Write a 5-7 page, double-spaced, paper responding to the following prompt and using as much course material as possible to explain and defend your response.
The research required for this paper is limited: the assignment here is to engage with course texts, building on class discussions AND the one scholarly article you found (and presented) through the electronic journal collections at Bierce Library.
Please be sure to use these REQUIRED subheadings to organize your paper (each section should be about 1-1.5 pages):
- Introduction
- The One Idea is…
- This Idea is Important because…
- Final Thoughts
Prompt: Imagine you are explaining to a favorite Aunt or Uncle, Grandmother or Grandfather, the one most important idea you learned in this course. Just one. Be sure to select one that allows you to draw on Schattschneider & Getting To Yes (our two core texts) plus at least two other course texts and the article you found to defend your claim that this idea is important (for the reasons you specify).
Explain what this idea or concept is (section #2) and why it is important in the real world (section #3)…in a way that demonstrates (1) you understand the texts we read and the complexity of the ideas we have examined, (2) your capacity to use the key concepts here to better understand and analyze and act effectively within the world we live in, and (3) that you can do all of this with language that your audience (Aunt or Uncle or Grandparent) would easily understand.
In the Introduction summarize your overall argument and persuade the reader that they want to read your argument. That it matters.
In section #4 first explain what you learned by writing this paper and then share your final thoughts on the idea, paper, class, whatever has become salient in your mind when you think about your experience in this class or the material we engaged with.
And have fun, explore your own thinking, push yourself to see just how persuasively you can explain and defend a complex idea.
