PSCI 2300, Introduction to International Relations Writing Assignment #1
1. Locate and read five or more sources of information primarily from the UCA Library’s online
article data bases (e.g. ProQuest Central, JSTOR, and Academic Search Complete) regarding the topic,
“The Importance of International Organizations such as the United Nations in the 21st Century.” You
may also use credible sources of information found on the internet, so long as the sources provide an
author’s name, title of article, publication, and date.
2. Write a five -to six-page paper on the topic with the following two sections (make sure to clearly
label the two sections in your paper). Each of the two sections should be approximately two to three
pages long. The paper should be typed, double-spaced (2.0 line spacing), and one-inch margins on all
sides (top, bottom, left, and right).
I. Summary of Perspectives – summarize two or more scholarly or other perspectives about the
importance of international organizations, including the United Nations, in the 21st century. What are
the perspectives of scholars or other authors concerning the importance of international organizations
such as the United Nations?
II. Argument – develop your own argument regarding the importance of international organizations,
including the United Nations, in the 21st century. Do you believe that international organizations such
as the United Nations have played an important role in the international political system in the past 75
years? Can international organizations play an important role in the future? Explain why or why not.
Regardless of your own viewpoint, please provide some empirical evidence or facts in support of your
argument.
Citations: Students are required to properly cite the sources of information used in the paper. The
citations may be footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical citations. Regardless of the method of citation
used in the paper, students are not permitted to list an internet address as a source. Endnotes or
footnotes should provide all the bibliographic information, including author, title of article,
publication, date, and page numbers if applicable. Students are not permitted to include “block quotes”
in the paper (i.e. quotations consisting of more than one sentence). If using parenthetical citations,
students are permitted to only insert an author’s last name or a media source such as BBC News, date
of the source, and page numbers if applicable in between the parentheses. For parenthetical citations,
the full bibliographic information should be provided in a “References” or “Works Cited” page at the
end of the paper.
Plagiarism: Students will receive zero points if any one or more sentences in the paper are copiedand-pasted
from the internet or any other location. Students will also receive zero points if the paper
contains sentences that are largely copied from a source with some of the words changed.