Research and write a paper between 1400-1500 words that addresses the following question: What is the most important issue in world politics today? Explain your answer with reference to the readings and your own research. For this assignment you may address any issue in world politics that you think is important. To make a convincing case, you must (a) describe the issue, (b) explain why it is important in world politics the so what? question; (c) support your claims with evidence and logic. The word count does not include a title page and bibliography (longer or shorter papers will not be accepted). Your research paper must refer to at least five additional academic sources. An academic source is a book, or portion of a book written by a professor, a journal article in a peer reviewed journal, or a respected policy journal. In general, academic sources are held to a higher editorial standard of evidence and logic. Non-academic sources are acceptable and include newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other random stuff you find online. Non-academic sources can be reliable, especially traditional media sources, but generally have lower editorial standards. This syllabus contains worthwhile academic sources but you are welcome to go beyond what is listed here. The following gives an approximation of what we expect to see in papers of differing quality. Other factors may come into consideration beyond what is articulated here: – Answers the questions you put forth through out the essay, with logical and creative arguments that are persuasive, concise, clear, and appropriate. – Provides answers that are supported and defended with convincing and sophisticated arguments that draw upon, and respond to, course material in interesting ways. – Demonstrates strong comprehension of the book and is able to reconstruct the core argument of each in brief. – Devotes at least half of the paper to answering the analytical question directly. – Maintains a professional tone throughout. Every word and every sentence serves a purpose. – Contains absolutely no errors of spelling, grammar, or citation, and is within the word length requirement for the assignment.
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