N7

Research Paper: Current Events Assignment Instructions

Overview

This Module: Week you will choose any Middle East related research topic or question. Try to select a narrow rather than broad topic, say ‘terrorism in the Sinai’ rather than some generic paper on terrorism qua terrorism. You will not know all the answers related to the topic, but you should know what all the important questions and issues are if not the players involved. Good research papers seldom miss these critical aspects of an issue or topic. Be careful not to choose presidential policies (or presidents) or actions that have not had enough time to fully assess. This assignment may require students to make themselves aware of current issues in the region. The same could be said of US sponsored foreign policy initiatives generally. There are limitless possibilities here, so choose wisely.

Instructions

· Length: 5-7 double spaced pages not including additional pages for title and references. You may write more pages if necessary.

· Format: Turabian

· Citations: At least 7 sources must be used and may include the course text, Bible, and scholarly articles.

· Topic Selection

· The topic must be narrow rather than broad—avoid topics like ‘histories of this or that subject’, or ‘Iran-US relations’, ‘terrorism in the Middle East’, the ‘Iran nuclear deal’, or other such generic policy challenges. You may write on specific aspects of each of these so long as the problem is current.

· The topic must go beyond reporting facts to include analysis—it is not enough to rehearse descriptive accounts of a problem or provide a laundry list of them but must instead include analysis of its implications for US foreign policy.

· The topic may not include a paper already completed for another class.

· The topic should keep in mind the following research advice: You do not have to know all the answers to the questions you are asking in your paper, but you should know what or who all the important questions, issues, and players are.

· Write a research paper on any current USFP topic in the Middle East region. Remember—you do not have to know all the answers to the topic or question you ask, but you should know what all the important questions and issues are.

· What is the topic or issue that interests you?

· Why is it important to USFP?

· Assess the importance of the key topic/issue/question: Explain what all the key questions, issues, and key players are.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.