Security versus rights” Post 9-11
Research paper topic:
“Security versus rights” post 9-11. What rights were limited or eliminated by post/9-11
emergency measures? Whose rights? Fifteen years after 9-11, have any of these emergency measures
been withdrawn? How would you evaluate the government’s balance made between “security
and rights”? What should the balance be between “rights and security” in any war the US is
in? What is the historical record: what balance has been drawn by past governments during wars
and how has the US Supreme Court responded? What guidelines does the US Constitution give?
And the Universal Declaration of Human rights, to which the US is a signatory? What if it’s an
undeclared war?
Your research paper is to be eight-to-ten double-spaced, typed pages in length (That
means at least eight-or-more pages of text, not including title page, pictures, and bibliography.)
At some point early in your research for the paper, you need to start asking yourself what
it is you want to know about your topic (what questions you are asking of it.) The answer to your
central question is your thesis. It is a statement of opinion on some aspect of your topic that you
intend to convince me of in your paper. Your whole paper will be constructed as a defense of
your thesis.
For the most part I want you to use secondary sources, but for some topics (on Court cases,
for example) you will need to use some primary sources. Most, but not necessarily all, of
your sources should be peer-reviewed articles or books published by an academic press.
You need a complete and formal bibliography, as well as formal footnotes in your paper,
indicating the source of: quotations; ideas that are not your own, even if paraphrased and not
quoted; and data that is not generally known. You may use whatever citation style you wish
(MLA, APA, etc.), just be consistent.
Research Paper Tawisook 2
Research paper grading rubric
Format and Structure
Basics
Are there at least eight pages of text (double-spaced)?
Bibliography
Recognized style (for example, MLA), consistently used?
Do your entries include all necessary information?Is everything listed in your bibliography actually
used in your paper (and thus cited at least once)?
Citations
Have you cited everything you need to cite?
Are you using a recognized citation style and do you consistently use it?
Is enough info provided to make it easy for a reader to find the precise location of your source?
Introduction
Do you have an opening paragraph to your paper that includes some background concerning
your topic? Does it include your research question? And do you have a concise answer to your
research question (In other words, do you have a thesis?).
Conclusion
Do you have a conclusion that wraps up your argument?
Have you proofread your paper and used the aids available to do the best you could to eliminate
errors in sentence structure, grammar and spelling?
Content
Evidence
Number of sources: Do you have at least eight separate sources? Are most of your secondary
sources from peer-reviewed journals? Have you used some readings assigned for the class?
Amount of evidence: Is each step of your argument supported with evidence? Have you drawn
on some of your sources more than once to insure sufficient support for your assertions?
Quality of resources and evidence: Are your sources wide ranging? Are the sources you’ve used
and the details you draw from them effective in supporting your points?
Working with evidence: Have you made clear the relevance to your argument of each detail you
choose to include in your paper. Are all your details tied to some specific point in your argument?
To what extent have you critically analyzed the material you’ve found on your topic?
Argument:
Overall: Have you constructed your paper as a defense of your thesis? Have you made a systematic,
step-by-step argument in support of it? If not, is the problem that you proceed article-by-article,
rather than one thematic point to the next?
Or is the problem that there is no structured argument, but rather a “shopping list of details”
about the topic?
Have you edited out of your paper any and all details that are either not relevant to your thesis or
the relevance of which is not explained?
Are there basic misunderstandings of some of the material?
Have you written a convincing defense of your hypothesis?
Solution Preview
The 9/11 attack had devastating effects on the United States not only in terms of the number of lives and amount of property lost but the nation’s security sense. Before the attack, US citizens used to believe they lived in one of the safest nations on earth. In fact, no one ever…
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