A.P. Government & Politics
Presidential Essay Assignment
In class, we have spent some time looking at the question of “what makes a president great and/or successful?” In this essay assignment, you will be required to develop a criteria for evaluating presidential success. Be sure that you are specific when explaining your criteria and why each element in your criteria is important for evaluating a president’s time in office.
Once you have developed your criteria, apply it to two US presidents—one who you felt was successful and one who you felt was a failure. Be sure to thoroughly explain why you deemed one to be a success and the other to be a failure. I will be looking for specific historical examples that support your argument as well as your explanations as to why these historical examples are relevant and/or connect to the criteria that you have laid out in the first part of your essay.
Finally, I expect you to use some outside resources to help you with this essay. Be sure to use parenthetical citations where appropriate, and list your sources in a works cited page at the end. Your MLA works cited page should be on a separate sheet of paper. You must use at least four outside sources.
Specific Requirements:
 Your essay must be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins all around.
*Please note: If you use an older version of Word, you will have to change the page setup so that the margins are one inch for the sides, top and bottom.
 Your essay must be on 8.5” x 11” paper, and you must use 12 point font.
Please pick a nice, clean font that is easy to read.
 As mentioned above, you must use appropriate parenthetical citations, and have a works cited page with a minimum of four sources.
 Your essay must be a minimum of five pages and cannot exceed seven pages in length. If you are below the minimum or exceed the maximum page requirement, you will lose points.
 I expect you to follow all rules for grammar, including: proper punctuation and capitalization.
 Don’t forget to include an introduction (with an appropriate thesis) and a conclusion.
No Plagiarism! Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. You will receive a failing grade on this assignment.

Presidential Essay Grading Criteria
_____/5 points = Proper formatting (8” x 11” paper, 12 point font, one inch margins)
_____/5 points = Paper met the minimum and maximum length requirements.
_____/5 points = Appropriate use of parenthetical citations. MLA Works Cited page is done correctly with a minimum of four sources.
_____/5 points = Introductory paragraph with an appropriate thesis that clearly lays out where your essay is headed. Paper ends with a solid conclusion that summarizes the main points of your essay.
_____/15 points = Development of your criteria for evaluating POTUS. You have outlined specific items that you will use to measure presidential success, and explained why these are important.
_____/15 points = Application of your evaluation criteria to two US Presidents.
Clear explanations as to why you feel each president was a success or failure.
Historical evidence is provided to support your argument. Be sure to connect these to the criteria that you created in the first part of your essay.
Total score = _______/50 points
If you are unsure of what MLA formatting looks like, then check out the following website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/1/