Fall 2021; GOVT 2306-070 Critical Thinking Assignment – City Governance
Core Common Assignment due through Canvas no later than Sunday Oct 24th. 11pm.
Purpose: the purpose of this assignment includes the following:
• To research and describe the three most common basic forms of municipal government in Texas.
• To demonstrate critical thinking skills by stating a position and defending it with evidence.
• To develop skills of argumentation that will help you write persuasively in the future.
Your City Governance/Critical Thinking Assignment will require you to submit a typed essay evaluating which arrangement of city government is the most preferable.
For this exercise, you will be arguing in favor of one of the following arrangements for the execution of city governmental functions:
• A strong mayor elected at-large with the power to make executive decisions over all city departments; you do not need to discuss a weak mayor system
• A city manager appointed by an elected council, the manager having the power to make executive decisions over all city departments
• An elected commission of five (5) members, each having the power to make executive decisions within a single city department
There is outside help available for this assignment:
Library staff have created a guide to assist you in this process. You can access the guide specific to common assignments here: Directory of Course LibGuides (Links to an external site.)
Scoring elements of Northeast Lakeview’s Critical Thinking Rubric are listed before the topical questions below. Your score will be determined by how well you address these elements. The Critical Thinking Rubric is attached to give you clear descriptions of what constitutes addressing each element to earn ratings of poor, fair, good and excellent.
To construct a well-organized essay, follow the steps below in order. Make sure to address each question directly and specifically
Step One: Explanation of issues: First, define each of the three executive structures and describe how each one is different from the other two, and describe what essential executive functions (via the city’s major departments and services) each would control and deliver at the municipal level. Use a compare and contrast (Links to an external site.) format to accomplish this.
Step Two: Assert a position/analysis presented (perspective, thesis/hypothesis): What is the most important principle your preferred executive structure achieves and how does your preferred structure achieve it? I suggest choosing among one of the following principles:
• accountability
• efficiency
• equality
• equity
• representation
• responsiveness
• transparency
Be sure to define this principle, but do not do so by quoting a dictionary description; make it relevant to municipal government. What about the structure you chose as most important makes it superior to the other two? What are the limits or weaknesses of this structure? Example: “___ is the most important goal of any city governmental system. A high level of ___ is achieved if a city… The ___ structure of city government is best at furthering this goal because it___…”
Step three: Gather and attribute your evidence: Although you are expressing your opinion, to be taken seriously you must support your proposal with no fewer than three (3) relevant expert sources that are of the highest quality and credibility. Use sources with perspectives that are consistent with one another; your points must be clear and without contradiction. You must cite each source both in the body of the essay and on a Works Cited page. Follow citation examples given in the writing guides linked later in these instructions. The table below will help explain evidence quality:
|
Strong evidence |
Sources that are consistent with your argument and thus support your conclusion |
|
Fair evidence |
Information that merely describes your subject matter (in Step One) rather than supports your assertion (in Step Two); your course textbook is most likely in this category |
|
Weak evidence |
Work that is inconsistent with your argument or contradictory to it; superficial material such as dictionary definitions or encyclopedia descriptions |
Step Four: Conclusion and related outcomes (implications and consequences): Craft a conclusion that will leave the reader with a feeling of closure, that you accomplished your goal of substantiating your original assertion. Restate your thesis briefly and summarize the evidence that supports your overall point. Do not introduce any new information, but you may speculate on the implications of your findings.
Regarding format, your work is to be typed, double-spaced in 12-point font with 1” margins, left aligned and indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch. Include your Banner ID number and name in the upper-left corner of the first page and indicate the degree (not your major) you are seeking in the upper-right (this will be AA, AS, or AAT). If you do not know what degree you are pursuing, I can look that up in ACES for you. I expect that you can complete this assignment in 3-5 pages of typed work.
Write in a manner that is appropriate for an academic paper in the subject of political science and follow a widely-accepted format for citing sources properly. Below are two helpful guides:
APA Formatting and Style Guide (Links to an external site.)
MLA Formatting and Style Guide
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