Your assignment is to write a critical analysis paper of 1000 words (plus or minus 10%), which is about four double-spaced pages in a 12 point font. Ensure you have a title and your name on the paper. Use-one inch margins all around and please use either Times Roman or Arial as your font.
Your paper must be highly organized and include an introduction which includes a purpose/thesis statement, and an outline of how you will approach your topic and accomplish your purpose. You may want to begin your paper with, "The purpose of this paper is to …" The body of the paper follows with paragraphs in logical succession that allows you to make your point. Finish with a conclusion that very briefly summarizes the paper and powerfully ends with your concluding statement.
Writing in the third person (thus avoiding I, we, us, and our) helps writers maintain their objectivity and avoid personalizing the work. Your analysis and judgment must stand on its own. Do not assume the reader knows the assignment or has read the lesson or readings.
You should include at least some of the course material to make it evident that you read and understand the lesson material. You must do some research (probably online) and synthesize some other ideas into your reflection. Ensure you cite these sources using the mechanism of putting the author and date in parenthesis at the end of a section containing their ideas, e.g. (Corson 2007). You must then include a "Works Cited" section at the end of the paper that lists the author(s) last name first, date of publication, title, and publisher information. Here are some examples:
Multi-authored journal article:
Single authored journal article:
Book Chapter:
Book:
I am not overly worried about the exact format as long as I can look at the author and date and easily reference it to the full citation in the works cited section. Citations do not count against your 1000 words.
Please insert page numbers at the bottom of the pages. You may also include images, maps, charts, etc. Please ensure you include captions and reference any graphics in the text. Captions do not count against your 1000 words. Cite the source of the graphic in the caption, e.g. "author's photo."
Please submit your reflection paper in Microsoft Word Format using the following file naming convention:
Lastname_Firstname_Paper_1.doc
Category | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Demonstrates knowledge through identification and recall of subject material | |||||||
Exhibits comprehension or understanding of the meaning of the information | |||||||
Application of the data or material to the topic | |||||||
Analysis of the data into component parts to see how they relate to others | |||||||
Synthesis of ideas and thoughts into a new whole | |||||||
Evaluation of the usefulness or value of the material through judgement | |||||||
Explanation of the results and the reasoning process | |||||||
Self-regulation of author's inferential judgments and biases |
Category | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Free of spelling and grammar errors | |||||||
Proper use of punctuation | |||||||
Sentences are clear and to the point | |||||||
Paragraphs are organized around topic sentences | |||||||
Consistent writing tense | |||||||
Written in active voice | |||||||
Third person point of view | |||||||
Use in text parenthetical citations | |||||||
Include works cited |
Category | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Introduction of paper includes purpose and outline | |||||||
Body of the paper includes organized coherent paragraphs | |||||||
Conclusion that summarizes the paper | |||||||
Paper progresses in a logical succession | |||||||
Length (1000 words, +/- 10%) | |||||||
Content is clear and concise |
The intelligence writing style may be different than what most of you are familiar with. Because intelligence analysis requires clarity and precision, the written text explaining your analysis must also be clear and precise. For these reasons, please review the Writing Guidelines adopted with permission from the text, "Intelligence and Crime Analysis: Critical Thinking through Writing" by David Cariens - Writing Guidelines [1]
Samuel Huntington posits a view of the 21st century geopolitical era in "The Clash of Civilizations." Edward Said and others challenge his view of the world. Compare and contrast Huntington, Said, Walt, and at least two other supporters or critics of Huntington's idea ( a total of 4 critics of Huntington), and then articulate and defend your own analysis of the Huntington discourse (do you agree or disagree with him and why?) Use examples to defend your argument (You might want to contemporize their thinking by discussing current geopolitical situations in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria and Western responses to these situations).
If this looks easy, then you did not read the options closely enough. Your task is to demonstrate highly developed higher order and critical thinking skills in a very concise reflection paper. You may think 1000 words is a lot, but you would be wrong. To accomplish the task at hand you will have to be brutally clear and concise without any wasted verbiage. Part of my intent is to help you learn to write clearly and concisely. That is not a bad skill for a geospatial intelligence analyst to possess. This assignment is NOT an opinion or "OP-ED" piece. This assignment is designed to exercise your higher order and critical thinking skills and requires that you be dispassionate and as objective as possible. Do not let your cultural filters (biases) become cultural blinders.
Please review Bloom's taxonomy and note what I mean when I say demonstrate higher order thinking skills.
While you will have to demonstrate some knowledge and comprehension, you must demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate complex ideas to produce a satisfactory reflection paper. Now review the cognitive skills of the critical thinker:
You must demonstrate the appropriate critical thinking skills based on the approach you take. On this first paper, you may want to explicitly articulate the higher order thinking skills and type of critical thinking that you are applying. Please do not ruin the flow of your paper by overdoing this explicit articulation (be subtle).
This may seem daunting and cause some of you to worry. Remember that I am on your side and I want to help you develop these skills. As you get into this very intellectually stimulating exercise, I hope that you will actually find that critical thinking and concise written reflection are enjoyable.