Overview: Reference a theme of current events and apply concepts of government using our textbook, supplemental readings, and 1984. This is a creative assignment that requires you use our discipline to analyze unfolding events to predict outcomes by imagining the future.
- Identify your theme by connecting at least 3 related news articles and what element you are assessing. For example, I may be interested in presidential primary debates, so I have an article on the Republicans, one on the Democrats, and another that contextualizes the current primary with previous primaries.
- Next, I would select at least one concept from the textbook–such as the nature of the state (Chapter 1)–plus any relevant material from the weekly supplemental readings, and any relevant ideas from 1984 that serve well for making analytical connections. WITHOUT THESE, you will LOSE POINTS.
- The creative outcome should be proposed; no proposal = no guarantee of acceptance. Automatic acceptance without approval: If you want to write this as an essay, that is acceptable!
- Your entire product should culminate in a measured prediction of the theme of current events that no one else has provided BECAUSE you will include all of the elements above and use your political perspective (based on POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY assignment).
Final thoughts: There is a lot of flexibility in what I consider “creative.” First, while artistic expressions might be obvious, I think so long as you are creative in how you present, that anything could be valid. If you are good with numbers, have taken statistics, then there is a lot of room for inquiry (go to the Library Databases for good quantitative articles). For those of you thinking about political science as a PhD., just know that the discipline is primarily data-driven in its analysis these days.
Lastly, there is ultimately no incorrect prediction of the future, but there is a lazy retelling of the recent past/current events… as always, if you have questions, please ask.