Individual Written Assignment: Interviewing Government and Political Professionals

Assignment Overview

Students are required to complete an individual written assignment. This assignment is worth 30% of the course grade.

1.Each paper should be based on an in-depth interview with at least one person who is employed or otherwise actively involved in government, politics, and/or an interest/advocacy group.  Possible interviewees would include politicians, political advisors, and bureaucrats/public servants (at any level of government – federal, provincial, municipal), advocates/leaders working for various interest/advocacy groups (business, industry, labour, agricultural, environmental, taxpayer, consumer, immigrant, women, youth, etc.), lobbyists, and so on.

Application of relevant course concepts:  refer mainly to the class notes on lobbying and interest/advocacy groups, lobbying and other influence techniques.

2. The findings from your in-depth interview would be supplemented by some additional research (most likely from Internet sources) so that the interviewee would not be the sole source of information. 

3.Content and Organization:

The paper links theory to relevant examples of current experience and industry practice and uses the vocabulary of the theory correctly.

Major points are stated clearly; supported by analysis, specific details, examples, and organized logically.

All key elements of the assignment should be covered in a substantive way. The paper should be about 12 to 14 pages, double-spaced (excluding any appendices).

Style and Readability: The paper, including the title page, reference page, tables, and appendices, needs to follow APA guidelines for format. It should be laid out with effective use of headings, font styles, and white space; Rules of grammar and punctuation are followed; spelling is correct.