Concept Map

Important

Part I due February 9th at 11:59 pm on Canvas

Part II due March 22nd at 11:59 pm on Canvas

Part III due May 1st at 5:00 pm on Canvas

Purpose

The goal of this assignment is to help you think, critically and visually, about the connections between the various principles, institutions, and actors of American politics. You will need to identify the concepts you think are key to understanding American politics.

Task

Build a concept map for each of the three major parts of the course (i.e, the foundations of American governments, the institutions, and the public). You can either draw this concept map or you can use a platform like Miro to do it. Your concept map can include concepts, events, political figures, other political actors, examples, or anything else that you think is important.

Your concept map should be submitted as a PDF on Canvas.

Criteria for success

A successful concept map (each submission) will:

1. Include at least 20 unique nodes (these are the boxes or circles that represent a concept, object, or idea)
2. Have a coherent hierarchical structure
3. Have no grammatical errors

Resources

• Concept Maps “handout” by The Learning Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Peer-Review/Workshop for Part I

In the first part of the course we covered the foundations of American politics. Consider the following questions when thinking about what your concept map should include and what questions it should answer.

1. What are the foundations of American politics?
2. Why is each of those foundations so important to understanding American politics?
3. Is there any background information for that foundation that is important to mention?
4. How are the most important components of each foundation?