APUSH 2016/17

Ms. Cervine

Current Events Formal Assignment

DUE November 10th 2016

For your first semester formal assignment, you will be researching a current event of your choice and connecting it to a specific individual right protected by the Bill of Rights. You will be writing and submitting a short paper about the controversy surrounding your article and the related Amendment. You will need to do the following.

  1. Choose a recent news article (within the past month, so nothing further back than September 14, 2016) that relates to one of the rights covered in the Bill of Rights.
  2. This news article must be from a legitimate news source (so not the National Enquirer, US weekly, or realunexplainedmysteries.com). NPR, The New York Times, the New Yorker, the San Francisco Chronicle, PBS would be examples of acceptable sources. You may also use any major news station as long as you discuss the bias the station carries (i.e. MSNBC, CNN and Fox News).
  3. Give a brief summary of your article (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?),figure out which amendment your article relates to and discuss the right that amendment protects.
  4. Next, discuss in detail whichever amendment your article relates to, and the right that amendment protects. Why is this amendment controversial? Why did the founders include this article in the Bill of Rights? What rights were they trying to protect? Give specific historical examples to support your argument.
  5. Examine the controversy surrounding your article and the amendment it relates to. What is controversial about your article/the amendment? Is the amendment still being used to protect what it was originally intended to protect? What are the two sides to the argument and what evidenceis put forward to defend these ways of thinking? (NOTE: You must discuss BOTH sides of the controversy methodically and fairly. You must attempt to fully understand the both arguments and be unbiased in your explanation. You will not receive full credit unless you do this.)
  6. Finally, what do you think? Why do you think this is controversial? What is your opinion? Given your research, what do you think should be done? Please keep this discussion realistic. Considering the current makeup of our country, is there a potential realistic solution to this issue? What would you propose to change?

Bring your article with you to class on October 27th/28th as well as a rough idea of the amendment it connects to and the controversy surrounding it.

Your final paper should be 1000-1200 words, double-spaced, 12 pt.font, Cambria or Times New Roman with 1-inch margins on all sides. You will submit your paper to turnitin.com by 11 pm, November 10, 2016.