For your course paper, you will choose one of the topics covered in your course reader, Columbine, 20 Years Later and Beyond: Lessons From Tragedy, that has been offered to either prevent the occurrence of school/mass shootings or, in the event one does occur, mitigate the loss of life that you believe has the greatest ability to achieve one of these goals. These topics include the following:
Changing Police Entry Practices
Tactical First Aid
Rescue Task Forces
Threat Assessment and Management
School Securitization / Target Hardening
Arming Teachers
Federal Assault Weapons Ban
Universal Background Checks for Gun Sales
Once you have selected your topic, you will write a brief (8 to 10 FULL pages of content, excluding title page, abstract [if included], and references) policy paper that (1) outlines the proposal you have chosen, including its historical foundations, and (2) demonstrates how such a proposal would be successful at either minimizing the occurrence of mass shootings or their lethality. In other words, your paper should be a persuasive argument for why such a policy is needed (assuming that the policy you have chosen has yet to be enacted or adopted uniformly, even if it has [e.g., police entry practices]). Your intended audience for this piece is lawmakers, and your writing should reflect that level of professionalism.
Your paper should adhere to APA formatting guidelines (NOTE: Clicking this link will open it in a new window, so be sure your pop-up blocker is disabled). Specific requirements for the paper formatting are as follows:
Your document should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file with a .doc, .docx, or .pdf extension.
Your paper should include a title page and your name should appear on your document as well as in your file name (e.g., Schildkraut – Course Paper.docx).
Your document should use standard 1″ margins all the way around.
Your document must use Times New Roman font, 12-point.
Your assignment must be double-spaced.
Be sure to run your spelling / grammar checkers and address any errors that Microsoft Word flags. This is a writing intensive course, so the quality of writing will also be assessed in addition to the content.
Both in-text citations and end of paper references must be formatted per APA guidelines. For help with APA citations, check out the Purdue Owl’s website (NOTE: Clicking this link will open it in a new window, so be sure your pop-up blocker is disabled).
Your paper will be graded using the rubric provided below. PLEASE PROVIDE A PLAGIARISM REPORT.
