Report on a Federal Agency Custom Essay

First Paper Assignment, Due March 6, 2014
Administrative Law (POL 4323), Spring 2014

Your assignment is to write a report on a federal governmental agency of your choosing (e.g., Department of

Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, etc.). The report should do the following:
• Describe the overall purpose/mission of the agency
• Explain how and when it was established, and provide the name (e.g., Public Act 240 of 1972) of the

particular statute that created the agency
• Describe three major functions or activities of the agency
• Analyze each of the three functions or activities of the agency in terms of a different topic from the

course syllabus (e.g., one function analyzed with reference to Due Process, another function analyzed with

reference to Agency Rulemaking, and the third function analyzed with reference to Agency Accessibility and

Openness). Each of the three analyses has to include two specific references to the chapter of the course

textbook that corresponds to the syllabus topic (e.g., two references to Chapter 4 [Due Process], two

references to Chapter 6 [Agency Rulemaking], and two references to Chapter 10 [Agency Openness and

Accountability]). Your analysis should incorporate, and make connections to, the textbook references you cite;

how well that is done will be an important part of the grade for the paper.
Your answer should be 3-4 pages in length (not counting the title page), double-spaced with 12 point font and

one inch margins. Quotations should be kept brief; no quotation should be longer than 2 lines. Citations to

the textbook can be informal: e.g, “(Hall, 253).” When referencing the agency’s website, provide the link to

the information you are citing.
Begin the essay with a title page on which you put your name. Start your essay on page 2, and do not put your

name on any other page except the title page.

Introduction. Welcome to the study of Administrative Law. This course examines the legal principles and

procedures that govern the operations of public agencies. The course also examines aspects of the political

environment and constraints that affect public administrators and agencies.
Textbook. The textbook for this course is Administrative Law: Bureaucracy in a Democracy, fifth edition

(Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2012), by Daniel Hall.