Regardless of the subject area chosen, your paper will adhere to the following guidelines:
- A title page
- At least 3 ½ pages of text.
- 12-point Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri font
- Double-spacing with no extra lines skipped between paragraphs
- Use of research in the paper (majority paraphrases)
- In-text Citations/Parenthetical References in APA style within the paper
after each sentence containing new source material and direct quotes
- APA References page
- At least 5 high quality, credible sources, scholarly if possible:
- At least 2 must come from WCC’s library, at least 1 of which will come from the databases
- At least 2 must be print sources, not internet-based
- Do not use
Wikipedia,
History.com,
low-quality popular sources, blogs, abstracts with no full text, paid advertisements, or corporate-sponsored texts. Watch for excessive conservative or liberal bias. Do not use sources with one-word authors such as “Joe” or “Kay G.” Use good judgment and evaluation skills to find highly credible web sources.
Formatting Requirements
- Title page (1 page)
- The body of your paper (at least 3½ pages)
- References page (APA) (at least 1 page)
- 6 pieces of paper minimum.
The Need for Specificity
The subject of Nixon and Watergate can fill (and has filled) volumes and volumes of books, articles, films, and reports, so you will need to narrow this down to something manageable in a relatively short paper. I will be happy to discuss potential topics both with the class as a whole and with you individually. Whatever you do, you must write the report so that it flows well and is a coherent whole, not just a random assemblage of Watergate factoids. Educate yourself on your chosen topic so that you can understand your sources and speak knowledgably.
Partial List of Figures from the World of Watergate
Richard M. Nixon:
President of the United States (1969-1974)
H. R. “Bob” Haldeman:
President’s Chief of Staff (1969-1973)
John Ehrlichman:
President’s Chief for Domestic Policy (1969-1973)
John W. Dean:
Chief Counsel (Lawyer) to the President (1970-1973)
Charles “Chuck” Colson:
Special Counsel to the President
John Mitchell:
Attorney General (1969-1972) and Head of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
Jeb Magruder:
Mitchell’s Assistant at the Committee to Re-elect the President.
Howard Hunt:
Ex-CIA Officer, White House Consultant, Member of the “Plumbers,” One of the Planners of Various Break-Ins Including Watergate.
G. Gordon Liddy:
Ex-FBI Officer, Chief “Plumber,” Architect of the Watergate Break-Ins, and Campaign Intelligence Planner to the Committee to Re-elect the President.
James McCord:
Ex-CIA Officer, Head of Security for the Committee to Re-elect the President, and One of the Members of the Watergate Break-In Team, and a Direct Link to the Nixon White House.
Sam Ervin:
Senator from North Carolina Who Headed Up the Senate Watergate Investigation.
Archibald Cox:
First Watergate Special Prosecutor
Leon Jaworski:
Second Watergate Special Prosecutor
Alexander “Al” Haig:
President’s Chief of Staff (1973-1974)
Other Names:
Elliot Richardson, Robert Bork, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Mark W. “Deep Throat” Felt, John Sirica
Due Date
The due date is on the course site.
(Next Page).
Oral Presentation
You’ll be getting double-duty out of the research you conduct. You will be giving an oral presentation regarding the topics covered in your paper. The presentation, however, will not simply be you reading your report in front of the class. Take the same material, but reformat it in a way that works for a formal presentation.
1.
The presentation must be a minimum of five minutes in length. However, it must not exceed ten minutes in length.
2.
The presentation must contain
- an attention-getter--something that will grab the audience's interest immediately
- a verbal outline of the things you wish to cover during the presentation
- clear, easy to understand, and well-organized material
3.
In addition to your content, I also will be grading you for the way you give the presentation.
- Unless there is a valid reason for doing otherwise, you must stand while you are giving your presentation.
- Use good body language; do not slump, fidget, cross your arms, or sway;
do not tap on the podium or table; do not allow yourself to suffer from 'happy feet,' that bouncing of the leg we are all guilty of sometimes. Nearly all of your movements during the presentation must be made with a purpose.
- Be sure to use a strong, clear voice.
- Avoid 'ums,' 'ahs,' and other time killing words and phrases ('you know,' 'you know what I'm saying,' 'like,' etc.).
- Be sure that you have rehearsed and that your material is organized so you can avoid 'dead air' syndrome-- lengthy pauses where nothing is being said.
4.
You must use at least three PowerPoint slides during the presentation. You will also have an additional slide providing a References page listing the sources used for the presentation. Other visuals can include charts, graphics, and pictures. Be sure, however, that your visuals are a necessary, integral part of your presentation and not simply something to satisfy the visuals requirement.
- Do not use generic visuals as decorations.
- Do not use visuals that simply repeat what you are speaking.
Do not turn around to read your visuals; make a copy to keep in front of you
- As you are giving your presentation, you must maintain eye contact—or at least the illusion of eye contact—with your audience. The audience must feel interested and engaged. This is very important, by the way. Do not spend most of the presentation staring at a single person. That person will feel very uncomfortable, and everyone else will simply feel left out.
- If, due to technical limitations, you cannot show the slides on screen, please submit a copy through the Oral Presentation link on Moodle.
Oral Presentation Submission Methods
Due my inability to predict the future, we have to plan this as if you will not have the option of coming to main campus to give your presentation. Therefore, you should plan to submit the presentation in one of the following ways:
Record and then upload the video to your Google Drive, and then send an E-mail to me with the link or paste the link into a Word document and submit it through the Oral Presentation link. Make sure to share the video, or I will not be able to view it and provide you with a grade. Be sure to give me rights to view the video. Do this by
the due date on the course site.
- Record and then submit the presentation through the appropriate link on the course site. Submit it by
Tuesday, July 28.
(Please note that the presentations are normally too large to successfully use that method, but every now and then someone succeeds.)
- Record and then submit the presentation through YouTube by
Tuesday, July 28.
(I haven’t uploaded videos there, but my sons figured it out when they were in their early teens, so it isn’t that complicated. Again, give yourself time to figure things out.)
If it turns out that your coming to main campus to give the presentation in person is an option, I will let you know.
Remember, the presentation will use information that you’ve already researched for Major Research Assignment II.