POL 331 – Paper Instructions

You will use the skills you learned in class to write a term paper on your assigned senate race (Minnesota, 2014 Senator Election). This paper is due in the D2L dropbox by 12:15 on May. Read the syllabus “Term Paper” section for additional information on grading, late penalties, and how to avoid plagiarism. Your paper should be approximately 10 to 15 pages (double spaced).

Your paper should cover:

1. What type of senate race occurred in your state? Was there an incumbent seeking reelection, or was it an open race? What is the political nature of the state? Is it a blue state, red state or a competitive state? What would be the initial expectations for the competitiveness and outcome of the 2014 senate race in your state?

2. What happened during the primary phase of the campaign? What were the official results of the primary elections? How competitive were these primary elections?

3. Who were the candidates during the general election phase of the campaign? Talk about the backgrounds of the two major party candidates and any significant third-party or independent candidates.

4. How much money did the candidates raise and from what sources? How competitive was the campaign across the candidates in terms of financial fundraising? Was there a significant amount of independent or outside money in the campaign?

5. What happened during the general election campaign? What were the candidates’ strategies? What types of issues were debated? What types of campaign commercials were aired?

6. What was the outcome of the senate election? Use the official state election returns and make judgments on the competitiveness of the senate election. Use the exit polls to explain why voters supported the candidates.

7. Write a conclusion about the conduct and outcome of the 2014 senate race. Did this appear to be a typical senate race or were there unique elements that stood out?

You should use information from your state’s official election website, newspaper accounts, The Center for Responsive Politics at https://www.opensecrets.org, and the media exit polls. You also may be able to find out more about the issue positions of the candidates from Project Vote Smart at https://www.votesmart.org.

Be sure that all of your materials are referenced correctly, using the APA citation guide posted on the library website: https://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation-apa.html

You may include tables in your paper. Be sure they are fully labeled and have a source indicated.

The D2L dropbox plagiarism detector is turned on.

Paper grades will be scored as following: 80 percent for content of paper and 20 percent for grammar in paper.

It need the following links to search:

www.cbsnews.com//election-results-2012/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/exit-polls

www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2014/exit-polls