PA 700

Fall 2007

San Mateo Cohort

Style Sheet for Concept paper and oral presentation

All  papers are due Sept. 26

Oral briefing will take place on the dates listed below

Paper Requirements
Paper Organization and Style
Oral Briefing
Topics and Oral Presentation Dates

During the first two weeks of class I will ask you to sign up for the topic that is to be the subject of your paper and presentation (see list below).  A maximum of 4 students can sign up for any particular topic.

The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to explore a specific public administration concept in greater detail. It is also designed to acquaint you with literature in the field, as published in relevant journals, and engage your research skills.  A further objective is for you to consider the application of the concept to your own workplace.  You will be expected to produce a well-written, concise briefing paper on the subject, as well as to present  an oral briefing to the class on the assigned date.   The paper should take the form of a memo written to the head of your agency. Imagine for this assignment that the agency head has heard of the concept, but does not know anything about it. He or she has asked you to prepare a briefing paper on the subject, and to brief the staff at the next staff meeting.

You may be able to use key word searches to find some of the literature that discusses your topic. However, be sure also to make use of the bibliographies of the articles you find to identify additional sources.

Paper Requirements

The paper must be based on at least six sources. At least two of these must be from scholarly journals. The other four can come from the list entitled "other sources" below. Scholarly journals do not include magazines such as Newsweek or Time. Wikipedia will also not count as a source as the quality of its entries are uneven.  Scholarly journals provide the latest thinking about issues, backed up with citations to their sources, and are generally subject to review and critique by experts in the field before publication. For that reason, it is important that you become familiar with these journals. You may use articles from journals not included on the list below, but if you have any question about whether your source is a scholarly journal, please check with me or a librarian.

The paper should address each of the following questions:

Paper Organization and Style

The maximum page limit for the paper is 5 pages, double-spaced (not including the bibliography). It should be written in the form of a memo to your agency head. The memo should begin with a brief introduction and end with a brief conclusion that summarizes the paper's main points.

Your grade will be based, in part, on the extent to which you effectively answer the above questions. It should be written in narrative form, not a question-answer format. Please refer to the guidance offered in the Hacker book for tips on how to conduct research and present your findings. The use of subheadings is encouraged as they can help to clarify the logic of your organization. Your grade will also be based on the paper's clarity, logic, comprehensiveness and conciseness.  

The paper must use the APA documentation style with in-text (also called parenthetical) citations. Please refer to the Hacker book or this website.  Above all, every statement of fact or idea taken from another source must include a citation so that your reader can easily find that fact or idea should he or she want to. Direct quotes should be used very sparingly. Citations for direct quotes must include the page number.  There should be a complete bibliography or reference list at the end, with the sources alphabetized by the author's last name.  Papers that do not use the APA method of citation correctly will be returned ungraded.   It is essential that you learn how to do this now as you will be required to write many papers while enrolled in this program. 

Partial List of Scholarly Journals

Other Sources

Oral Briefing

Your oral presentation will be given on the date listed below. While you and the other students addressing that week's subject will have written your papers independently, you will form a panel to present your briefings.  Although every paper should address every one of the bullets listed under paper requirements above, some of this content would be repetitious if presented by each member of the panel. Therefore, you and your fellow panelists should decide which one(s) of you will address the first four bullets above (definition, objectives, historical development, example). Everyone will address the application of the concept to your own agency. The presentations are limited to 10 minutes. 

You should not read your paper. Rather, I suggest you prepare an outline of the important points that you can refer to while maintaining maximum eye contact with your audience.  Your grade for the presentation will be based on:

Topics and Oral Presentation Dates

All papers are due September 26.