INTL401 Week Three Paper Format
– After reading “What Can Be Learned from the Past?” and “Soviet Deception in the Cuban Missile Crisis,” identify any cognitive shortfalls associated with individual or group perception, memory, analysis, or biases associated with “Operation Anadyr.”

General Requirements
1. Document Format.
a. MS Word document
b. One-inch (1″) margins
c. Times New Roman Font
d. Twelve (12) pitch
e. 3-4 pages, not including your title page and bibliography
2. Citation Format: The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). This includes your citations and your bibliography.
3. Graphics are not allowed.
4. As stated in the grading rubric, students must (1) employ imaginative approaches to answer the question being asked; (2) display an impressive command of the subject matter beyond the immediately obvious; (3) demonstrate a high level of critical thinking while reflecting on current and world views, and genuine intellectual development; and (4) excel in explaining all major points using multiple examples from the course readings or individual research.

This outline is intended to help your structure your paper. You should submit a paper in a narrative format that contains the following elements:

Title Page.

(a) Title of the paper: Perception, Bias, and the Cuban Missile Crisis

(b) Student Name

(c) Course Number: INTL 401

(d) Instructor Name

(e) The date the paper was completed

Section I: Introduction.

(a) Clearly state the purpose of your paper along with the approach you’ll be taking to answer the question. Briefly summarize the key events associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Summarize your introduction with a clear thesis statement.

Section II: Perceiving the build-up to and eventual crisis.

(a) From the course readings/presentations, identify two specific instances where US political or military personnel mistakenly perceived the build-up to the crisis, the Soviet’s ability to successfully place nuclear weapons in Cuba, and the Soviet’s response to the crisis. Analyze why the perception was believed to be correct and its impact on the crisis.

(b) From the course readings/presentations, identify two specific instances where US political or military personnel allowed a cognitive bias to influence their assessment/judgment in relation to the build-up to the crisis, the Soviet’s ability to successfully place nuclear weapons in Cuba, and the Soviet’s response to the crisis. Analyze how the bias occurred its impact on the crisis.

(c) Identify two missed indicators you think would’ve allowed the US to prevent the Soviets from placing weapons in Cuba. Assess why you think these indicators were missed and how they could’ve altered the conflict had they been collected, identified, and recognized as such.

Section III: Bibliography formatted in CMS. You must have a bibliography in addition to your citations.

(a) Contains all sources consulted and cited in preparing your paper.