• Compose an essay of at least 2000 words but
    no more than 3000 words (not including your references list) in which you
    discuss in depth the following topic, making sure to offer your critical
    thinking opinions (opinions plus reasons and evidence) of relevant ideas from
    the Weeks 1-4 readings wherever possible:


    Since
    its 1947 decision in Everson v. Board of Education (with an opinion written by
    Justice Hugo Black), the Supreme Court has further considered and limited the
    active role that religion or religious institutions can play in the public
    sphere—that is, on government property. In your essay, present an argument for
    one of the two following positions:


    (a)
    Faith groups and institutions should be allowed to form political parties and
    they should attempt to gain influence in the workings of government for their
    views and values by entering the realm of political discourse and attempting to
    elect their own politicians.


    (b)
    Faith groups and institutions should not be allowed to form political
    parties and they should not attempt to gain influence in the workings of
    government for their views and values by entering the realm of political
    discourse and attempting to elect their own politicians.

    Note: In answering these questions, you
    will specifically want to reference and critique, wherever possible, relevant
    ideas from the Week 1 readings on values; Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Jefferson,
    from Week 2; the Week 3 readings on interpretation of the Constitution, and the
    Week 4 readings listed above. You may also bring in up to five additional sources that you have
    found in your own research of the topic.

    Employ
    APA format for both in-text citations and your references list. Abstracts and
    running heads are not required. Use the Major Essay Grading Rubric for
    guidance on how to write this paper successfully and well.

    Very Important for All Students:All
    Major Essays must be submitted to Turnitin.com for a plagiarism check
    before you send them to your instructor through the Assignment area (this
    is explained in 3 below).

    1. Your
      instructor will provide you with the Class ID and the Password to your
      Turnitin.com class. You will then create an account at Turnitin.com. See the
      Turnitin.com Instructions in the Assignments area of your Cyberactive course for
      screenshots of how to create your account.
    2. Access
      the course and assignment your instructor has set up there. Post your
      essay.
    3. Submit
      your essay to your instructor in the Assignments area of the Cyberactive course
      (see instructions below) by 11:59 p.m. Central Time of the Sunday that ends Week
      4.

    You’ll find the
    links to the Word documents of the Weeks 4, 8, and 12 assignments in the
    Assignments area, just as you have for the other assignments in the course. The
    blue underscored Week labels for those weeks are actually links.

    • When
      you are ready to submit your assignments, click on the appropriate black Week
      label.
    • A new
      page will open that will enable you to upload your assignment. Do not copy and paste them in the
      Submission box. Instead, scroll down a little further and click on Browse My
      Computer.
    • You’ll
      see a listing of the computer sites, folders, and files stored on your hard
      drive. Navigate to the place on which you have your Major Essay saved on your
      computer.
    • Select
      the file for your Major Essay. Click Open.
    • You
      should now see your Major Essay attached to this upload page.
    • Click
      the green Submit button.
    • Your
      essay will now be stored on the Cyberactive system. Only your instructor can see
      it. He/She will download it, save it to his/her hard drive, comment on it in
      interlinear fashion, grade it, upload it, and send it back to you.
    • You
      will see your grade in My Grades. When you click on the grade, a screen will
      open in which you can see the attached file of your instructor’s comments on
      your essay.

    The only
    Major Essay you will post to the Discussion Board for the class to see, as well,
    will be
    Major Essay 3 The Service Learning Project Report. It will be
    posted to the Week 12 Discussion Board forum after you’ve submitted it to
    Turnitin.com and sent it to your instructor through the Assignment area.

    Employ APA format for both in-text
    citations and your references list. Abstracts and running heads are not
    required. Use the Major Essay Grading
    Rubric
    for guidance on how to write this paper successfully and well.

    Important Assignment Guidelines: Not
    following these guidelines will have a negative impact on your grade for the
    week.

    1. Write in Arial
      font, size 14 (chosen from the drop-down menus on the create thread box in the
      Discussion Board forum), unless otherwise directed by your instructor.
    2. Reference
      specific ideas from at least the two readings that illustrate these values.
      Always name the author whose ideas you are discussing (use the author’s full
      name the first time you refer to him/her; after that, identify authors by their
      last names).
    3. Provide in-text
      citations for all ideas, opinions, and facts derived from the course readings,
      whether you simply refer to them, paraphrase them (put them entirely into your
      own words), or quote them. Place the in-text citation at the end of your
      sentence but before the period that ends your sentence. The in-text citation
      should give the author’s last name (unless you’ve used it already in your
      sentence), the year of publication (if known), and the appropriate page
      number(s) from the reading (if page numbers are used in the online text of the
      essay). Do not use the title of the reading unless it does not have an author).

    Here’s an
    example of a citation for the Thomas Paine reading for Week 1: (Paine, 1776).

    Here’s an
    example of a citation for the John Locke reading for Week 2: (Locke, 1689, pp.
    46-47).

    1. Provide a
      References list at the end of your essay that includes bibliographic references
      for every reading cited in your essay.

    Note: Your
    references list does not count toward your minimum word count.

    Center the word
    References (do not underline it, place it in quotation marks, or place it in
    bold or larger size font).

    Present your
    references, listed alphabetically by author’s last name.

    Follow APA
    formatting guidelines for your list. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers
    excellent detailed explanations of APA Format requirements. This is the URL for
    the Purdue OWL:

    http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1