Term Paper on "National Health Care Reform the History"

Quoted Instructions for "National Health Care Reform the History" Assignment:

You are to examine the health care reform bill passed by Congress late last month and signed into law by President Obama. Your paper should general address some the following points:

1. The background of national health care legislation

*****¢ The history of national health care legislation; what*****'s been proposed before; what*****'s been enacted before and how it*****'s worked

*****¢ The Obama proposal

*****¢ The Congressional response to the president*****'s plan

*****¢ Opposition to the plan: by the lobby (such as the insurance lobby), by Republicans, by talk radio, by some Democrats

2. The path through Congress--the compromises, the arguments, the procedural matters

The stages of the legislations process including differing developing versions of bill

*****¢ How Congress changed the president*****'s plan

*****¢ The single-payer issue

*****¢ What congressional Democrats did, what congressional Republicans did; the significance of the majority party status in Congress

*****¢ Calls by the president for bi-partisanship

*****¢ Dissention within Democratic ranks

*****¢ The bill looks dead

*****¢ Reconciliation controversy

*****¢ How the bill regained life and was finally passed in late March

3. What is in the final bill

*****¢ What takes effect immediately

*****¢ What comes into effect later

*****¢ How it will affect health care for Americans

4. The Future of the Health Care Reform Law

*****¢ Republican calls for repeal

*****¢ Changes promised/threatened

*****¢ Lawsuits brought by states (mostly Republican attorneys general) against the constitutionality of the law

*****¢ What the passage of the legislation means to the upcoming congressional elections in November; what could change in Congress as a result of the November general election; what effect has the health care law had on primary and special elections held after the passage of the law

You need not cover all these issues in your paper, but these are the issues in general that can be addressed. Many of them should be addressed in your paper to the point that you develop a cohesive story of what has happened . It is up to you to decide what of these issue points to include in your narrative.

TYPE OF PAPER: This is an expository paper, not an argumentative or persuasive paper. Do not offer your own opinions directly in the body of your paper. Write exclusively in the third person, not the first person. You may present the arguments by scholars, judges, experts, journalists, politicians and others in a formal, substantiated, documented manner. You are writing objectively, telling both sides of the issue. Examine the issue objectively and report on what you have found. Like a lawyer in court proving a case, you will use evidence presented by experts and witnesses. Lawyers in a case do not testify themselves. They must let their witnesses prove the case. You will be doing much the same thing. Let the sources tell the story. You may, however, if you wish, draw your own conclusions in the first person (e.g., *****"I believe, based on my research, that*****¦.*****") in the conclusion of your paper (the last paragraph or two of your paper). Be rational, not emotional in your writing.

Remember that this is a term paper, an essay, not a list of questions and answer, not a list of bulleted points to address. You are telling the story of this political controversy, policy debate, and policy decision. You are acting as a newspaper reporter would in writing an objective article over viewing in general what happened. Do not put headings and subheadings in your paper (such as *****"What Is In the Final Bill*****") because you don*****'t have room for it in such a short paper. Let your development and transition tell the reader what area you*****'re addressing.

REQUIRED CITATION: You MUST, of course, document each use of a source in your paper. You must cite the article information and the URL for the article. You MUST

use the TURABIAN (also known as the Chicago Manual of Style format) method to cite your sources and you MUST cite using ENDNOTES. (See material below for how to use the Turabian method; also see the two sample term papers I have provided you as examples of how to use the Turabian style of documentation.) Failure to use the Turabianmethod of documentation with endnotes for you paper will result in a severe grading penalty.

REQUIRED LENGTH: At least three (3) full pages of text NOT including the cover sheet and NOT including the ENDNOTES pages. This is a minimum page length requirement, not a maximum limit. You may go beyond the three text page minimum requirement if you wish. You must use at least EIGHT (8) different articles from The New York Times (see below). You must document/cite each use of the eight (or more) articles; you may use any of the articles you select for your paper more than once for quotes or paraphrased material, documenting / citing each use. If you wish, you may use more articles in your paper, BUT you MUST use at least eight (8) in the paper.

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REQUIRED SOURCES TO USE IN YOUR PAPER: You are required to use at least eight (8) sources in your paper. You are to use exclusively the coverage of the national health care reform issue from The New York Times. All the source material you use in your paper must be from articles this newspaper and ONLY from this newspaper (The New York Times). Conveniently, The New York Times assembled all their coverage of this issue on an issue site on the papers*****' Web site. Here is the link to that site on each paper:

The New York Times: Times Topics -- Health Care Reform http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=health%20care%20reform&st=cse

The Times has a marvelous overview of the issue at the top of their page. And all their coverage of the issue is accumulated there. If you think you cannot find something on the Times Topics--Health Care Reform page, you can enter key terms in the *****"Search all NYTimes.com*****" dialogue box at the top right corner of the page. You are to use only articles from the New York Times in your paper. You may not use material from links you might find on The New York Times to outside material.

You are required to use (direct quotes or paraphrasing) at least eight (8) New York Times different articles in your paper. You are not, however, limited to using just eight. That is the minimum requirement. You may use more if you wish.

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TERM PAPER MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS:Be certain to follow these mechanical requirements closely in preparing your paper. This is often where students lose valuable points on their papers because I adhere to these standards strictly and deduct points from your paper grade if you fail to follow these instructions!

 Three (3) pages of text, minimum. That*****'s at least THREE FULL PAGES--not two, not two-and-a-half...at least THREE full pages of text (this three page minimum does not include the title page or the ENDNOTES pages at the end of the paper. I will deduct 15 points from your grade for each 1/2 page under the minimum length requirement, 30 points for each full page under the length requirement.

ï‚‚ The paper must be typewritten, double-spaced; characters must be no larger than 12 point. I will deduct 5 to 15 points if the type style exceeds the required size. I will NOT accept a paper that is not typed. You must use Times-Roman or Times New Roman at the typestyle in your paper. I will deduct five points if it is not in Times-Roman or New Times Roman typestyle. You must submit the paper in Microsoft Word format as an attachment via Blackboard mail. I will not accept a paper not saved in Microsoft Word format.

 One(1) inch margins--top, bottom, left and right. I will give you some leeway, up to 1.5 inches on the right side for a ragged right margin. Five (5) points off for each page violating this requirement. Anywhere from 5 to 15 point off if the margins are excessively beyond the 1.5.

ï‚„ You must document (cite) all your references. You are to use the Chicago Manual of Style (also known as the *****"Turabian*****") method of citation and documentation with sequential superscript numerical citations within the paper and an ENDNOTES page(s) at the end of the paper. You must show proper documentation for every quote used or source material paraphrased. You will have an ENDNOTES page (or pages) at the end of your paper listing the articles and material you actually used in your paper. You must include the URL for the article from the Internet site of the article as well as the basic information about the article.

IMPORTANT NOTE:If you do not cite your sources in the body of your paper, showing where you borrowed the quoted or paraphrased material, you will receive a ZERO (0) for your term paper grade! You must use the Turabian method and use sequentially numbered

ENDNOTES. BE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS AND MEET THE CITATION - DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENT!

ï‚… Include a title page (which, as you recall, does not count as one of your three text-page minimum). On the title page, include the information as shown below. Five (5) points off for failure to include a title page with appropriate information. (You*****'d be surprised how many papers I get each semester without a name anywhere on the document!) Your title page does not count toward your required three full pages of text. Your title page must follow the following format (you MUST have this information on it):YOUR NAME

YOUR STUDENT ID# OR LAST 4 DIGITS OF YOUR SS#

TITLE OF YOUR PAPER

GOVERNMENT 2301, CRN 21348

SPRING 2010

DATE OF SUBMISSION

SUBMITTED TO JOHN BEN SUTTER, HCC GOVERNMENT

 Keep a copy of your paper on your hard drive or on a CD or floppy disk. If there is a problem with transmission or opening of your paper I may need you to re-send the paper

 You must submit your paper electronically via BLACKBOARD mail by attaching the paper as a FILE ATTACHMENT. (See attachment instructions at the bottom of this document.) Do NOT send it to me by any other mail method. I will not accept a paper that is sent by any method other than Blackboard mail. Send me a copy of your paper via email, saved in Microsoft Word format, attached to an email via BLACKBOARD mail. If I do not receive the paper as an attachment on a BLACKBOARD email, I will NOT consider the paper submitted. I will not accept a term paper that is not saved in Microsoft Word. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE YOUR PAPER ONTO AN EMAIL AND SEND IT TO ME IN THAT MATTER; I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT IN THIS MANNER! In an emergency, you may in order to make a timely submission, send the paper to me at johnben.sutter@hccs.edu if you have trouble with Blackboard. You must, however, soon afterward send the paper to me again via Blackboard mail.

 You must use a minimum of EIGHT (8) different articles from the New York Times in your paper. Therefore, you will have at the very least EIGHT entries on your END NOTES or WORKS CITED page(s). Remember, you must appropriately document/cite each of the sources used in your paper. You may use and cite any of the sources more than once in your paper, of course, and you would, thus, have more than eight endnotes; but you must use at least eight different articles from The New York Times in your paper.