Memo to the President.
Content and General Guidelines
This assignment is based on a research paper structure. It examines topics that deal with issues around international justice.
Students should use at least 5 scholarly sources to complete their work. By engaging in and using investigative research tools, students will connect scholarly texts and design a research question and a hypothesis for the paper.
Students are encouraged to use various concepts and theories of international studies to complete this assignment.
Formatting
It should be 7-10 pages in length
Number each page
APA Style Citations (for guidelines on the format see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (Links to an external site.))
Paper must have title
Reference/Bibliography Page
Must use at least five (5) peer-reviewed style texts that are not included in the course syllabus
Course texts and other popular press materials can be used as additional not supplemental materials
Structure
The paper should consist of three sections:
Executive Summary (1-2 pages) with:
Problem statement, i.e. a summary and context of the issue that will be discussed
Research question, i.e. a phrase that captures the issue at hand in question form
Hypothesis, i.e. a recommendation on how to best response to the question
Memo (5-7 pages) with:
Literature review, i.e. a discussion on the selected scholarly sources
Methods, i.e. brief description on the research design of the memo
Findings and discussion, i.e. facts that you analyze to support your suggested recommendation
Conclusion (about 1 page) including:
A summary of your policy recommendation to the president
The potential impact on other areas (topical and geographic)
Topic Samples
Nuclear proliferation, i.e. more and more countries getting nuclear weapons
The Islamic State/ISIS
A political crisis in any specific country of your choice (e.g., governance in Egypt, terrorism in France, the crisis in Venezuela, etc.)
Climate change/global warming/environmental issues
America’s drone program (you can expand this to “the war on terror” if it helps)
The war in Syria
The rise of China
Russia’s foreign policy (this could involve Ukraine, US, Syria, etc.)
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict