Diplomacy and War

The objective of this assignment is to apply course readings, concepts, and themes to write a misinformation analysis paper. The paper should be 3000 words, excluding your appendices and list of references. Your paper must be within the word limit, word-processed, double-spaced, and accompanied by
an appendix that includes the misinformation sources used in your analysis. More grading guidelines for your final paper can be found in the Grading Criteria section below.
Choose 4 – 5 examples or cases containing misinformation from ONE of the following three options:

1. A major event or incident from any national context like a previous or ongoing conflict e.g. war in Ukraine, or general elections e.g. 2020 US election, or sports event e.g. Fifa World Cup 2022…etc. You can get your data from news coverage and/or social media posts about this event or incident.
2. Focus on an organization or corporation e.g. oil and gas or vaping companies or a think tank or group that lobbies for political parties. You can use the organization or corporation’s website, ads, social media posts, and/or statements as your data.
3. Public diplomacy efforts (also known as propaganda) of a country towards an issue or event e.g. Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, the US during the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, Israel’s war on Gaza and the West Bank, India’s relations with China or Pakistan…etc. You can use the official social media accounts of the selected country, its official news organizations, and/or official statements as your data source(s).
   GENERAL CRITERIA:
   • Length:3000 words, excluding appendices and list of references. Provide a word count for the body of your paper on the title page.

• Format: All papers must be word-processed, in 12-point font, paginated and double-spaced and use APA referencing system.
• Appendix: Papers must include an appendix that includes all news materials substantively used in the analysis.
• Academic Research Materials: You must cite and engage with a minimum of 8 quality, relevant academic, i.e.) peer- reviewed, sources. Please note that the required course readings and slides, which you can freely cite, do not count as part of the above required sources.
• Title Page: Papers must have a title page that includes the student’s name and student number. *If you would like extensive and detailed feedback on your work, please note this clearly on your title page. If you do not make note of this on your title page you will not receive extensive and detailed feedback throughout your paper, but rather a paragraph summarizing the TA’s overall feedback.

Grading Criteria

The following criteria are used for the elements of your written assessments:

1. Clarity and Language: Accuracy and clarity of English language
2. Organization and Neatness: General organization in formatting as well as neatness in style. This includes using the APA referencing style and the word count. For all written assignments, APA referencing style must be followed. Click on the following links for more details on using APA style
3. Literature: Incorporation of relevant academic literature. The quality of the sources used is taken into account.
4. Concepts and Understanding: showing clear comprehension of the theoretical concepts and ideas.
5. Argumentation and Analysis: Sound, convincing, and logical argumentation and analysis as well as originality of case studies, examples, and/or perspectives.

For the written assignments, there is a 10% margin on the word limit (more or less words) that can give you some flexibility.
Please note that end of list references and all appendices as well as title pages are not included in the word count. In other words, the word count is only limited to the body of your text including in-text references, and there is also no need to include the following in your written assignments: abstract and running head.