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POLS 1101 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

BILL OF RIGHTS TEAM PROJECT

Your Team Project will consist of two parts: a written research paper and an oral in-class presentation.

Written Research Paper: 9 amendments

Do not simply answer the questions. Give details about the history of the specific amendment including (but not limited to) the

following information:

What people or specific groups supported the provisions of this amendment at the time it was proposed? Who were they and

why did they support it?

Were there any groups or persons that were against the inclusion of this amendment (or any part of it)? Who were they and

why did they not support it?

Were there any changes or modifications proposed that were not included in the amendment? Who or what groups supported

or opposed the proposed changes? Why?

What were the historical causes for this amendment to be important enough to be included in the original Bill of Rights?

Have there been any attempts to change or repeal this amendment through the years? When and by whom? Who or what

groups supported or opposed the changes or attempts at repeal? Why?

Are there currently any groups that want this amendment changed, abbreviated, expanded or repealed? Who would support

such changes and why? Who would oppose such changes and why?

ORAL IN-CLASS PRESENTATION

Your in-class presentation should be no more than twelve minutes long. You may wish to use power point or other

technologies, but you are responsible for making sure that the classroom is equipped for your presentation. I strongly suggest

that you practice in our classroom before your presentation. Problems with your presentation will affect your grade. The

class will be allowed to ask a couple of brief questions after each presentation.

You may want to work together to do your research and produce a rough draft, then decide who will produce the written paper

and how the oral presentation will be handled.

AT THE TIME OF YOUR IN-CLASS PRESENTATION, YOU WILL NEED TO PROVIDE A SYNOPSIS (AT LEAST ONE PAGE) OF YOUR

PRESENTATION TO ME AND TO EACH STUDENT IN THE CLASS. IF YOUR PRESENTATI0N INCLUDES A POWER POINT

PRESENTATION, YOU MAY PROVIDE SCREENSHOTS OF YOUR POWERPOINT AS YOUR SYNOPSIS IF YOU’D LIKE.

One (and possibly two) class sessions will be devoted to guiding you toward internet resources and giving you pointers to help

you prepare your papers and presentations.

From time to time, I will require individual team members to turn in to me copies of emails, rough drafts, and other

research/preparatory materials so that I can be sure that all team members are participating. Each time your team meets as a

group, I would like you to hand in to me a single sheet of paper telling me who attended, who didn’t attend, and a brief

explanation of what was accomplished at each team meeting/work session.

While it is my intent to grade the teams work collectively, I reserve the right to adjust individual grades as circumstances

require. (To be quite blunt, this means that if you choose to not do your part for this assignment, I will adjust your individual

grade accordingly). If you have any questions, please email me. Be sure to include your name, class day & time, and which

team/amendment you’re working on.

Dividing the research questions among the team, deciding who will write the paper, who will create the presentation, and who

will participate in the presentation are all up to the team members.

Formatting and citing your paper must be done using MLA or APA style. You may choose which of those two formats to use.