a)    Students are required to write a paper on a topic related to the course from papers from any of the following Federal Reserve sites listed below.

Students visit one of the Federal Reserve Bank’s websites to obtain a paper.  The links are listed below:

http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/publication_annuals/index.html

http://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/publications/special-reports.cfm

http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/

http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/publications/economic_perspectives/index.cfm

http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/qr/

b) The Individual Analysis paper will be at least 3 pages long double-spaced.  Paper must be in APA format with a bibliography.

The first half of the paper should be concise and answer the following questions:

What is the primary issue/question/hypothesis the author wants to address?

Why is the question interesting?

What is the data source or method used to answer the paper’s question?

What is the basis for this research?

Is there any causal relationship?

c) The second half should be a critique of your first half. It may consider one or more of the following questions:

How is this paper related to topics discussed in this course (explain in detail do not just state the topic).

Based upon your understanding of this topic from the course- Are you convinced about findings?  What is the strongest/weakest aspect of the argument/evidence? What questions remain for you? What would be a good extension or elaboration of this work?