Last Assignment, Spring 2018

Pick one:

• The authors had to write Defying the Odds very quickly and finish by January 2017.  The public now has more information about many aspects of the 2016 campaign (e.g., campaign finance, Russian meddling).  Pick one of these aspects and develop it.  What do we know now that we did not know 15 months ago?  How would this additional information affect the book's interpretation of the campaign?
• For responsible party government to happen, writes Hershey (p. 350), "all the elected branches of government would have to be controlled by the same party at a particular time." [Emphasis in the original.]  This situation has existed since January 2017.  So do we have responsible party government?  Explain with reference to class readings, discussions, and outside research.
• Schier and Lee finished their books before the 2016 election.  Write an update either to Lee, ch. 9 or Schier, ch. 7.  Explain how subsequent events either confirm the chapter's argument or raise new questions that the author does not address.

The specifications:

• Essays should be typed (12-point), double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page. Please submit papers as Word documents, not pdfs.
• Cite your sources. Please use endnotes in Turabian format. Endnotes do not count against the page limit. Please do not use footnotes, which take up too much page space. 
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. Return essays to the Sakai dropbox for this class by 11:59 PM, Tuesday, May 1. Papers will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.