Your research paper assignment this term is to write a 3-4 page paper (excluding title and resoure pages) on an individual or business entity that committed a serious ethical violation that resulted in either civil lawsuits or criminal charges. It can be on any incident that interests you, whether it is something you have studied in the past or heard about on the news. Examples could include incidents of fraud, embezzelment, insider trading, tax evasion, sexual harassment, selling of personal identifying or health information by large companies, consumer protection violations, trademark/copyright infringement, negligent allowance of data breaches, market manipulation that led up to the 2008-2009 financial crises, conflicts of interest, etc. If you have no idea what to write about, I would suggest starting with a broad Google search on different topics that interest you, start reading various articles and narrowing down your topic down from there. Please feel free to discuss your topic with me at any point and I am happy to give you guidance!
Your research paper should be genearlly organized in four sections:
(1) introduction and thesis statement (specifically, how incidents like the one(s) you are examining can be avoided in the future).
(2) accurately summarize and cite sources describing what happened in the particular incident;
(3) what civil lawsuits or criminal charges occurred as a result and what was the outcome; and
(4) what laws/resources/ethical theories you have learned in this class that could be used to avoid such a situation in the future (essentially examining your thesis statement).
Your research paper should comply with the following requirements:
Double-spaced
Times New Roman (size 12) font
One-inch margins all around
3-4 pages required (excluding title and resource pages).
A minimum of 5 cited, legitimate sources — Invetsigative journalism/editorials by major news networks, business journals, court cases, etc. (i.e. NOT wikipedia or OPINION pieces)!
Follow 7th Edition APA style for citation
here’s one source Cross & Miller, The Legal Environment of Business: Text & Cases (11th Ed
