Research Paper: The research paper topic will be selected by the student with approval of the instructor via the proposal above. That is you have a virtually unlimited choice here. That is why the proposal is so critical so you can narrow your topic to something that can be handled reasonably well in an 11 week term. For this class you will need to identify any homeland security issue or problem and offer both lessons from the arguments you make and solutions or recommendations to resolve the issue or problem. You may do a case study, and offer your lessons and takeaway from those lessons or, you can have any other security topic related to this course’s subject matter. There is no length minimum or maximum. This is a 400 level course and a paper commensurate with 400 level work is expected. The paper length is determined by the parameters the student sets in his or her introduction and the amount of writing necessary to fully develop the topic, and the conclusion once reaches. A paper is never, in the real world, determined by some number someone pulls from the air. All sources of information must be documented and selected bibliography of all sources used or referenced expected. Strayer requires APA format. I do not expect nor want an abstract, but I do require a bibliography in addition to your reference page. One secret to successful academic and professional writing is keeping a working bibliography, and annotated bibliography/note file going from the start. Every time you visit a website, data base, refer to a book or other resource, you put that item – assuming relevance to the topic—properly cited in your working bibliography. For those sources that are dealing with the specific questions or arguments you need for each of your outline points, you note any ideas, data, corroboration, examples, or direct quotes, properly cited you put in your working note file. Then at the end, when you begin writing everything you need initially is already done, and in place. So, as you write you may find you need a quote or something from a source you look at early, while you were still formulating your ideas, you can go to your working bibliography, and find that source easily. And there is a very good chance that if you are taking good notes, and corroborating ideas, you will not be using material in your note files, but the citation would be in your bibliography. A reference page is only that material you are citing in the paper. A bibliography will show me the extent of your research, that information was corroborated, and the material you had made your choices for in the body of the paper. The bibliography includes the material from the reference page. Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.