THE FINAL EXAMINATION

Please answer either of the following questions.

The essay should be five to eight pages in length, and is due on December 8 (not December 7, as I stated incorrectly in class one day). You may bring the exam to our classroom at 11 am on December 8. If you want to get rid of the exam earlier, you may put it in the exam & paper box in 936 PLC (the Political Science Department Office). But make sure that the front page says "Kraus" and "US Foreign Policy."

What should you do in order to prepare? The simplest step you can take is to be caught up on all assigned reading, so that you can begin the exam quickly and without either having to fake it for that chapter that you never got around to reading, or having to spend scarce time catching up. If you are prepared on November 30, you will more likely find time to give your essay a second draft, which is often the critical difference between an A and a B or a B and a C.

The next thing you can do is to reflect on the issues the course has covered. Show us how brainy you can be in pulling together disparate materials about U. S. foreign policy. The exam will not be seeking an obviously correct or incorrect answer. The best exams will be thoughtful essays, expressing a clear point of view, and supporting those perspectives with evidence. A sophisticated essay will demonstrate your understanding of the course materials by referring to ideas, events, and interpretations, and showing that you are intellectually engaged in the problem of U.S. foreign policy.

Does style matter? Of course it does. While I have said that this is not a literature course, and that you will be graded on the basis of your political analyses instead of your literary prowess, it is inevitable that a well-organized and well-presented paper makes a better impression. And while some sloppiness is perhaps inevitable in the rush of an in-class exam, it is harder to overlook when you have had eight days to prepare your examination.

Present an organized argument. State your major point succinctly at the beginning, develop it in the middle, and restate it in conclusion. Subheadings often help guide the reader through your argument. Make sure your paragraphs all begin with clearly stated topic sentences.

Document your argument. The purpose of references is to enable readers to look up your sources. Cite your sources for interpretations not you own, and for facts which are not common knowledge. It is common knowledge that Adolf Hitler headed the Nazi Party; it is not common knowledge that he was a vegetarian. It is common knowledge that the United States has had many foreign military bases; it is not common knowledge that The U. S. bases B-52 bombers on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. But use references with some sense of proportion: do not feel compelled to document every sentence or thought, and bear in mind that this is an examination, not a research paper. You may use in-line references, foot-notes, or end-notes, just so you are consistent.

Be careful about grammar and punctuation. Be especially on guard against apostrophe errors. The apostrophe is a dying piece of punctuation, and confuses more people than it helps. I wish it were already extinct, but it isn’t, and it will no doubt linger for the rest of your life. You might as well get it right and avoid eroding the otherwise powerful authority of your own fine prose. Ability to use the apostrophe correctly contributes little to the intellectual substance of your paper, but is a marker of education, like good spelling. You might as well master it now, as wrestle with it guiltily throughout the rest of your life. If you are not on friendly terms with the apostrophe, follow the link to a helpful web site.

Proof-read your work. By all means use your spell-checker, but do not rely on this alone. Spell-checkers miss many errors, plus they will do nothing to block awkward sentences and obscure phrases. Ask a friend to read your work to see if it makes sense.

Please do not try to write more (or less) than the assigned number of pages by fiddling with margins or font size. I expect that a page will have 300-350 words, double-spaced and printed in a size 12 or 13 font.