Technology, rather than trade with the developing world, has been a more important cause of the widening gap between skilled and unskilled wages in the US and other countries of the North, starting in the 1990s and right up to the present day. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION MUST BE BETWEEN 900 AND 1,100 WORDS. PLEASE SHARE YOUR WORD COUNT AFTER EACH QUESTION. THE WORD COUNT DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY REFERENCES, TABLES, OR CHARTS YOU MAY CHOOSE TO INCLUDE. ANY SOURCES YOU CITE MUST BE CORRECTLY REFERENCED. I AM AGNOSTIC ABOUT REFERENCE STYLE, SO LONG AS YOU ARE CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer to a question. Your answers will be judged based on the quality of your analysis and reasoning, not whether you “agree” or “disagree” with the propositions in the questions. A high-quality answer will focus on concepts, arguments, and evidence (whether qualitative, quantitative, or both), and not on merely stating opinions that fail to be backed up by analysis.
Well written – no grammar/punctuation/spelling mistakes, well structured, writing flows well.
Well argued – good grasp of content, understanding of how concepts interrelate, strong arguments, and ability to outline how examples / arguments support the thesis.
Well researched/ well referenced – incorporation of both class content/ideas and outside examples, sufficient research to adequately support your essay (essays of this length should have at least a few outside sources each). In-text references for quotes, facts, ideas, or other material taken from external sources. It is important that references contain only works that are cited in your text — they are not intended as a general bibliography on the topic. Including references that are not explicitly cited will result in losing marks.
You are graded on the degree of proficiency that you show in achieving the above goals — failure to provide strong arguments, and/or failure to adequately edit out grammatical mistakes, and/or failure to adequately incorporate and cite outside research, will result in a poor final grade.
Be concise and to the point — the challenge of this exam is to maximize the effectiveness and persuasiveness of your arguments within the allotted space.
Ensure that your thesis statement is clear and that your arguments/examples are actively and clearly supporting it. Be sure to make it crystal clear at the outset whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with the proposition in the question. If that is unclear in your essay, you will lose marks.
Address every aspect of the question – many students get stuck on 1 aspect of a two-part question and lose marks because they never truly address the prompt in its entirety, e.g., if the question asks about authoritarianism vs. democracy in the early stages of development, don’t only talk about authoritarianism vs. democracy, ensure that you are relating that discussion back to how it informs your understanding of the effects of government structure on the early stages of development. Both parts of the question are important, so make sure you are addressing both.
Follow the assignment guidelines — failure to follow guidelines is one of the easily avoidable ways that students lose grades.
Exams that are above and below the word count will be docked grades. Stay within the word count and be sure to share your exact word count for each question. If you choose to add one or more graphs, be sure to label them and explain their relevance to the argument. Graphs placed without explanation or context don’t contribute to your argument, but distract from it, and will be docked grades.