Overview
Description: To demonstrate achievement of the course learning outcomes, students are required to prepare and submit a 10-12-page Research Paper. This assignment is due no later than Sunday, November 30 at 11:59 pm (Eastern). Submit your completed paper on Blackboard and include the “signed” Integrity Statement on the cover/title paper. Papers submitted without this statement will not be graded and will be returned. Students should also use the Chicago style for this assignment. Guidelines to help students use the Chicago Manual of Style are included under the Student Resources forum under the Content tab. Finally, please see the Final Paper Writing Tips document under the Course Info forum for detailed instruction/criteria for the paper.
The paper requirements are listed below:
You, the student, have been identified as the leader responsible for formulating a strategy to defend a federal budget issue at your agency. This strategy may address a program/project/function within the student’s home agency, the agency’s entire budget, or a national budget issue. As the key leader, the student is developing this strategy for use by the agency’s most senior program or budget official. This official would follow the strategy to defend this Federal budget issue to the next two (2) higher-level budget organizations (e.g., the agency’s CFO and OMB; OMB and Congress). The paper will identify the issue, key stakeholders and their respective interests, and the key processes and policies involved in the budget issue. The paper will also include details of the budget, performance measures, strengths and weaknesses of the budget issue, and any other budgetary details to support the requirement(s), as appropriate. Remember that even though you are providing details, be sure to have a strategic view of the issue and the process.
The paper will also compare and contrast differences between the defenses of the budget at the two (2) higher levels. Finally, the paper will provide specific recommendations that would ensure the agency’s budget has the highest probability of passage and acceptance. The goal is to provide evidence to support and obtain funding.
Students should also include the Student Declaration (Integrity Statement) on the Final Paper. The paper must include this signed statement on the required front cover sheet. Again, papers received without this statement will not be graded and will be returned.
This paper is my own work. Any assistance I received in its preparation is acknowledged within the paper or presentation, in accordance with academic practice. If I used data, ideas, words, diagrams, pictures, or other information from any source, I have cited the sources fully and completely in footnotes and bibliography entries. This includes sources which I have quoted or that I have paraphrased. Furthermore, I certify that this paper or presentation was prepared by me specifically for this class and has not been submitted, in whole or in part, to any other class in this University or elsewhere, or used for any purpose other than satisfying the requirements of this class, except that I am allowed to submit the paper or presentation to a professional publication, peer reviewed journal, or professional conference. This is not a draft and is submitted for grading to satisfy in part the requirements for this course and the program(s) in which I am enrolled. In typing my name following the word 'Signature', I intend that this certification will have the same authority and authenticity as a document executed with my hand-written signature.
Signature_________________________________