Present Events Report

Description

Students will complete three writing assignments, integrating a minimum of two news sources. Students will select any current event of interest related to politics and government, public policy or law from the two media sources. The student is free to use more than the minimum two sources, if need be. This assignment tab is for the first of these three current events papers.

For those topics that are national or international in nature, you are required to select a publication of a national level circulation, such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Washington Post. NPR.org, BBC World News, CNNpolitics.com and Politico are good examples of reliable credible sources. These publications have their own staff-writers in various bureaus throughout the world. Thus, they will provide you with more a lot more primary source/detailed analysis, hard news and topic background than can newspapers with only a local/regional-level circulation. Topics of a state/local nature can be accessed using a local/regional circulation newspaper (San Diego Union-Tribune, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Los Angeles Times, etc.). For each source, please choose a hard news or feature article. Please do not use op-ed pieces (editorials, opinion columns, etc.). Also, do not use short news clips from wire reports. Do not use blogs or Wikipedia, or any other “publications” that are not considered legitimate & valid peer-reviewed journalistic sources (“Info Wars.com,” etc.). Please make sure your source/article is that of a substantive and detailed information provider.

The student will then write an approximate 3-4 page essay addressing the final criteria: (1) Give a complete and detailed background on the topic. What is the conflict(s)? What are the various perspectives and arguments of each of the parties involved? What are some of the origins of the problem? What are some possible solutions for conflict resolution, from the perspective of the political actors involved? (2) Give an analysis comparing the information offered from the minimum two sources. Which source gives more depth and detail? Is there a particular bias with one source? What are some of the contents and passages of each source to illustrate and support your evaluation of the sources? These are the questions I want you to address when doing these assignments. For every idea or words that are not your own, please cite the author and/or the source. You are free to use any of the major citation styles (MLA, APA, Turabian/Chicago style). Just be sure to be consistent and, again, cite sources. You are required to provide citations and sources/evidence for any non-common information, statistical data, quotations, or any opinions, assertions or arguments that might be given. Papers which include opinions or arguments that lack such evidence and sources, and are based on just anecdotal experiences, or your “gut” feeling shall be docked in points