The "Many Hats of the President" and Current Events
Due Date _______________________________
The Roles of the President: The president wears many "hats" and exercises many different powers every dayChief Executive, Chief Diplomat, Commander in Chief, Chief Legislator, Chief of State, Chief Citizen and Chief of Party.
Your Research
1. Choose five presidential roles from the list above.
2. Find a current event news article of President Obama carrying out each of those roles.
(Example: President Obama issuing an executive order or a command to the military.)
3. Your examples will come from VALID news sources. You can find these sources on-line. Some valid sources areMSNBC news, Washington Post, New York Times, Huffington Post, ABC news....
4. A good way to research a role is to put in key words relating to what you want to find (Example- Obama, commanderin-chief, role, executive order, news...). Then look at the results and narrow down your search to a good article you want
to use that is a valid source. Remember it has to be current, so it should not be more than 6 months old.
5. You can print out the article to read or read it on-line. But remember you are going to have to cite your source so
make sure you know where it is from!
Your Paper
6. In the top left hand corner, put your name, Roles of the President, your block and date
7. For each role and article write a short summary paragraph that contains the following:
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List the title of the role
Write a 3-4 sentence summary of the current event focusing on the actions of President Obama exercising his
role.
Make sure you clearly explain what role you think he is doing.
Write 2-3 sentences of your opinion of his actions. Do you agree or disagree with what his did? Why?
8. The paper should be typed. I do not care which font you use as long as I can read it!
9. You can print out your paper and turn it in or you can email it to me by the due date.
dmcmicha@lcps.org
If you email it make sure you include research paper in the subject line.
Citing Your Sources
10. For any research you do, you should always cite your sources. Since this is an informal paper, you can just add your
sources on the bottom of your summary. I do not need a separate page.
11. Here is an easy way to do it! You should do it as you are doing your research.
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open a word document and save it as your research paper
Click the "References" tab at the top.
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Go over to the 3rd slot. It should say "Citations and Bibliography"
By Style, you should see a drop down menu. Chose "APA Fifth Edition"
Click on "Insert Citation"
Click on "Add New Source"
Click on the drop down menu for the type of source at the top. Most of yours will be a web source.
Type in the required information and click OK. This is why you should have your word document open while you
are doing research.
Once you save your document, your sources will be automatically saved with it!
o When you are finished getting all of your sources and you have finished your summaries- add your
citations at the bottom
o Go back to References, Citations and Bibliography
o Click Bibliography
o Click "Insert Bibliography" at the bottom
o If you did everything correctly and saved it, the citations should appear!
Caution- Caution-Caution
 I will be checking your sources to make sure they are valid.
 I do actually read your papers!
 Do your own work! I will know if you copy someone else's work.
 Turn it in on time! College bound students do not turn in late work. It is unacceptable.
 Spell Check!
Grading RubricEach summary will be graded on the following scale for a total of 75 points for all 5 summaries
Title
Article Summary
Opinion Summary
Valid Source
Citation
1 point
5 points
5 points
2 points
2 points