Assignment Prompts:

1. The Skeleton: Conduct light background research using high-quality websites to learn the basic concepts related to Civic Society (G. Almond and S. Verba), Democratic Peace Theory (E. Kant and T. Paine), and a Harmony of Interests (A. Smith and K. Marx) in the United States. At this stage, read with “metacognition” and reflect, grasping this basic information will allow you to understand the material before delving deeper. Prework: informal research and background reading only. Example of a high-quality or reliable source: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Peer-Reviewed)

2. The Muscles: Access the Research Center tab inside the course and then click on the first link “Academic Search Complete.” Reminder: there is a highly detailed course announcement explaining how to use this tool. Locate and properly cite a minimum of one scholarly source obtained via the research center tool to meet the bare minimum research requirements. Look down the list, the search tool uses AI and is a bit too smart.

Writing suggestion: Introduction, with at least 2-3 paragraphs of content, and a source that has been properly cited (one per major theory or 3 sources would be within the norms).

General Reminders:

Be sure to follow all formatting guidelines provided in the syllabus. Your final work product must have in-text citations for each source listed on the works cited page, a word count, must be in essay format, and meet both the minimum writing and research criteria. If either of the minimum expectations is not met, the assignment will be marked incomplete. Be sure to provide proper citations using MLA format (version 7 or newer) for all sources.