a. Identify a moral issue à It will help you immensely if you use your group presentation topic as the moral issue of your ePortfolio paper. This way you only need to do one research project. You can, however, choose a separate topic. NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS CONTROVERSIAL IS A MORAL ISSUE—you must have your topic approved by me before you begin.
b. Determine how this issue affects multiple cultural communities à I am willing to entertain that you may decide to identify these communities along whatever demarcations work best for your existing knowledge, areas of interest, and ease of analysis.
c. Identify the ways this moral issue has had a global impact à Again, I am willing to let you decide what constitutes a global “impact,” however, you must determine these within the scope of the affects on the communities identified in (b) above. You must identify at least two ways this issue impacts these communities. You ought to consider an impact a way in which the moral issue creates additional complications for those communities.
d. Research à Research is more than just doing google searches although starting with a few google searches will help Being by identifying several “key terms” and use them to whittle down your research scope. Scroll through news articles that contain your search terms, watch news clips that discuss your issue, find sources that provide analysis from the perspective of the communities you are analyzing. You must use a minimum of five (5) sources for your essay and you must quote from those sources a minimum of two (2) times each in your essay – that means there should be at leastten (10) citations in your written work. Of your five (5) required sources at least three (3) must be from reputable print sources and all web sources must be equally reputable. Avoid blogs, tweets, tiktoks, personal web pages (unless it is a reliable source). If you are unsure about the quality of a source ask me, another professor, or a librarian for assistance. You will likely need to do research to clearly identify how you want to complete (b) and (c) above.
e. Outline BEFORE you write à Your essay should include sections that clearly focus on and address the requirements of the essay as given. It is much easier to write an essay if you have a “roadmap” to follow. So, a basic outline should look something like this:
1) Introduction – briefly identify your issue, why it is a moral issue, how you are going to evaluate it – identify the two moral theories you are going to use, explain why it matters to current socio-political discourse. (150 – 200 words)
2) Main Idea – explain the moral issue in depth, provide explanations of *both sides* of the issue – apply analysis from your two theories here. What communities are affected? How does this issue have a global reach? (550 – 800 words)
3) Sub-Main Idea – How does this issue “impact” the global community? Remember to extend your analysis here of the main issue to demonstrate how it compounds problems in other areas in moral ways. (150 – 300 words)
4) Sub-Main Idea – What is a likely response to the issue? Why is that response a good moral critique of or position to take on the issue. You need to defend your position here so be sure to provide solid evidence in support of your claims. It is important that you are developing “your claims” and not merely parroting what other people are saying (300 – 500 words)
5) Conclusion – Sum up your position succinctly. However, you should also indicate problems with your proposed solution, areas where additional research may be needed, what might affect your judgement of the issue, etc. DO NOT SIMPLY RESTATE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ALREADY SAID.
f. Write à Your essay should be type-written, 12 pt Times New Roman font, double spaced, appropriately formatted (standard settings in Word), and your citations should follow the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style (available free online)
