Mid-Term Writing Assignment Instructions: This is a 2-3 page, typed, double-spaced paper. Select one (1) Supreme Court case from the list of cases in “Scenarios from Selected Supreme Court Cases” (see the attached document). You will analyze this one (1) Supreme Court case from the perspective of five of the major concepts we have learned in the first half of the course. These major concepts are:
- Living under a government that protects person and property, no exceptions
- Living under a government that does not harm person and property
- Religion
- Personal Liberty
- Self-Government
Instead of an introduction, simply state the name of the case that you will analyze. Then write five paragraphs, each one devoted to one of the concepts listed above, and in the order listed above. Each paragraph must consist of the following five parts, and in this order:
- State which side of the case will promote the concept you are discussing; if the concept does not apply to your case, then state that it does not apply.
- Explain why this side promotes this concept, or why this concept does not apply to the case.
- Provide a primary source quotation from the textbook that defines the concept you are discussing (this should not be a quotation describing your case).
- Explain what the quotation says, using your own words.
- Re-state which side will promote this concept (or re-state that it does not apply) and the reason why, but this time when you re-state the reason why, use part of the quotation you just used instead of using your own words. (See the sample paragraph that follows for an example of how to do this part.)
Follow this pattern for all five major paragraphs, and you are done. Note on citation: at the end of your quotation, cite the quotation by using the activity number and letter of the quotation as it appears in the textbook and place these in quotation marks followed by a period. Note on plagiarism: do not present anyone else’s work as your own, and do not write this paper together with anyone else. If you do so, you may receive a 0 on the assignment and be reported to the college for violating the student code of conduct.
