CURRENT EVENTS ASSIGNMENT (Updated October 25, 2015)

CURRENT EVENTS ASSIGNMENT (updated October 25, 2015) It is very important for people to know and understand the events that are happening locally, nationally, and globally. This assignment consists of reading an article pertaining to state, national, or international issues content (history, science, economics, archeology, politics, etc., but NO SPORTS or ENTERTAINMENT). Articles should be found in credible news media sources such as the following:  www.nytimes.com (New York Times - newspaper)  www.washingtontimes.com (Washington Times – newspaper)  www.washingtonpost.com (Washington Post – newspaper)  www.latimes.com (Los Angeles Times – newspaper)  www.chicagotribune.com (Chicago Tribune – newspaper)  www.msnbc.com (NBC – broadcast T.V. news and its various entities)  www.cnn.com (CNN – cable T.V. news)  www.usnews.com (U.S. News & World Report - magazine)  www.foxnews.com (Fox – cable T.V. news)  www.abcnews.go.com (ABC – broadcast T.V. news)  www.cbsnews.com (CBS – broadcast T.V. news)  http://online.wsj.com/home-page (Wall Street Journal-newspaper)  http://www.time.com/time/ (Time Magazine)  http://www.ap.org/ (Associated Press News Service)  http://www.bloomberg.com/ (Bloomberg News Report)

The purpose of this assignment is to (1) increase your ability to research current issues, (2) to increase your understanding of a particular area (of your choosing), and (3) to be able to critically evaluate news articles regarding contemporary issues.

You are to include the following criteria in your assignment: 1. MLA format 1. Heading on left side of paper (not a header): Your name, teacher, class, date 2. Article Title as title centered aligned. 3. Times New Roman font, size 12 4. Double-spaced 2. Start with a 50 word / 2 sentence minimum summary of the article. 3. 50 word / 2 sentence minimum discussing how this affects you. If you cannot decide how this affects you, then you need to find another article. 4. 50 word / 2 sentence minimum discussing how this affects the nation. If you cannot decide how this affects the United States, then you need to find another article. 5. 50 word / 2 sentence minimum discussing how this affects other countries. If you cannot decide how this affects people globally, then you need to find another article. 6. MLA citation of source at end of analysis: Author’s last name, First name. “Article.” Source. Publication date. Web. Access Date. (ex) Smith, John. “These Are the Times that Try Men’s Souls.” Time.com. 6 September. 2013. Web. 25 October 2015.

Type your paper in paragraph form using good sentence structure with proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Type the paper in your own words. If you copy and paste and change a few words, you will receive a zero for plagiarism. If you need to use a short quote, cite it properly.

This is not a critique of whether the article is good or bad. This assignment is a reasoned opinion of the issue presented in the article. It is designed to get you to explore your attitudes/thoughts/beliefs on various topics in current events and to improve commentary on in-class essays. Your opinion should draw on your own background knowledge and understanding, the information in the article, and your personal views. The result is expected to be an exercise in your critical thinking skills.