Your paper will automatically go through Turnitin. Please review your report – if it is yellow, orange or red you may need to insert some additional citations or paraphrase some material. If you do have a red or orange report, you should include a note to your instructor explaining why and how you mitigated it with citations, etc.
You may write your paper on one of the following three topics.
- An in-depth analysis of United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. ___ (2012) and the Fourth Amendment case law leading up to Jones. Specifically what cases did Jonesoverturn, either entirely or in part. How does Jonesimpact, affect the applicability of the Fourth Amendment?
- Research the case law and statutory law behind self-defense and the use of deadly force. What does the case law reveal that an average citizen can use in terms of self-defense and deadly force? How is that different than a law enforcement officer? Provide a detailed analysis of the case law where the court’s have grappled with these issues. Focus primarily on the Supreme Court cases on this issue.
- Research, summarize and analyze the most recent US Supreme Court Opinions that address criminal law matters. Some hot topics for 2018 included ineffective assistance counsel and probable cause and Fourth Amendment challenges. Of these cases decided by the Supreme Court most recently, what cases will be overturned? How has the case law lead up to this point and how might it be affected in the future. What are the practical implications of these recent Supreme Court decisions.
Your paper will automatically be processed through Turnitin.
Your paper should be 8-10 pages. Here are some general guidelines. Please use 12 font and one inch margins. Please include page numbers. Please double space. Recommend using topic and sub topic headings to organize your paper.
It is fine for the total paper to be at 10 pages which would include title page, abstract and references. That being said, if the paper is 10 pages in length and then another few pages with those items – that is fine too. What I’m really looking for in the paper is graduate level cohesive writing where you research and analyze primary legal sources such as case law, statutes and the US Constitution.
Please refer to the rubric attached to this assignment.
Please use the Blue Book or APA citation format to list your references. Information on this format can be found in the Resources or at this link
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/.
Please remember to USE FOOTNOTES!! Footnotes are sequentially numbered starting with 1. No two have the same number even if they refer to the same source. Please also include a reference section at the end where all sources are listed in proper Bluebook format.
- Write an introduction, which clearly identifies the topic of your report and the issues, which you seek to illuminate. The introduction should include the thesis or basis of your report, and a very preliminary overview of the evidence you will use to support it. Finally, the introduction should include a statement that identifies what your paper contributes to our understanding of the law of Homeland Security (in other words, why is the topic of your report important?).
2. The body of your report should be dedicated to support your thesis with claims gleaned from your research (into what others have written on the topic; data that you have gathered), readings from the course text, forums, and/or case law, law review articles. Please cite your references at the end of your paper in full Bluebook format.
3. Conclude your report by recapitulating your thesis and explaining in greater detail the significance of your findings. If you would like, include in your conclusion some questions or claims about the topic and/or specific which you’ve written. If you believe more research needs to be done on your topic, be specific about what kind of research and how you think it ought to be done.
Recommend that you proof read your paper several times to ensure that you have no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors and to ensure that your paper flows well and is organized.
*** Please note that the research paper for this class must be your original work. It is against the APUS plagiarism policy to use work that you may have submitted in a previous or simultaneous class. There have been some instances where APUS students were taking multiple graduate level courses and submitted the same paper for more than one course. This is against the APUS policy. Please review the policy at:
.