AP Government Summer Assignment

 

 

 

You will have to write a comparative essay on an issue. You have three choices to select

a.                            Write it on the gubernatorial campaign.  The easiest way is to look at the website for one of the nominees and select an issue from there (such as their stance on gun control, abortion, alternative energy, the war in Iraq, etc). 

b.                            You can select an issue that is related to the presidential campaign such as campaign finance control, the way we select nominees for president (superdelegates, for ex. for the Democrats) or even the way we select our presidents (Electoral College, the cost of the campaigns (as opposed to the way it is done in a country with a parliament).

c.                            Finally you can select a controversial issue related to government, but not a current campaign or campaign issue and write about that.

 

Requirements:

 

  1. Minimum of  750 words (not including the bibliography).
  2. Need at least five sources (and none can be wikipedia). 
  3. You have to present at least two sides (some issues have even more). 
  4. You will need to make some significant mention of the 2008 presidential campaign (ie this candidate believes this, or the cost is too prohibitive as x person has raised this and y person that).
  5. You will need a bibliography done in correct format (http://www.fcps.edu/HayfieldSS/mediactr/Works%20Cited/Citation%20Guides.htm ).  
  6. You cannot use quotes except when you are directly quoting a person’s speech. In other words, I want you to think what an author is saying and put it in your own words. 
  7. You will need parenthetical citations for any quotes or original work (ie the idea can only be found in one or two sources).  Failure to do this or direct plagiarizing may result in a 0 for the assignment. 
  8. The assignment will be due the first day of school and will be graded using the AP US History rubric (please see below).
  9. If you have any questions over the summer, please e-mail ken.halla@fcps.edu but note that I will not be checking e-mails much the second and third weeks of August.

 

Community Service: Go to www.fcps.edu/HayfieldSS (under “summer assignments”) to see the requirements for your fifteen hours of community service. If you want to start during the summer you must get it approved by one of our returning government teachers before you start (see e-mails below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESSAY SCORING

 

8-9             The thesis is extremely well developed (thesis sentence and outline sentences +

topic sentences in each paragraph) and is supported with concrete evidence;

            all aspects of the question have been addressed thoroughly; discussions are

            balanced. 

 

6-7       The thesis is defined and supported; the evidence is very organized; the essay

            may be slightly imbalanced with one strong argument and one weak argument

            and/or discuss one topic more thoroughly than the next; sporadic factual errors

            may appear.

 

5          A basic argument or thesis is provided; evidence given supports the argument or

            thesis, but does not clearly connect with the argument of thesis; only the formal

            facets of the question are dealt with, and informal facets are not adequately

            covered; not all aspects of the questions are discussed

 

4          The thesis is not organized and is not referred to in the essay; the essay is little

more than a recounting of facts and events; the essay may be overloaded with

data; only one facet of the questions may be discussed; numerous factual errors

may appear

 

3          Weak or implausible thesis.  Breath of coverage and depth of information may be

adequate, but information does not fit the thesis. (off topic)  Contains factual

errors. 

 

2          Weak thesis is not sustained in discussion.  Offers few, if any, factual examples to

            support the thesis.  Included irrelevant information or inaccurate information.

 

1                        An attempt is made to answer the question, but the support given is insignificant and the coverage  of the topics is incomplete.

 

0            The question is not answered with any significance.

 

0.