1. pick a public policy topic that is of interest to you: this can be a neighborhood, community, local, state, national, or even a global topic
2. you will study your public policy topic: finding evidence and sources
3. you will become an expert on the topic!
4. you will find and develop public policy solutions to these problems
5. you will present and submit your findings
have fun: I want this to be fun for you; I want you to study a topic that is of interest to you. If you select a topic you like, finding solutions will not seem like such an academic chore. Or, you can even pick something you don’t understand but want to know more about. That will also work.
solving public policy problems: This is what we all want to do in a Government class, right? So that will be a goal here. We need solutions for small and big governmental problems and issues. And as citizens, we need to contribute to finding these solutions.
place & location: You can pick a local issue (one in a neighborhood), or you can select something global. Last semester, I had students working on local policy problems and solutions: bike paths, homelessness, stadium funding, mass transit. It worked well because students understood these issues better than national or international problems–and often, we can all imagine local solutions. So feel free to think about public policy problems we see every day.
research questions: Here are some questions to start thinking about. You need NOT answer each of these, but you can think about these while gathering your information. And I will send you more thoughts on this…..
introduce the issue (main question)
answer the primary question(s) at hand
What are the public policy problems?
What are the main public policy questions you are examining?
Who is effected?
Who are the winners/losers?
What are the consequences?
What are the sides of this issue; the arguments?
Are there solutions?
What can we (as citizens) do?
What should policymakers and politicians do?
What is the future for this issue?
What will communities, cities, neighborhoods, the nation, or the world be like in 20, 30 50 years concerning this issue? In other words, where is this particular issue going?
sources: Where you get your information is always important. So keep track of everything you read and use to learn about the issue. Even if you just look at a website or article to learn a few things–write it down and put it in your bibliography (link, author, etc). So keep an ongoing and comprehensive bibliography. I will send you some materials/links on bibliographies. This is a good time in your academic career to start understanding sources and how to develop bibliographies.
final essay: At the end of the semester, you will be handing-in something: your research and your findings. I want some sort of outcome: essay, paper, report, oral presentation, PowerPoint slides, video, audio podcast, etc. I want a repor with an argument…. I want to know you studied enough to make a case…. I want to hear your solutions to this public policy problem. I will accept about anything as long as you deal with the issues and public policy questions. We can discuss this in more detail I will post more about this later.
benchmarks and a few due dates: There will be a few benchmarks along the way just so I can keep you on-task. I will post dates for the following small chores:
-pick several topics you might be considering
-select the topic you want to examine for your final essay
-formulate a primary question
-start a bibliography and send me a few sources you have utilized
-submit a final product
Last Completed Projects
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