BASIS FOR SCORING ESSAY #1
Scoring
Evaluation of material/substance…………….60%
Organization/overall effectiveness…………..30%
Composition, style, usage……………………10%
(Keep in mind that these three criteria are NOT entirely separate or unrelated. In other
words, composition and usage errors affect the overall organization and effectiveness of
your essay. Poor organization coupled with composition errors affects your ability to
articulate your arguments and how well you can communicate your understanding of
important themes, concepts, and ideas.)
Points Awarded
45 – 50
40 – 44
35 – 39
30 – 34
0 – 29
Comments Applying to Most Essays
Excellent in most respects. Essay shows extensive preparation, analysis,
and study of themes, concepts, and ideas. Presents thoughtful, relevant
conclusions. Essay is more analytical than descriptive. Demonstrates
mastery of basic concepts. Essay is written in an interesting, readable style
– a minimal number of grammar, spelling, usage, composition, or
typographical errors may be overlooked. The instructor would appreciate
your permission to use your essay as an example of “How to Write an
Essay” for other students.
Overall, the essay is good, but perhaps flawed by a failure to convey major
thrusts adequately. Usually, this happens when students assume “the
instructor will know what I mean.” Needs further elaboration or
explanation. May reach thoughtful conclusions but offer little support; or
conclusions may lack sharp focus. May be tainted by grammar,
composition, or typographical errors, organization problems, or poor
choice of words.
Adequately done for a essay of this type, but there are significant
shortcomings in style, organization, or emphasis. Conclusions may be
illogical based on supporting arguments. Essay may be too descriptive or
fail to draw conclusions entirely. Too little analysis provided. Assertions
may be made without providing support.
Essays reflects too little preparation, too little organization, or failure to
fulfill basic purposes of the assignment. Too many signs of struggle with
spelling, grammar, and general usage. Instructor may have to reconstruct
sentences simply to determine the idea the student is attempting to convey.
Very difficult to understand. Sentences or paragraphs make little sense.
You should consult with the instructor.
Your essay suffers from a great many problems with only minimal saving
graces. Appears to reflect a complete lack of preparation. Student appears
to have very limited understanding of concepts and themes. Essays written
“at the last minute” frequently score in this range.
Temple College
GOVT 2301
Summer 2002 – 8 week session
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2
Amicus Curiae Brief
In this assignment you will write a persuasive essay in which you attempt to influence the
decision of the United States Supreme Court on a controversial (but fictional) case. This
assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to critically evaluate a specific issue related to
one of the most important moral controversies in American politics today: freedom of religion.
To complete this assignment, you should follow these steps:
Review the facts of the case. The facts of the case will be presented via a videotaped episode of
NBC-TV’s Law & Order. View the appropriate videotaped episode. [We will probably show the
episode during a class session. The instructor may be able to make copies of the tape available to
students who wish to view the program a second or third time.]
“Research” the relevant case law and constitutional/legal issues. Although this assignment is
not intended to be a formal research project, you will undoubtedly need to familiarize yourself
with case law and other information in order to write an adequate essay. Pay close attention to
the dialogue in the program. It may provide hints as to which cases you should examine.
However, you should not limit yourself to examining only the cases mentioned in the program.
Listed below are a number of cases that may be useful to you. These are not the only cases that
you might like to examine. The cases listed are a sampling of cases I encountered a couple of
years ago while doing research on a related issue. It is very easy to access court opinions in these
and other cases at numerous websites. I like to use the Cornell Law School site at
http://supct.law.cornell.edu:8080/supct/cases/name.htm to access Supreme Court opinions.
Another good site is http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html. There are numerous others
that you may find useful.
SHERBERT V. VERNER
WISCONSIN V. YODER
WASHINGTON V. GLUCKSBERG
EVERSON V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
KEDROFF V. ST. NICHOLAS CATHEDRAL
CRUZAN V. DIRECTOR, MISSOURI DEPT. OF HEALTH
VACCO V. QUILL
MEYER V NEBRASKA
SANTOSKY V KRAMER
PRINCE V MASSACHUSETTS
BRIDGES V CALIFORNIA
US V BALID
GOULDEN V. OLIVER
KOVACS V. BREWER
SANTOSKY V. KRAMER
Here are a few examples of articles I found using a simple Internet search a ciouple of years ago.
It is possible that these articles are no longer accessible at the URL provided. I listed these
simply to illustrate how easy it is to find relevant information by doing an Internet search.
Cheryl Clark, “Faith Healing Faulted in Deaths. Study Says Children’s Ailments Were Curable,”
San Diego Union Tribune, (on-line), [URL not available], 1998-APR-7.
B.A. Robinson, “Religious Groups That Reject Medical Treatment In Favor Of Prayer.” 2000APR-15 http://www.religioustolerance.org/medical.htm
Mark Larabee, “Prosecutor Reaffirms Decision on Boy’s Death,” The Oregonian, 1998-MAY-14,
http://www.oregonlive.com/todaysnews/9805/st051403.html
Jules Crittenden, “A Religious Tug-of-War: Often, Beliefs Are At Odds With Medical
Community” 1999-FEB-19 http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/lonw/reli02191999.htm
Prepare and write a “amicus curiae brief” in which you present arguments supporting the decision
you believe the Supreme Court should reach in this case. The arguments you present should
reflect your opinions on the case at hand, but should be based on precedents established in
existing case law. Your brief should demonstrate that you are familiar with relevant case law and
have considered thoughtfully how it might apply to this hypothetical case.
In your brief, you should be sure to do the following:
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Summarize briefly the key facts of the case;
Identify the major constitutional and legal questions in the case;
Clearly identify the decision you believe the Court should reach;
Fully explore what the Constitution says about the issue in general and how the language of
the Constitution might apply in this particular case;
Whenever possible you should use case law precendents to support your arguments (even if
the think a court decided wrongly in a previous case, you may be able to use the case to
support your position in the hypothetical case by distinguishing the facts and legal issues
from the previous case law);
The Case
Driscoll v New York: Defendants (husband and wife) Ted and Nancy Driscoll are convicted in a
New York trial court of killing their daughter (manslaughter in the 2nd degree and reckless
endangerment of a child) as a result of refusing, on religious grounds, to permit medical treatment
for their sick child, Dinah. Although the defendants were not sentenced to jail time, they appeal
their convictions on the grounds that their refusal to allow their daughter to be treated medically
is a fundamental precept of their religious faith. Essentially, their argument is that the conviction
effectually criminalizes their religious beliefs.
A quick side note: Remember the program is called Law & Order. The issues engaged in this
television series are generally presented from the perspective of law enforcement officers and
prosecutors. You should endeavor to view the facts of the case and relevant arguments
impartially. [For example, try not to decide what your position on this issue is until after you
have read some of the relevant case law and/or other source materials.] Do not allow yourself to
be pushed and pulled emotionally by the skills of the actors, directors, and screenwriters.
Likewise, as you view the program, avoid sympathizing with the characters personal lives. It is
not relevant to your assignment whether you like the characters.
Also….
Your essay should be THESIS-CONTROLLED. You should make an argument and develop a
logical defense. Provide examples to illustrate your points, but do NOT just repeat what you have
read or string together quotes.
Your essay should be well-written, cogent, and thorough yet concise.
You MAY use any source you like to support your arguments. You should cite any sources that
you use. Use any citation style you prefer, but be consistent throughout. If you are uncertain
when citations are appropriate, consult the instructor!! [See plagiarism section below.] The
instructor will NOT be looking for evidence that you have consulted outside sources - that is, YOU
ARE NOT REQUIRED TO CONSULT OUTSIDE SOURCES.
You will turn your essay in electronically (via e-mail). To do this, type your essay on a PC and
save as an MS-Word file. [The file must be saved in this format. If your home or office PC uses
Word Perfect or some other word processing program, be sure to convert the file to MS-Word.]
Send the file to wfeagin@templejc.edu as an attachment to an e-mail message. The essay is due no
later than Saturday, July 13 at 12:00pm (noon).
Avoid plagiarism! Plagiarism is the act of taking words, sentences, paragraphs or ideas from
another person’s work and passing it off as one’s own. This is a severe violation of academic
integrity and is subject to disciplinary action under the College’s policy. Common forms of
plagiarism include: (1) taking passages from another person’s writings, unchanged, and passing it
off as one’s own work [whether the original author has knowledge of this or not]; (2) taking a
passage from another person’s writings, changing a word here or there, and passing it off as one’s
own work; (3) turning in a paper that consists, partially or wholly, of paraphrases of another
person’s writings or ideas without proper citations. [With citations, you avoid plagiarism, but the
paper would still lack any originality and would, therefore, merit a low score. So generally, avoid
writing a paper that consists mainly of quotes or paraphrases of someone else’s work.] This list is
not exhaustive of the various forms of plagiarism. If you are unsure whether you have written
constitutes plagiarism, please consult me. The main point to remember is this: the purpose of this
essay is to get YOU to thoughtfully consider and discuss the above issue(s). The instructor is
interested in what you think about these issues - NOT whether you can report what others think!