Hints for written assignments in Y200:

1) Your essay should have a thesis sentence. By thesis, we mean one sentence somewhere in your introductory paragraph that sums up the argument of the paper. Anyone should be able to read this sentence and understand generally what the entire paper will argue. You will not receive a “4” (an A) without a thesis sentence.

2) Cite any source you use in your paper. These do not have to be formal citations – simply saying “according to the New York Times” or something similar will suffice. This includes any information taken from the Internet (meaning for assignments based on webpages, etc., all you have to do is say somewhere in the paper what webpages you are using). Direct quotes, however, should ALWAYS be attributed to their source, regardless of what it is.

3) Don’t use slang or casual language. For instance, do not call political candidates by their first names or nicknames.

4) Names of political parties are capitalized (e.g. Democrat, Republican, Libertarian). The word “democratic” as an ideal is not capitalized (e.g. democratic theory).

5) Names of magazines, newspapers, and books should be either italicized or underlined.

6) Use spelling and grammar checks on your computer – you will lose points for egregious errors.

7) PLEASE use 12-pt font (font is up to you, when in doubt use Times New Roman) and 1-inch margins, and observe page limit requests (for assignment 1, this is a 2 page max). Don’t try the funny stuff – John Mark and I have been students for a long time, and we’ve seen it all.

8) PLEASE staple the pages of your paper together, and put your seat number in the upper right hand corner with your name. This is to help you, as well as to help us – there are a lot of people in this class, and it is easy to lose parts of papers if the corners are just folded together. Putting your seat number on the paper will help you get it back faster. Names in the upper right hand corner are fine; title pages are not necessary.

9) Use the questions Prof. Wright asks in each assignment as paper-organizing guidelines. Make sure you address each of the questions he asks (at the bottom of assignment 1), and in an orderly manner.

10) If you have questions about these guidelines or the papers in general, contact an AI or Professor Wright before the papers are due. We will be glad to clear things up, but there is a lot less we can do for you the farther into the semester we go!