You are being asked to undertake a research essay in the area of American Politics.  There are several things to be aware of as you write the paper.

1.     The paper may be in any topic area related to American politics.  When choosing your topic, make sure that there is a specific issue that you wish to address.  For example, you many have a general interest in the US Congress, but this will not suffice for a thesis.  Make sure that your topic is narrow enough to handle in a 8-page paper (Times New Roman or similar font).

2.     Make sure that your paper has a thesis and is argumentative.  It should address an issue that presents some kind of problem/conundrum (your proposal has already helped you in developing this), and your thesis should be one possible answer to that conundrum.  It should answer the question ‘why situation ‘x’ or institution ‘b’ is so-and-so….’ (this is just an example). Above all, your thesis should require arguments to back up your claim.  If the thesis is an obvious (or overly-general) statement with which everyone will agree, then it is not really a thesis at all. 

3.     Try to organize your paper thematically, if you can.  Most discussions can be broken up into dominant themes, which, in this case, will probably fall in line with your major sub-arguments in the paper.  Organizing thematically will help keep the paper orderly and clear, and your reader will be able to digest your argument more easily.  It also helps to weed out material that may be of interest but is not essential to your argument.  As you include material within each thematic section, ask yourself: 1) are you contributing to the point being made in the section, or is the material superfluous or excessive? 2) does all of the material in the section help in validation of your main argument/thesis?  If not, what can you do without?  Or, alternatively, how can it be changed to make it fit more logically?

4.     In terms of research, do not assume that you will go and identify 10 of the most significant sources in your topic area, easily find them in the library, and incisively integrate them into your paper.  Research rarely every proceeds in such a manner.  You need to wade through a good deal of material to get to the articles that really help you the most.  Research, in other words, is always a labour-intensive process, and we end up reading more material than we actually need to write the paper. 

5.     Pay attention to your writing and the clarity of your argument.  Get your work edited, and don’t shy away from getting editing advice more than once.  This is not always easy to do, but the payoff is usually considerable.

6.     Use a uniform citation style throughout.  The style you use is up to you.  However, make sure that you are doing it correctly (consult a guide!) and consistently throughout.