Reflection Paper #1

American Presidency
January 24-February 6

General Instructions
The reflection paper is an opportunity for you to explore a topic of interest to you in state
and local government. You will be asked to find critical issues, analyze problems,
evaluate them, and develop your own arguments.

For reflection paper #1, you will conduct an evaluation of the electoral college.
Specifically, you should write a reflection paper evaluating whether the president
should be elected directly by the people.

You as a reasoned well-informed thinker, diligent researcher, and good writer should
first read the materials provided below. Then take your position, develop your own
argument, provide evidence that supports your argument, and revise your paper before
submitting.

Requirements
1. The reflection paper should be 3-4 page in length and be uploaded to the submission
folder on D2L.
2. A paper should be typed, with one-inch margins, in Times New Roman, 12-point,
double-spaced, written in formal English.
3. Your paper must be in MS-Word (.doc or .docx). Create your file using your last
name (i.e., Choi Paper1.doc).
4. External sources and bibliography are not necessary, but feel free to include, if
necessary, to write a reflection paper. Any reference style (APA, Chicago, APSA, and
so on) may be used for your convenience.
5. Read Rubric for Reflection Paper Assessment available in Doc Sharing under Module
2.
6. Remember, as specified by the course syllabus, all students will maintain the highest
level of personal responsibility and academic honesty. Academic dishonesty affects
all individuals at the University and accordingly will not be tolerated. For this
class, academic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or
falsifying academic work. In particular, passing off work as your own that was
written by someone else, without proper citation or attribution, on either exams or
discussion assignments will be considered an act of plagiarism. This holds true
whether material comes from the textbook, another publication, an internet source, or
another student. Violations of academic integrity/honesty while carrying out academic
assignments may, at the discretion of the instructor, receive a zero on the particular
work in question, receive an “F” in the course and may result in significant
administrative penalties.
7. Special Note: Copying and pasting any single sentence from other sources,
regardless of reason, will get lowest scores from this assignment. If necessary,
paraphrase it and make a citation.
8. Your reflection paper should be uploaded to the submission folder on D2L.
Due is by 11:30 PM on Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Material #1: The 2000 Presidential Election

Material #2: Problems with the Electoral College

Material #3: Pro and Con of Direct Election

These three materials in the form of pdf files are available in Doc Sharing under Module
2.