Please read the instructions carefully. Use the resources listed ONLY.
Final Exam Essays
YOU MUST ATTEMPT BOTH THE PROMPTS
Prompt 1
Some experts (see the material below) argue that the US politics has become more divided in recent years. Do you agree? Do you also agree with their solution to address it? Your analysis must be based on the material below.
Required material
1. Book Chapter on Congress
Book:
We the People (Essentials Thirteenth Edition) by Benjamin Ginsberg; Theodore J. Lowi; Margaret Weir; Caroline J. Tolbert; Andrea L. Campbell; Robert J. Spitzer
2. Adrian Luders, et. al. (2023). The Vicious Cycle of Political Polarization.
The Hill, August 2, Retrieved from
to an external site.
3. John Avlon, et. al. (2021) Eight in Ten Americans are Concerned About Partisanship. Here’s How ‘The Unum Test’ Can Reunite America.
Time, April 13, Retrieved from
to an external site.
4. Debidatta A. Mahapatra. (2023). In polarizing times, the U.S. should revisit Madison’s ‘middle path’. Florida Times-Union, September 10, Retrieved from
to an external site.
Prompt 2
Examine and evaluate the material below in the context of judicial activism. Do you agree with the arguments made by the experts below?
Required material
1. Book chapter on judiciary
Book:
We the People (Essentials Thirteenth Edition) by Benjamin Ginsberg; Theodore J. Lowi; Margaret Weir; Caroline J. Tolbert; Andrea L. Campbell; Robert J. Spitzer
2. Robert A. Levy and William Mellor (2022) Judicial activism and tomorrow’s courts.
Daily Montanan, September 20, Retrieved from
to an external site.
3. Paul G. Summers (2022) Founding Fathers were clairvoyant to create three distinct branches of government.
The Tennessean, November 16, Retrieved from
to an external site.
(ALL THE ONLINE ARTICLES ARE UPLOADED IN A WORD FILE IN THE EXAM MODULE)
You MUST use the above required materials in writing your essays. You are NOT REQUIRED to use outside resources. NO PLAGIARISM is allowed. Canvas has inbuilt mechanism to flag plagiarism issues.
Assignment Details:
Each essay should be at least two paragraphs and 400-500 words long (10 words more or less fine) and should be well-cited. In-text citations and references are not included in the word count. You must write the word count at the end of each essay. The essays should compellingly address the prompts and provide strong evidence from the sources listed above to support your position. I will follow the writing assignment grading rubric while grading the essays.
No plagiarism will be allowed. The essays will be submitted through plagiarism tool, which automatically flags issues of plagiarism. Give the proper quote marks – “….” – to the quotations so that I know that they are quotes. Ensure that you write the essays in your own words.
An essay that is plagiarized more than 25 per cent (as per the Canvas report) will receive zero grade.
If you use AI generated resources, for example ChatGPT, you must give reference to them otherwise the essay will receive zero grade. See this link on how to refer ChatGPT in your essay:
to an external site.
You can type the essays on your computer and then copy and paste the text on the assignment submission page, or type directly on the assignment page. Follow the order of essays and write one essay after another essay. Give references at the end of each essay. Do not upload essays as a word or pdf file. Uploaded files will not be accepted. I also do not accept email submission. At the end of each essay write the word count of that essay.
*The assignment will not be accepted after the deadline.