Elements, Nature, Success, Benefits, and Disadvantages of Democratic Socialism

Written assignment #2 (20% of your final mark)
The goal of this assignment is to write a document similar to the “In Brief” notes produced by the Library of Parliament’s Information and Research Service 
Here are links to a few “In Brief” notes:
• Barnes, Andre. 2010. In Brief: Youth Voter Turnout in Canada: 1. Trends and Issues. Publication No. 2010-19-E. Parliamentary Information and Research Service. Ottawa: Library of Parliament.
• Heminthavong, Khamla. 2015. In Brief: Canada’s Supply Management System (PDF). Publication No. 2015-138-E. Parliamentary Information and Research Service. Ottawa: Library of Parliament.
• McGlashan, Lindsay. 2015. In Brief: Public-Private Partnerships: Are Canadians Getting the Full Picture? (PDF) Publication No. 2015-50-E. Parliamentary Information and Research Service. Ottawa: Library of Parliament.
As specified on the Library of Parliament’s website, their publications aim to “provide analysis to parliamentarians, parliamentary committees and parliamentary associations on current and emerging key issues, legislation and major public policy topics. The publications provide non-partisan, reliable and timely information on subjects that are relevant to parliamentary and constituency work (my emphasis).”
Your goal is to follow the spirit of these “In Brief” notes and produce a short document for busy people that presents all aspects of a particular problem in a non-partisan way. You must present and define the issue or problem, provide some background or context, explain why it is important and list all arguments for and against the problem or issue discussed. You can use bullet points, graphs or maps, but each claim or piece of evidence must be supported through an endnote.
Specifications
• Cover page. Must include subject title, first and last name, student number, course number, year and the exact wording of the question you are answering in your assignment;
• Table of contents, including page number for each section;
• Between 6 and 9 pages of text, excluding cover page, table of contents and endnotes;
• Text should be 11-12 point font; 1.0 line spacing on all pages, including cover page, block quotes, and endnotes;
• Pages should have regular 1.0 inch margins and be numbered;
• Reference/Citation style: ENDNOTES. Format of your choice, but you must be consistent.
All assignments will be submitted through Quercus and processed through Ouriginal.
What is the point of these assignments?
• To acquire more in-depth learning about a topic discussed in this course and its relevance to broader policy discussions
• To develop your writing skills
• To learn to think critically
• To learn the basics of scholarly and policy work
Citation styles
Please look up the University of Toronto Library webpage devoted to citing sources and creating your bibliography.
For written assignment 2 your are free to follow any of the Standard Documentation Formats, but I insist you use endnotes in assignment #2 (try to mimick the Federal Government documents as closely as possible).
Ouroriginal
Submitting your written assignments through Quercus will imply a review of textual similarity by Ouroriginal for detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students will allow their assignments to be included as source documents in the Ouroriginal reference database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Ouriginal service are described on the Ouroriginal web site (https://www(dot)ouriginal(dot)com/). If you have an objection to the use of Ouriginal for the submission of your work, please make an appointment to speak personally with the Course Instructor to discuss alternative arrangements.
Please note that submitting your paper through Ouroriginal or making alternative arrangements with your professor before the relevant deadlines is not optional. Failure to do so will result in a grade of 0 for your assignment. The late penalties describe in this syllabus will apply.