Dr. Marc D. Turetzky
Political Science 5: Modern Terrorism
Spring 2016
Paper Topic Guidelines
State Dept. Background Information on Foreign Terrorist Organizations
I. Assignment
Each student in this course is responsible for writing a 11-12 page paper on any terrorist organization in the
world.
 Papers are due, IN CLASS, on M, 5/23.
 The paper accounts for 25% of your course grade.
 This assignment requires you to choose a terrorist organization currently active anywhere in the
world. You will describe its origins, its purpose, its structure, its successes and failures, as well as its
future prospects.
Your paper should NOT try to explain EVERYTHING that is currently happening in “your” organization. I
would recommend choosing an organization that you are genuinely interested in learning more about,
because that will make this assignment much more relevant, interesting, and fun
II. Paper Format Guidelines
The formal research paper MUST follow the guidelines set forth below:
 Papers must be typed. There are no exceptions to this rule.
 Papers must be at least 11 to 12 pages in length, not including title page and bibliography.
 You MUST include a title page (here is a model for how to do one)
 You MUST include headings
 You MUST include page numbers
 You MUST use one inch margins all around.
 Do not use a font larger than twelve-point.
 Make sure your papers are double-spaced.
 Spelling and grammar count.
 Avoid slang, profanity and colloquialisms in your papers.
 Be sure to avoid any question of plagiarism by crediting ideas as well as direct quotes in the body of the
paper. USE MLA format please—for a MLA “How To cite, etc guide”, check out the following
website: http://www.westwords.com/guffey/mla.html
 You must include a bibliography. Remember that this is a research paper, and so you will base your
analysis on background reading in newspapers, magazines, current books and scholarly journals. I
recommend newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post
and so on; journals such as Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, World Politics, Current
History, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Asian Affairs, Africa Reports, the Latin American Research
Review, or any number of other journals; and magazines such as U.S. News and World Report,
Newsweek, and Time.
 Use library sources such as ProQuest and Country Watch. Also use State Department, Library of
Congress, CIA, BBC etc Country Studies/Profiles (they will all help IMMEASURABLY).
 The sources should be an equitable mix of “reputable” newspapers, scholarly journals, and books. You
should also include information found in the Cindy Combs textbook.
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Your bibliography MUST include AT LEAST TEN (I would use A LOT more though) different and
very recent sources—and they must be a mix of newspaper, journal, magazine articles, and current
books. You cannot rely exclusively on one of these type of sources. Please do NOT use wikipedia,
askjeeves, ask.com, etc. Those are not very good, credible, or useful sources of information to use in a
formally written, scholarly research paper
Final Paper: Final papers are due, IN CLASS, on M, 5/23.
III. Specific Components of the Paper Grade
More specifically, your paper will be graded according to the following criteria:
 Organization: You must include an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. You should include
headings and page numbers, as well as a title page and a bibliography. Failure to include an
introduction, a conclusion, headings and page numbers will weaken your final grade.
 Grammar and Spelling: The papers do not have to be perfect but take care to edit your papers
thoroughly before turning in the final drafts. An excessive number of errors will hurt your final
grade.
 Substance: Did you meet the page number limit? Did you answer your research question(s) in a
serious, substantive, careful fashion?
 Argument/Construction of Argument: This measures how well you constructed your argument (if
you did a research style paper). Centers on how well/substantively you answer the question(s)
under review.
 Utilization of Sources: Did you meet the ten source minimum? Did you use a variety of sources?
Are your sources current? Are they reliable?
Note1: Failure to meet page length (at least 11) and source number (at least 10) requirements will lower
your grade 1/2 a letter grade for each infraction
Note 2: The paper will be due in stages. I will explain this today and as each stage comes due. Suffice it to
say, you will be submitting a statement of purpose, a bibliography, a paper outline, a rough draft and
lastly, the final draft (on the last day of class-M, 5/23)