writing assignment
Students are required to write a formal paper on the question: Should the international community adopt and implement a global ban on nuclear weapons? The paper should be at least 12 full pages, not including the cover page (title of the paper, student name, course name, and date) and references page (list of sources cited in parenthetical citations in the paper). None of the information required on the cover page should be included on any other page of the paper. The paper should be double-spaced (2.0), Times New Roman 12 pt. font, and one inch margins on all sides (top, bottom, left, and right). The sections of the paper may be separated by one line space, but there should be no extra line-spacing between paragraphs within a section. Please make sure to check the line-spacing, font type and size, and margins on your document before submitting the first and final versions of the paper. Other paper guidelines are provided below. The first version of the paper is due on Thursday, March 11, 2021, and the final version of the paper is due on Thursday, April 29, 2021. The instructor will provide feedback on the first version of the paper. The paper is worth up to 100 points, including 50 points for the first version and 50 points for the final version. Scores for the paper will be posted in MyGrades on Blackboard. Two points per day are deducted for late submissions of the first and final versions of the paper. The paper is evaluated on the basis of the writing assignment scoring rubric. The paper should include the following five sections, each of which should be clearly labeled in the paper:
I. Introduction (2 to 3 pages) – Your introduction to the topic of the paper, including background information regarding the origins and evolution of the development, testing, and use of nuclear weapons by states since 1945; the international efforts to regulate the development, testing, and possession of nuclear weapons since the end of the Second World War; and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which was adopted in July 2017. Please properly cite all appropriate sources of information use in this section of the paper. At least three different professional sources must be used in this section of the paper. Do not refer to the names of scholars or summarize scholarly articles or other sources in this section of the paper. You should not give your opinion about nuclear weapons in this section of the paper.
II. Literature Review (3 to 4 pages) – A summary of the main points, themes, or arguments made by three or more scholars regarding the possibility of adopting and implementing a global ban on nuclear weapons at some point in the future. The summaries must be based on scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals. After summarizing the main points or arguments made by the scholars, please discuss the areas of agreement and/or disagreement among the scholars. Please do not mention the titles of articles or the publications in the text of this section of the paper. This information should be provided on the References page. At the start of each summary, you should directly refer to the full name of the scholar (and the year in which the scholarly article was published in parentheses). After you have referred to the full name of the author and the publication year at the start of each summary, you do not need to further cite the scholarly article. In other words, parenthetical citations are not necessary in this section of the paper. You shold not give your opinion about the main points or arguments made by the scholars.
III. Positions (3 to 4 pages) – A detailed description of the official positions held by at least three different countries from three different regions of the world regarding the TPNW, including an explanation of the official positions expressed by the government or government officials of those countries regarding the treaty. Please use and properly cite at least six different sources of information used in this section of the paper, including government documents and official statements, academic articles, news articles, and other professional sources of information. Do not refer to the names of scholars or summarize scholarly articles in this section of the paper. You should not give your opinion about the official positions of the countries in this section of the paper.
IV. Critical Analysis (3 to 4 pages) – Your critical analysis (critique) of the official positions held by governments and government officials regardiing the TPNW, as well as an explanation of your informed perspective about the proposed global ban on nulear weapons. Please properly cite all appropriate sources of information used in this section of the paper. Do not refer to the names of scholars or summarize scholarly articles in this section of the paper.
V. Conclusions (1 to 2 pages) – You summary of what you learned in the writing assignment, and some final thoughts regarding the topic of nuclear weapons.
Paper Guidelines
1. Quotations Students may not insert unattributed quoted sentences or paragraphs (including block quotes) from sources into their papers. The only permissible quotations are those sentences or words that are directly attributed to a person. All attributed quotations in the paper, which must be properly cited, should be limited to a sentence or a partial sentence. Quotations of a person that are more than one sentence long are not permitted in the paper.
2. Sources: Students should use at least twelve different professional sources of information, including academic articles and books, news articles, governmental and non-governmental reports, and documents published online or elsewhere by the United Nations and other international organizations. Among other locations, students should use the UCA Librarys article databases for obtaining sources of information for this paper. Secondary sources may be used in the writing assignment if they have an identifiable author (John Smith) and publication year (2015) or an identifiable organization (BBC News) and publication date (December 15, 2015). Primary sources of information, such as international treaties, government documents, and organizational reports, may also be used in the writing assignment. Students should not cite information from online d ictionaries or encyclopedia, such as Wikipedia.com, in this writing assignment. Random webpages and other undated sources should not be cited in this writing assignment. Similarly, students should not cite online reference sources such as History.com in this writing assignment.
3. Plagiarism: Students will receive zero [0] points if any one or more sentences in the paper are copied-and-pasted from a source on the Internet or elsewhere. Students will also receive zero [0] points if the paper contains one or more sentences that are largely copied from a source with some of the words changed. There is no excuse for plagiarism, and therefore, students who plagiarize will not be given the opportunity to resubmit the paper.
4. Proof-Reading All papers, including the first version and final version, should be proof-read for writing errors by the student prior to submitting it to the instructor. The writing style should be formal and professional throughout the paper. Among other informal writing practices, please do not use contractions such as dont or doesnt in this paper. Please refer to the Second World War as the Second World War rather than World War II or WWII. Please do not refer to nuclear weapons as nukes in this paper. After the first mention of the United States or United States of America, please use the abbreviated term U.S. Same for the United Kingdom (U.K.). Points will be deducted from papers that contain grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other writing errors. After the first mention of treaties such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please use the abbreviated term for that treaty (e.g. TPNW).
5. Citations All sources should be properly cited at the end of a sentence or the paragraph in which information from the source is referenced using parenthetical citations. The Political Science Style Manual, which is similar to Chicago Style Manual, is the recommended citation style in this writing assignment (see pages 37-40 in the Political Science Style Manual). Students may not use Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style in this paper since it is primarily used in the humanities, not the social sciences. Parenthetical citations should only contain the authors last name and publication year (Johnson 2015) or the name of an organization and publication date (UN News Centre, June 15, 2015). A parenthetical citation should also contain page numbers if the sentence includes quoted words. Under no circumstances should an internet address be inserted into a parenthetical citation. Citations of primary sources, such as international treaties, government documents, and organizational reports, should generally be cited using footnotes, especially if there is no identifiable author or authors. For footnotes, all of the information regarding the source should be provided in the footnote the first time that the source is cited in the paper. Each subsequent time the source is cited, only some information regarding the source needs to be provided in the footnote. If a sources date includes a month/day and year, the full date should be included in the footnote. As an example, a footnote containing the citation of an international agreement should include the name of the treaty or document (italicized), the date on which the treaty or document was adopted or entered into force, the organization responsible for publishing the treaty or document, the location (city/state or country) of the organization, and the online location of the source, if applicable (see below):
Footnote:
(1) Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, March 5, 1970, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs – UNODA, New York, NY, https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt/).
6. References – At the end of the paper, all sources of information cited in parenthetical citations should be listed in alphabetical order on the References page, including the authors full last name/first name or the formal name of the organization, publication year or date of the source, the title of the article or document, the name of the publication, and page numbers (see pages 41-55 in the Political Science Style Manual). For scholarly articles obtained from the internet, a short version of the URL (uniform resource locater) or the DOI (digital object identifier) may be included on the References page. If you provide a hyperlink to a web address, make sure that the hyperlink goes directly to the source and make sure that the hyperlink works. If a hyperlink does not go directly to the source or cannot be accessed without having to sign into an account, please do not include those types of hyperlinks on the References page. Please do not use the phrase Retrieved from on the References page in this paper. It is not necessary to indicate the date on which you retrieved a source. For sources that do not have a publication date, you should indicate the date on which you accessed the source. Sources of information, such as an international treaty, cited in endnotes or footnotes do not need to be listed on the References page. Please do not refer to the References page as Works Cited.
