TP#1 (20pts)
This assignment is due Thurs. 1/25 at the start of class. Late papers will be accepted until class time on Thurs. February 8 and will be marked down in accordance with the late work policy (see syllabus).
Question: How did Hillary Clinton lose the 2016 presidential election? What factors contributed to Donald Trump’s victory when almost all of the polls predicated that Hillary Clinton would triumph?
There is no single correct answer here provided that you can support your claims with sound evidence and examples. Just be sure to rely upon verified information, or data, rather than any personal feelings that you harbor towards either of the candidates.
Responses must be typed and can be anywhere between 400 to 800 words in length. Responses that fall short of the 400 word minimum will lose points. Responses that are slightly longer than 800 words are acceptable. However, I do ask that students avoid submitting thought papers that are longer than 1,000 words. Thought paper submissions should be double spaced in 12 point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins. Students who fail to submit a paper that meets these presentation guidelines will receive a two point deduction in their overall score for the assignment.
Papers should be driven by a clear thesis statement. With that in mind, I ask that you highlight, bold, italicize, or otherwise clearly mark your thesis. Papers that are submitted without a clear thesis statement, or papers where the thesis is not clearly marked, will receive a three point deduction in their overall grade.
Students must include the word count at the end of the text of the essay. Failure to include the word count will result in a two point deduction in your overall score for the assignment. Things such as your name, the course details, the essay title, and information from a bibliography (or reference pages), do not count towards your word count total.
A paper this short should not include more than one or two quotes. Students should refrain from using any block quotes (Quotes that are more than 3-4 lines in length) for this assignment. Students who quote excessively, or utilize block quotes will receive a five point penalty on their final score.
Please cite any sources that you utilize to shape your response. Students should always be sure to cite a direct quote immediately after the quote, regardless of whether or not the line came from an in-class source, or an outside source. Failure to offer proper citations will result in a five point deduction in a student’s overall score for the assignment.
Students must support their claims with evidence from relevant, trustworthy sources in order to do well on thought paper assignments. Please avoid sources such as Yahoo Answers or Wikipedia. These are poor sources that do not undergo sufficient editing, or peer review. Students should rely on source materials from official government sources, academic institutions, libraries, news publications, credible think tanks, academic journals, books, established charitable organizations, and trustworthy video sources (NBC News, CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC) for these assignments. Students who cite information drawn from weak/poor sources will receive a three point deduction in their overall score for the assignment.
Material from lecture, or class PowerPoints can simply be cited with a brief (lecture) or (PowerPoint) at the end of a sentence. These sources do not need to be included in a bibliography, or works cited page. Any other class materials that are cited in the paper (such as an article that I hand out to the class) need to be included in the works cited page.
Late papers submissions will be accepted and will be marked down in accordance with the late work policy (see syllabus).
Essays should be written in an academic tone that is appropriate for a university level course. Papers should be proofread and revised for spelling and grammatical errors. With that in mind, please avoid the use of “textspeak” and abbreviations. Students should also refrain from using any inappropriate or unprofessional language. Sloppy papers that contain multiple grammatical errors will be marked down accordingly. Papers where the standard of the writing is so poor that parts of the essay are difficult or impossible to comprehend will be heavily penalized. Students who are concerned about the quality of their writing, or their ability to meet these standards, are encouraged to book an appointment at an ASU campus writing center.
Students can receive an additional five points per thought paper assignment for visiting with a tutor at the Writing Center. In order to receive these points students must submit the draft that they worked on with the tutor, along with their session slip from the Writing Center, when they hand in their final copy. Finally, tutoring sessions must last the full half hour in order for the student to receive extra credit points for the visit. If I learn that a student attempted to cut a tutoring session short, or merely sought out a session slip without having completed a full half hour session with a writing tutor, that student will have ten points deducted from their overall score for the assignment and they will not receive any extra credit for visiting the Writing Center.
Students may visit the Writing Center as many times as they would like for assistance with their papers. However, they will only receive extra credit for one visit per thought paper.
Hand written papers will not be accepted.
Students may utilize APA, MLA, Chicago, or Turabian style format for this assignment. Feel free to utilize whichever method you are most comfortable with.
*On the date that the assignment is due students should submit a hard (printed) copy in class and upload an electronic copy of their submission to the class website on Blackboard prior to the deadline. Failure to submit an electronic paper in one of the acceptable file formats (listed below) will result in a two-point deduction in your overall score for the assignment. Students are welcome to submit these assignments early if they wish.
I only accept documents that are uploaded in the following file formats: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .wpd, and .rtf. I do not accept files submitted in Google Docs, Apple Pages, or Open Office format. If you have your file saved in one of these restricted formats please save the file again as either an .rtf or .pdf file and submit that file instead of your original. Students who submit a document in the wrong file format will receive a three point penalty on their final grade.
Any point deductions for failing to follow the assignment guidelines will be subtracted from the essay after the paper is graded for content/grammar/clarity.
