ACT College Arlington Primary Documents in American History Primary Sources Paper

Primary Source Paper: Students in all political science classes, including this course, must complete at least one written analysis of primary sources. This assignment must be completed at midterm or later in the semester, must include analysis of at least six pages of primary sources, be properly cited, and account for at least 15% of the students’ final course grade. The primary source assignment for this course will be a 10 page paper worth 100 points. The paper in its final form will be due the last day of class. This assignment is graded by a common rubric and is used for program assessment. The primary source assignment, by requiring that students understand the historical context for the documents analyzed, recognize the importance of diverse cultures and global and historical perspectives, and evaluate and use primary and secondary sources effectively and ethically, measures the two core competencies applied to the class. This written assignment also addresses and supports the political science discipline goals: 1. Demonstrate understanding of the fundamentals of political systems and ideologies. 2. Describe and analyze the impact of historical, economic, and social forces on the operation of political systems. 3. Understand the functioning of the American system of government. 4. Understand the diversity of political systems and structures among nations, evaluate the significance of those differences, and describe the interactions among nations. 5. Evaluate primary sources in the study of politics. 6. Demonstrate effective communication skills when describing, discussing, critiquing, and analyzing political ideas and structures. 7. Demonstrate effective research skills and proper documentation of resources.

Our class will be analyzing Federalist Paper 10 and Federalist Paper 51 both found in the appendix of your textbook (We The People). There will be seven elements of this paper.

Please note that the following applies to all essay assignments: Each essay must meet the page requirement listed (12 point font, Times New Roman, double spaced, regular margins) not counting headings or citations. In other words, the text of your paper must meet the required page length.Superfluous wording or off topic wording will not be counted toward your page total. Essays will be graded according to the quality of the response (is it on topic, well researched, well written). Students will be marked down for typographical/spelling/grammatical errors and for incorrect citations.

• Introduction to the paper (1 paragraph)
• Historical context of the writing of the Federalist Papers. Students should include relevant history leading up to the writing of the Federalist Papers. This history should include, at a minimum, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, The Articles of Confederation, Shays’ Rebellion, the Constitutional Convention, and the debates over ratification. DO NOT use the article by Seth Halvorson as research for this section of the paper. (2 pages, 20 points).
• Summary of the main points of Federalist Paper 10 (3 pages, 30 points), including in text quotations as appropriate.
• Summary of the main points of Federalist Paper 51 (3 pages, 30 points), including in text quotes as appropriate.
• Identify the specific parts of the Constitution that Federalist Papers 10 and 51 are referring to (i.e. Federalist Paper 10 discusses how a republican form of government is the only cure for faction, describe how the constitution establishes a republican form of government and otherwise attempts to cure for faction (hint: it’s not Article IV); Federalist 51 discusses the need for separation of powers and checks and balances, what specific parts of the Constitution establish and spell out these ideas). Students should make reference, where relevant, to appropriate sections of the Constitution.(2 pages, 20 points).
• Conclusion (1 paragraph)
• Reference page

This paper must be cited in APA format. Please follow this guide for information on how to cite correctly https://wwnorton.com/college/english/write/writesite/research/Documentation_PDFs/APA_Guidelines.pdf.