Instructions

 

The Election Process

Suppose you are member of the United States House of Representatives. Write a rough draft of your own personal election reform bill to present to your colleagues. Include two or more of the following issues: a) direct vote vs the electoral college, (b) the media's role in choosing and presenting candidates (c) campaign financing (d) impact of the Internet.

1- Email submittals only

All essays must be submitted via email. Do not send print copies.

We suggest that the most computer-literate student in the class assume the responsibility for seeing that all essays reach the Foundation via email.

Please do not submit essays until all are ready. The body of the email should list the name and address of the school, school fax and phone numbers, teacher’s name and email address and the name of every student-participant exactly as he/she would like it to appear on a certificate. We will accept essays as attached MS Word documents, plain text or Rich Text Format (rtf) or as text copied into the body of an email. We are not responsible for documents that are lost or distorted during transmission or that reach us in a format that we cannot open.

2- Grammar, Spelling and Misconceptions

     All essays must be checked by the teacher for grammatical and spelling errors and these must be corrected by the student. In the past we have done a great deal of editing for the sake of the public that visits our web site. We recently decided that a better policy is to allow the students to benefit from editing their own papers under the teacher’s guidance.  Faulty reasoning and misconceptions should also be corrected under a teacher’s guidance, if possible in the form of a classroom discussion.

3- Quotations
All quotations used in essays must be noted and cited at the end of the work. The only notation in the body of the paper should be quotation marks. No quote should exceed four sentences.

4- Format

Example for centered Heading for each essay:

Green Valley High School
Green Springs, Kentucky
Teacher: Jane Doe

Title of Particular Paper
By John Doe
12^th grade

line 1= name of school (address and phone/fax)
line 2 = town and state
line 3 = name of teacher
line 4 = student's own title for the essay (not subject title)
line 5 = student's name
line 6 = grade

Single spacing 14 pt font. (Arial preferred but we can change any font submitted) No indented paragraphs.  Use doubling spacing between paragraphs.

5- Photos
If you want student photos displayed, send email attachments clearly labeled with the student’s name.

Example of student photo

6- Required Reading
Print the Required Reading and Questions and make sure each student has a copy. Students should use the required reading for background and to answer the questions.

7- Questions
Papers must be accompanied by answers to the questions. Students should state each question before giving their answer.

If you have trouble accessing any of this information, try again at a different time. Server access depends on traffic and other conditions. Let us know if you have tried unsuccessfully more than three times at different times of the day (or night) and we will help. 

Please be sure to keep copies at your end until you receive your awards.

Essays will be posted on the Foundation web site as they are read. Entries, upon submittal, become the property of The Harry Singer Foundation.

If you have questions or problems: email staff@singerfoundation.org or phone (831) 625-4223   fax (831) 624-7994        

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