The document outlines the requirements for a student project on the US Constitution. Students must collect 20 news articles relating to different parts of the Constitution and summarize each article on its own page. They must also write a 2-3 page paper arguing whether the Constitution needs revision. The project requirements include article collection guidelines, page formatting, and an ordering of title page, table of contents, article pages, and argumentative paper.

1. U.S. Government Constitution Project
Sample Title Page Sample Table of Contents Sample Article Pages
Sample Page Layout Sample Grading Rubric
Objectives:
1. Become familiar with the Constitution as a document and as a body of law.
2. Gain a broader understanding of the applications of the United States Constitution
in our lives today.
3. Recognize and define constitutionality in our legal system today.
Project Requirements:
1. You will collect twenty (20) articles from current news periodicals such as:
Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, St. Joseph News-Press, Kansas City
Star, USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or other
newsweeklies, newspapers, journals, or foreign press. You will then need to relate
all your articles to various locations within the Constitution. (It is important to note
that not all newspaper and magazine articles pertain to the Constitution.)
Your collections will be graded on appropriateness of the articles to the section of
the Constitution to which they are matched, the scope of your coverage of all
parts of the Constitution (including the Amendments), and the breadth of the
periodical sources you found. (It would be expected that you would utilize 5-8
different sources)
Guidelines for the Articles: (see Sample Layout)
Each article may only be used once.
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Highlight each article where it directly pertains to the portion of the Constitution
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to which you are referring.
Each page must quote the portion of the Constitution which applies to that page’s
•
article.
Each article must also be summarized briefly on the page.
•
The source citation must be clearly labeled and cited in its entirety following MLA
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form
Guidelines for each page:
Use of word-processing is highly recommended for constitutional location, article
•
summary, and constitutional quotation. If you choose to hand letter this portion of
the project, you will need to be extremely attentive to neatness.
Each page must be numbered.
•

2. 2. You will write a 2-3 page (typed) argumentative (persuasive) paper which
either supports or opposes the following thesis:
quot;The United States Constitution is a healthy document which still serves our nation
exceptionally well and does not need drastic change or revision.quot;
The evidence and support for your argument will be your collection of twenty
•
articles from current periodicals.
(dated January 26th, 2009 or later) In other words, you should make references
in your paper to some of the articles you collected.
The essay must be typed. It must be 2-3 pages in length and with one inch margins
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and 12 pt. type.
3. Organization of Project (in this order)
Title page (incl. Title of Project, Class, Name, and the date)
See sample Title Page
Table of Contents (Must include the following components in this order)
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See sample Table of Contents
Articles must be organized in ascending order according to their Constitutional
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quot;addressquot;
Constitutional quot;Addressquot; of the article. For example, I,8,3 or VI,2 or Amendment
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14.1.
Title of the page
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Source (ex. name of newspaper or magazine)
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Page number (in Arabic numerals)
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Article Pages (See sample Article Pages)
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Paper
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• At the end of the project
• Page numbers

3. Sample Title Page
Constitution Project
U.S. Government 7th Period
John Doe
October 8, 2007

4. Table of Contents
Constitutional
Title of Page Source Page
Address
I, 2, 5 House Votes to Launch Inquiry The Cincinnati Enquirer 1
I, 5, 3 House Votes 258-176 For Impeachment USA Today 2
Inquiry
I, 7, 2 Clinton Won’t Shut Down Government Over The Cincinnati Enquirer 3
Budget
I, 8, 1 The New Tax File Newsweek 4
I, 8, 4 Bankruptcy Reform Unlikely The Wall Street Journal 5
I, 8, 7 Senate Passes Post Office Bill Linn’s Stamp News 6
II, 1, 1 Governor Bush Ready to Play U.S. News & World Report 7
II, 2, 2 Lawless Offices The New York Times 8
II, 4 To Fulfill Our Constitutional Duty Time 9
IV, 2, 1 Harassment, Census Test on Agenda The Kentucky Post 10
Amendment 1 O, Say, Can You Pray Newsweek 11
Amendment 2 The Armed Citizen American Hunter 12
Amendment 4 FBI Defends Encryption Legislation USA Today 13
Amendment 5 Strong Case For Perjury Seen The Washington Post 14
Amendment 6 Shortage in Jury Pool Delays Trial The Cincinnati Enquirer 15
Amendment 7 Man Sues Woman in His Sibling’s Death The Boston Herald 16
Amendment 10 Ohio Ranks Near Top in Funding Libraries The Cleveland Plain Dealer 17
Amendment 14 Intimidation Case Ends USA Today 18
Amendment 16 Marginal Rates Reemerge The Wall Street Journal 19
Amendment 25,1 Gore Assumes Presidency Newsweek 20
Persuasive Paper You Put The Title of Your Paper Here 21
Sample Article 15

19. This is the format & order of appearance
your article pages should follow.

20. ________ Title
New $20 Bills......
Worth about $20
________
Article
_____
Constitutional
Reference
&
Article I Section 8 Clause VI
Quotation
quot;To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of
the United States.quot;
Summary: ______
Summary
New twenty dollar bills are being issued so they will be more difficult to
counterfeit. The old bills were often counterfeited by cutting off the corners and
putting them on one dollar bills.
Hopkins, John. quot;Collector's note: Revamped $20 bill likely