Federal Election Assignment

1. Canadian Federal Election Assignment – 30%
Purpose: To encourage student to explore relevant course material in its application to a
contemporary example (the Canadian 2015 federal election). For students to demonstrate their
familiarity of course concepts and ideas.
Due Date: October 15, 2015 at 5:00PM
Requirements:
For this assignment, students will be required to follow the Canadian 2015 federal election closely.
Drawing on the insights developed in this course, students will be required to write a three
to four page double-spaced essay response for each of the following two parts (i.e. 3-4 pages
to answer part 1, and 3-4 pages to answer part 2):
1) Techniques in persuasion: choose a campaign document designed for persuasion
(an advertisement, a press release, or a speech transcript) originating from an
official Canadian federal political party running in the 2015 election. Drawing on
course material, critically discuss the persuasive techniques included in the
material.
In this submission, students are required to a) very briefly describe the ad/press
release/or speech and the argument(s) it attempts to make, b) outline the
persuasive techniques used in the material, and c) identify potential target
audiences. In the conclusion, students should make an argument about whether or
not the material was persuasive, and explain their reasoning.
N.B.: Students must include a web link to the material to be reviewed. Further,
students must choose a document with enough substance to meet the criteria of this
assignment.
2) Understanding public opinion: predict who will win the Canadian 2015 federal election. To do
this, students are required to choose two methods of gauging public opinion, as
discussed in class. Students will then be required to explain how they came to this
conclusion and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen
methods. Please note that students will not be graded on whether their predictions
are accurate but rather on the richness of their critical and analytical discussion.
6
For this assignment, students will need to use a minimum of four (4) academic sources from
the course to help build their argument. The assignment will also require research outside
of course material. Non-academic sources can be used when researching a campaign
website/advertisement or citing a newspaper article to establish a fact or event, however
arguments should be supported only by academic sources. Lectures can be cited but do not
count as academic sources. The strongest submissions will go above and beyond the
minimum requirements.
Assignments will be graded based on the following criteria:
– Meets, at minimum, the criteria of the assignment outlined above.
– Content and strength of argument and analysis: submission makes clear arguments,
arguments are well developed, arguments rely on academic sources, meets the
expectations of a third year course, demonstrates strong familiarity with concepts
related to image, politics, and persuasion, conveys arguments in interesting,
original, and convincing ways, etc.
– Style: submission consistently follows a recognized citations style, is well written,
uses standard margins, is double spaced with 12pt font, has a bibliography and title
page (not included in page count) etc. Essays are written in essay