Left-Wing Anarchist Extremists and Anti-Fascists (Antifa) and Right-Wing Militia Extremists

Instructions

For this assignment, you will develop a framework to outline your research paper for this course that will be due in week 7. 

For this assignment you will outline your research paper by doing the following: 

Pick 2 domestic extremist or terrorist groups to analyze (one left wing, one right wing). See below for more information on the 8 categories of domestic extremists’ threat groups to choose from. Include the two chosen domestic extremist or terrorist groups in your title or subtitle. The title of your paper should be brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating to parameters, population, and other specifics are useful. 

Develop a purpose statement for your research paper. The purpose statement orients the reader to the central intent of the study and from it all other aspects of the research project follow. The purpose statement should be a concise paragraph that describes the intent of the final research paper, specifically address the reason(s) for conducting the study and reflects the research questions. Begin the purpose statement with a succinct sentence that indicates the study method and overarching goal. "The purpose of this study is to... (describe the study goal that directly reflects and encompasses the research questions). 

Craft research question(s). Present here the specific research question(s) which will be addressed in the upcoming research paper assignment. 

Include a reference list of at least eight scholarly sources. Ensure you use only scholarly sources from the required readings as well as conducting your own outside research. See this APUS Library discussion on How do I find peer reviewed or scholarly articles?

Details on the research paper assignment (due at the end of week 7):

Select two domestic extremist or terrorist organizations within the United States and complete an in-depth profile of both groups. One group must be right wing, and the other left wing. Write a graduate level research paper that provides a description of each organization including their ideology, goals & objectives, political actions, propaganda techniques, and specifics of their violent actions. Also address their recruitment and radicalization process. Then compare and contrast your two selected groups within your research paper. Finally, you are to discuss counter violent extremism approaches that you asses would be effective if employed against both groups. 

For this research paper we are looking at extremists inspired by domestic causes within the U.S. from both the left wing and right wing. The FBI generally describes domestic extremist causes or ideology by listing the following threat categories: 

Right-Wing:

• Abortion Extremists (such as the Christian Identity Movement)
• Militia Extremists
• Sovereign Citizen Extremists
• White Supremacy Extremists

 Left-Wing:

• Animal Rights Extremists
• Anarchist Extremists and Anti-Fascists (Antifa)
• Black Nationalist Extremists
• Environmental Extremists

 Technical Requirements

• Your paper must be at a minimum of 2-3 pages (the Title and Reference pages do not count towards the minimum limit).
• Scholarly and credible references should be used. A good rule of thumb is at least 2 scholarly sources per page of content.
• Type in Times New Roman, 12 point and double space.
• Students will follow the current APA Style as the sole citation and reference style used in written work submitted as part of coursework. 
• Points will be deducted for the use of Wikipedia or encyclopedic type sources. It is highly advised to utilize books, peer-reviewed journals, articles, archived documents, etc.
• All submissions will be graded using the assignment rubric.