Application Essay – Guidelines and Grade Rubric

Guidelines:
After reading the relevant chapter, find an article in a current newspaper (approved sources include the
New York Times, Washington Post and/or Wall Street Journal) that addresses a major concept, theory,
or issue addressed in that chapter. Feel free to use any article from the current week, but do not dig
back through older archives to find what you might think is a better fit; one purpose of this assignment
is to demonstrate that you are familiar with current events. Another is that you can learn to recognize
and apply key ideas from the readings to a wide variety of events world politics.
After you’ve read the chapter and selected an article, review the discussion board for the unit with two
things in mind. First, see what your classmates are writing and what is working and what is not; you can
benefit from modeling your essay on the general pattern and quality of other good essays. Second, you
will benefit from sharing truly unique insights with the class, and reviewing previously posted essays will
better enable you to ensure your contribution is unique. Make an effort to select an article that no one
else has already selected. If, however, someone has already written on the article you selected, the
burden is on you to either apply a different insight from the reading, or to apply the same insight but in
a clearly different way. Care must be taken to ensure that you are not repeating the discoveries and
insights of your classmates.
Format the essay with two distinct paragraphs followed by a clear reference to the article.
I. Paragraph 1: Exposition of Concept/Theory (150-200 words)
Choose one concept, theory, or issue central to the unit’s readings (i.e. some insight that enables you to
better understand the world). Identify that insight in your opening sentence, and demonstrate within
one concise paragraph that you understand the concept/theory/issue.
Please be very careful not to plagiarize the author’s (or a classmate’s) words. Do not copy even a few
words. Do not copy passages and then revise or edit them. The best approach to this paragraph is to
read the material until you understand it thoroughly, then set the book aside and write this paragraph
entirely from your thoughts.
II. Paragraph 2: Application to current event (150-200 words)
Identify the essence of the news article in a brief opening sentence, and use most of the paragraph to
demonstrate how the concept you explain above illuminates the current event described in your chosen
article.
III. Reference:
Include the following information, and please use the following format: Author (last name first). Title of
article. Name of newspaper. date of article publication (day month year). URL of article site. Date you
accessed site.
For example:
Fink, Sheri. “Liberia Is Free of Ebola, World Health Organization Declares.” New York Times. 9
May 2015. . Accessed 9 May 2015.
Of course, if you are reading a paper copy of the newspaper, you need not include the URL or access
date.
Grading:

o An event that is current, no more than one week old. Articles more than a week old are
given zero points.
o Articles from a recommended source of news (listed above). Articles from other sources
are given zero points.
o A full reference (author, title, date, etc.) as shown above.
If you are missing any of these requirements, you receive zero points on this portion of the
grade.

Book:

Last Updated on March 31, 2020