Select a typical day in your life as a college student, and keep a journal that focuses on how the
local government, state government, and national government each affected your life during that
day. This journal should include at least five examples of each level of government. Be sure
to explain how precisely the specific level of government influenced your daily activities. Based
on your relationship with the different levels of government, you will then write a short
reflection paper – approximately 500 words – that discusses which system of federalism you
prefer: Dual Federalism, Cooperative Federalism, or Devolution.
II. ASSIGNMENT RULES AND GUIDELINES:
1) The journal portion must contain a minimum of five entries per level of government, for a
minimum of fifteen total. The reflection essay should be approximately 500 words. Use
the word count function in Word (or a similar function in a different program) to gauge
the appropriate length. Both portions of this assignment constitute your grade.
2) Do not use outside sources. All the information, you need to answer the questions
comes from the assigned readings and lectures. This assignment is not a research paper.
Use of outside sources, particularly online encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, will
significantly lower your grade. USE FROM THIS BOOK ( Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber, American Government in Black and White: Diversity and Democracy, 5th edition Oxford University Press.)
3) The entire paper must be in YOUR OWN WORDS. Do not copy from any of the
readings. Copying from the readings will significantly lower your grade.
4) Pay attention to the rules of Academic Integrity! If you decide to break the rules and
consult outside sources, then failure to cite those sources will result in an academic
integrity sanction, which minimally will be a 0 on the assignment. If you decide to break
the rules and copy from the readings, then failure to provide quotation marks will result
in an academic integrity sanction, which minimally will be a 0 on the assignment. See
the USF Academic Integrity Policy:
https://catalog.usf.edu/content.php?catoid=13&navoid=1578#academic-integrity
5) I strongly encourage students to consult with your TA/Section Leader or me when
writing the paper. You may also use the USF Writing Studio, but if you do, then I
recommend starting early because their appointments fill up quickly. However, students
may not consult with anyone else when writing the paper, including classmates, friends,
co-workers, family members, other relatives, etc. Consulting with an unauthorized
source in any fashion (in person, over the phone, online) is cheating and will result in a
stringent academic integrity sanction, including an FF in the course.
6) Make sure that the paper is well-written. Avoid sloppy mistakes. Writing must be
concise. Consult a style manual to learn the appropriate rules of writing, especially
concerning subject-verb agreement, wordiness, sentence structure, active versus passive
voice, etc. Pay attention to sentence structure. Avoid wordy and redundant language.
Make sure that the paragraph structure is clear. Overly long paragraphs render papers
difficult to read. Each paragraph must contain a topic sentence, with subsequent
sentences supporting that topic sentence. Do not discuss multiple ideas in a single
paragraph.
7) Edit the paper several times. Writing is a gradual process; therefore, it is difficult, if not
impossible, for authors to communicate their ideas in an initial draft. Moreover,
proofread with a critical eye; that is, read the paper as if you are reading someone else’s
work. Do not proofread immediately after finishing a draft. Put the paper aside, and
revaluate it later when your perspective is fresher.
8) Do not wait until the last minute to start!!
9) Submit the entire assignment (the journal and the short essay) in one single file – either
Word or PDF.
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