State Compliance Essay

ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDELINES

1. Answer one of the questions listed below in a 10-15 page essay (excluding front matter and bibliography), with one-inch margin on all sides, double spaced lines, and a font Times News Roman of 11 point size.

2. A minimum of 6 peer-reviewed sources is required (i.e. books, book chapters, academic journal articles, and legal sources) which must be cited throughout the paper. You may supplement these with any other additional sources. These supplementary sources should only be in addition to the refereed sources.

3. The essay should reflect your personal effort, rather than a collection of texts copied from books, newspapers, and websites. It will be judged on its originality, the quality of the information and the sources consulted, and the way they are used in an analytical essay driven by an argument.

4. Before you begin your research and writing, consult “Doing Research, Writing Research Papers.” It may prove extremely helpful to you in this course and others.

5. It is highly recommended that you first read thoroughly the textbook chapter that relates to the question you chose to answer before you start your research and writing.

6. For good writing ideas, see The Elements of Style.

7. Include a title page and page numbers. The title should be reflect the question answered.

8. Include the question number and full text at the bottom on the title page.

9. Do not include in your writing contractions (can’t, won’t, don’t) – spell the words out. And do not use ‘etc.’ anywhere in your paper.

10. Use consistently the APSA citation rule for your references (page 17 of the APSA Style Manual, based on the Chicago Style). This citation style requires a list of Works Cited at the end of the essay. Law cases mentioned in the text should be in italics. Legal citations must adhere to legal citation rules. You may add a bibliography containing all items used in the preparation of the essay