Research Assignment

Pick one:

• If you are taking part in the legislative simulation, analyze your experience. Consider your role's relationship to the party system.  Even if you are playing someone who is not officially partisan, does the person's positions serve one party better than the other?  In this light, how well did your positions and goals match those of your real-life counterpart? What methods did you use? In the circumstance that you dealt with, would your counterpart have done the same? How did the simulation both resemble and differ from the real world?  
• Appraise President Obama's performance as leader of the Democratic Party.  What were his goals for the party?  In light of political and institutional constraints, how well did he perform?
• During President Obama's second term, are parties in government at the federal level more or less polarized than they were during his first term?
• Which party will control the Senate next year?  In your answer, take account of broad political and historical trends, along with the makeup of the Senate class up for election in 2016.    You may consult sites that rate Senate races, but do not take their judgments as gospel.
• Write on another topic of your choice, subject to my approval.

The specifications:

• Essays should be typed (12-point), double-spaced, and no more than six pages long. I will not read past the sixth page. 
• Cite your sources. Please use endnotes in the format of Chicago Manual of Style. 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 (in Word format) to the Sakai dropbox for this class by 11:59 PM, Friday, April 8. Papers will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.