. The Rio Hondo Library website provides a thorough explanation, but I want to reiterate that you must fully cite any material that is not your own. It is far better to cite too much than to not cite enough. Your paper will be penalized if you do not cite information.
Outlines
I will not read rough drafts of your papers, as there is not enough time for me to do so. However, I will be happy to look at paper outlines. A paper outline should include the following:
1) thesis statement (i.e. what is your argument)
2) a one line description of each section of your paper
3) conclusion
Due Dates and Late Papers
The paper is due to the instructor through e-mail by Sunday, May 10th at 11PM.
You will be penalized 1/3 of a grade for every day that the paper is late. As is stated elsewhere on the website, my e-mail address is: cyoung@riohondo.edu
Please turn your paper in through using Word 2016 or an earlier version or a PDF file. If you think the paper may be hard to open because you used a newer program or something like Word Perfect, cut and paste your paper into the body of an e-mail message. Please DO NOT send me the paper via Google Docs unless I can easily open the file. Do NOT send me the paper using Pages, as I cant open it.
Please talk to me via e-mail if you have any questions or problems with the paper.

HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR PAPER
I. Introduction
– Explain to the reader what you will be talking about in the paper. Make clear what your topic is – Should be about a paragraph long
II. Thesis statement
– Should go at the end of the introduction (one or two sentences long)
– It explains what you will be arguing in your paper (it is not an opinion statement but simply what you will be discussing in the paper). Here are some examples:
1. The Green Party has been a major force in both changing citizens perceptions of environmental issues and forcing the two major parties to focus on the environment.
2. Proposition 215 not only legalized medical marijuana in California but also created conflict between the federal and California state government, as medical marijuana is legal in California and illegal under federal law.
3. Roe v. Wade has produced major controversy in American politics, as there is conflict between pro- life and pro-choice forces and debate over whether the Supreme Court went too far in making its decision.
III. Body
– In as many paragraphs as you need, answer the questions that have been provided for each topic – At the end of the body, you can provide your own personal opinion
IV. Conclusion
– Summarize your paper for the reader again
** Let your evidence make your argument. Evidence is far more persuasive than opinion. HOW TO GET STARTED ON THE PAPER
Find a topic. Go to Rio Hondo Library website or click on the Library tab on Access Rio and:
1. Click on Online Databases
2. On the A-Z list of databases, click on SIRS Issues Researcher
3. On the SIRS website, there will be a huge list of Leading Political Issues of the day. Scroll through and pick issues that interest you. Each issue will be explained on the Pro and Con side and a number of articles will appear about the topic.
4. You will need to read through the article options and either click on them or narrow your search. It will take some research. Once you have a general topic, you can narrow it down and figure out if you want to do your paper on:
A) a proposed law dealing with your topic OR
B) a court case dealing with your topic OR
C) an interest group or political party dealing with your topic