Each week of this course, you have read about and analyzed real-world situations
where the characters must make choices based on their knowledge, morality, cultural
ethics, and job requirements.
This research paper gives you the chance to write
a professional-level paper meant to analyze and persuade others on a topic related
to your field of study. The issue you choose may be for the general public, or
it might be for someone in your field; perhaps about a situation that could occur
in your line of work. You'll use academic sources to provide historical context
and point to social significance; legal and professional sources to identify laws
and regulations; and analysis of workable ethical theories to support your opinions.
The final document will look professional to aid reading and publishing.
The goal of this 2000-word paper is to research, write, and present a persuasive paper
analyzing a moral issue in your
field of study that is related to information technology.
Submitting the paper
Submit the paper in Canvas no later than 5:00pm on Wednesday, August 10, 2016.
You MAY submit early if you want it scored early.
The instructor and grader will score your paper in TurnItIn.
We will not score it twice, so be sure it is ready before submitting the corrected final draft.
If your paper uses plagiarism and poor grammar, fix it before the deadline and
resubmit a clean final draft.
View grade comments/scores as early as Friday of Week 10 and through the weekend.
Click back into the screen where you submitted the project to view the
Originality Report, GradeMark Grammer and
GradeMark Rubric/score.
The goal of this paper is to...
Research, write, and present a persuasive paper analyzing a moral issue in your field of study that is related to information technology.
Write at least 2000 words.
During the research and writing of this paper, students will:
Evaluate and infer benefits and risks of a current information technology related to your field of study.
Analyze a moral problem related to information technology from the point of view of consequentialist ethical theories.
Create a professional-level paper.
Structure the paper using this outline.
This phrase of the project is worth 3 points.
Use the following outline to create your Persuasive Paper.
Save either the Google Docs .rtf or Microsoft Word .docx template to your hard drive
and write it in help you get started. This outline follows the required format.
Approved Title
author
date
Introduction and thesis statement/question/the problem to solve
Historical context research and definition of terms
Argument 1: [Sentence that makes a specific arguable statement.]
Supporting laws, events, and current research with citations
Workable Consequentialist Theory(s) with definition and citation
Argument 2: [Sentence that makes a specific arguable statement.]
Supporting laws, events, and current research with citations
Workable Consequentialist Theory(s) with definition and citation
Argument 3: [Sentence that makes a specific arguable statement.]
Supporting laws, events, and current research with citations
Workable Consequentialist Theory(s) with definition and citation
Counter Arguments: [Sentence that makes a specific arguable statement.]
Supporting laws, events, and current research with citations which are the opposite ideas of what you are advocating in
the main arguments.
Workable Consequentialist Theory(s) with definition and citation
Rebuttal to counter arguments
Supporting laws, events, and current research with citations
Conclusion
Thesis summary
Arguments summary
Consequences
Bibliography
In the Introduction section restate the problem and your position in a longer thesis statement.
For each of the four arguments in the outline, write declarative statements
that support your thesis. Leave notes in the bulleted areas about sources you found that support the argument.
Cite those sources with (author year) inline citations and place bibliographic information in the bibliography section.
Refer to the next two tabs for more detail and review the example outline provided in Canvas.
Submit the outline in Canvas
Save the outline as a .PDF file and upload it into the Outline assignment screen in Canvas.
A few days later, look at the instructor's feedback in the Gradebook. If your outline needs work,
the Gradebook will show less than 3 points. Submit a revision as per the feedback, until you earn 3 points.
State the problem and your position related to an ethical/moral argument.
This phase of the project is worth 2 points.
For the Title, write a declarative statement that can be argued.
In other words, it must be a complete sentence that declares your position on a moral issue.
It also must note the problem associated with the issue to be argued.
And the topic must be relevant to Information Technology/Computer Science subjects
within your chosen career.
The thesis is a more detailed version of the title.
Example Titles
Accidental release of private user data [the problem] should be [author's position] prosecuted by the Federal government.
Robots should [author's position]
replace workers in menial jobs
to improve __, __ and __ [the problem].
Submit the title in Canvas
Copy your title and paste it into the Assignment screen.
A few days later, look at the instructor's feedback in the Gradebook. If your title needs work,
the Gradebook will show less than 2 points. Submit a revision as per the feedback, until you earn 2 points.
Definitions & History
This part of the paper is worth 3 points. It includes:
Definition of terms related to the technology you are for or against.
Histsorical context. When did it start and how has it evolved?
Cite terms and historical details.
Research 3 supporting arguments
and at least 1 counter argument.
These sections of the paper are worth 10 points each.
7 points per argument are reserved for research.
3 points per argument are reserved for discussion of workable consequentialist theories.
Counter arguments are the opposite ideas of what you are advocating in
the main arguments.
Include a rebuttal and conclusion for 5 points. The rebuttal typically refutes or outweighs the counter arguments.
Prove your case with the following kinds of examples:
Relevant local, state, national, and international laws
Legal cases
Current events
Work of oversight organizations
Statistics
If you mention a number or numerically derived adverb, it must reference the study that made the claim.
Define, cite, and discuss one or more of the workable consequentialist theories.
The workable theories include: Act and Rule Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Social Contract, and Virtue Ethics.
Include only these workable theories (as per chapter 2; we weeded out other theories).
Define the theories and cite original sources for those definitions (see Chapter 2's bibliography).
Do NOT use examples or quotes from the textbook. Use original sources.
Do NOT cite Wikipedia. Read Ten Reasons.....
Use original sources listed on Wikipedia topic pages (usually at the bottom).
Professional Formatting
This component of the paper is worth 10 points. Format the paper to reduce eye fatigue and demonstrate professional presentation skills.
Write with a formal tone.
Write for a global audience not just US citizens. For example, instead of saying " we" state which group/state/country/culture you are writing about.
Do not write in first person.
Because this is a research paper, personal anecdotes are not recommended.
Grammar and spelling are accurate.
Text must be your original writing except for a few key quotes.
Read Appendix A: Plagiarism in Ethics for the Information Age by Quinn
to ensure you do not plagiarize. Page 487.
Submit your final draft to TurnItIn to review it for plagiarism and grammar. If you have
need to make changes, do it before the deadline and submit the final draft.
Whichever draft is provided in TurnItIn by the deadline is the one that will get scored.
Adhere to standards.
Use bold sub-headlines to separate each major section of the paper (as per the required outline.
sub-headlines should state the argument and be numbered.
Double-space or 1.5-space the lines of text; single is too hard to read hour after hour.
This ,
not this
Left-justify the text. Centered, right, and force-justified papers are much harder to read.
Use one of these fonts to reduce eye fatigue: Open Sans, Ubuntu, Roboto Slab.
In-line reference citations must follow the parenthetical format: (author year)
In-line references must use embedded hyperlinks like this: (author year)
Example hyperlink
Corinne A Moss-Racusin (et el) noted recently that hiring practices are not equal.
(Moss-Racusin, et el 2012)
While superscript numbers and [#] are a common standard, they are hard to read and click
on. Do not use them for this paper!
The in-line references must correlate with the bibliographic citations.
Bibliography must follow
MLA,
APA,
IEEE,
or other college-preferred standard.
Link to Journal Articles like this: />
Save the file in PDF format.
If your word processor does not print to a .PDF file, then you can use some of these resources:
Free online PDF generator: PDF Online.
(Does not always keep hyperlink ability.)
Submit your draft to TurnItIn inside Canvas to review it for plagiarism.
Note that if you submit more than one draft, the final draft will reference the others. This is OK; do not worry about it.
Correct only places where you copied other people's writing.
Peer Review Instructions
Upload a draft of your paper (PDF format) into a new thread in the appropriate Canvas forum.
Title the thread the same as your paper's title.
Note what degree you are working towards and/or future field of employment.
Review one other person's paper* using the Scoring Criteria list.
Include a 400-word written evaluation.
Ask at least 3 questions related to the topic.
Answer the 3 questions left by your peer scorer in a Reply thread.
If no one reviewed your paper, use the People link at the left to solicit help
from students that perhaps got a late start and didn't finish on time.
* Note that you might have to save the student's .PDF file
to your hard drive and view with Adobe Acrobat Reader. In some cases, the .PDF file
loads in the browser without downloading to the hard drive.
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not this 
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