Weekly tasks or assignments (Individual Projects) will be due by Monday and late submissions will be assigned a late penalty in accordance with the late penalty policy found in the syllabus. NOTE: All submission posting times are based on midnight Central Time.

For the next four weeks, you will be working on a single essay. In this essay you will select an important issue or problem, research this issue, and then propose a solution. Each individual project will take you through the writing process – from the question that first inspired your research to your final draft in phase 5. Your phase 2 Individual Project is the first step towards this final paper.

The first step is to choose a topic that you are interested in writing about. Choose a topic from the following list:

• Gang violence
• Border security
• 30 Million Uninsured Americans
• The collapse of the housing market
• The crisis of American Education
• The college football playoff system (BCS vs. Playoffs)
• Increasing use of Medical Marijuana
• Low turnout of American voters

Once you have decided on your topic, formulate a research question to narrow it. Ask yourself: what is the specific problem you will be writing about and what is the solution to that problem? Performing research will help you to narrow your topic and find outside sources which will support your proposed solution. For this assignment, you will create an annotated bibliography of the outside sources that you find.

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a brief list of the sources you plan to use in your research paper. This list is presented in APA formatting. You will present the source and then include a paragraph that explains what it is about, how it relates to your topic, and why it is important to your paper.

To create your annotated bibliography:

Choose 3 to 5 outside sources, two of which must be from the CTU Library. Create an APA formatted reference list of these sources. Finally, write one paragraph for each source describing the source, how it relates to your topic, and how it will help you write your paper.

Your Individual Project should contain the following:

• A properly formatted reference page with 3 – 5 reliable sources
• Proper in text citations

In addition to these structural guidelines your individual project should also contain the following:

• A cover page
• Headers
• Page numbers
• Be double-spaced using 12 point, Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier fonts.

American Government