All Ethics (BJ) courses:

Objective: Unless we actually focus on a specific action made by a particular person at a time and a place, and under certain circumstances, any discussion of Ethics, that is, of whether some act is right or wrong, is rather academic. [Here, the word academic means the type of sociable arguments people have over coffee without consulting or citing sources.] Therefore, we use a model a case the specifics of which are available to us.

Beginning this assignment:  Make sure you are very clear about the meaning of the words in the list of General Topics before choosing one of them.  To do this, look up the meaning of the ones that appeal to you in a textbook on the subject, or in an encyclopedia such as the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences -- an everyday dictionary will not be specific enough for your needs.
 

Don't forget to keep track of all sources including exact page where you found the material. See Using Card Method.

Use the Periodical Index, one of our subscription databases such as Ebsco Host or KIOSK and an Internet search engine such as Google to look up your topic. ( Try synonyms, too, eg. capital punishment =death penalty. See the red Subject Index volumes in the library for synonyms to help with this.)

When you locate a "story" that interests you, you will have to find out all details.  You will be summarizing them in such a way that we can reconstruct in our minds, for the purpose of ethical analysis, the events surrounding the situation.  We will identify a questionable action and, in a later assignment, look at the nature of that act.  (The first assignment will not include the analysis, though.)

Besides the 5 W's:  who, what, when, where and why, you may also need to know how, plus a bit of historical background, cultural context, and any mitigating circumstances [reasons/special circumstances/excuses,] too.  Some people may feel that the state of mind of the one acting will be relevant.  That is, whether they had any compunctions about doing the questionable action.

For any Case Study Assignment:
 

1. First, state an accurate definition of the topic:  Make sure you have the correct idea of what the subject means.  A general dictionary is only useful for general language-learning purposes, better go to the Social Science Encyclopedia, or some other specialized, authoritative source such as a textbook.

1. Second, it is always best, because we care more, when the case is from our own area or age and social group.  That is, about Canada and even better, youth in the Montreal area.

If there is a substantial amount of detail you will need to use the card method.  Don't forget all the citation information for the ID or Index card.  Remember, you must use MLA format.

You write this up as a paragraph or two, integrating all the details. Each fact is followed by its parenthetical citation or, if mainly from one source, integrate that information, too, in the text.

1. Third, some topics such as Capital Punishment or Anmal Rights, will require some background or historical context.   You can do an Internet Google Search to get some of this kind of detail.

1. Finally,  the main cognitive objective of this assignment is to isolate which action you think requires ethical examination or discussion.  This is just a word or two after the heading,  Action Under Consideration:.

On the next page [we never number the inside first page] put:
Definition: give your reference, please, as an in-text or parenthetical, citation, eg. (Nuland 235.) It is always a part of the sentence.

Case: a synopsis or summary including the necessary details.  You will add all the available relevant information in as much detail as possible, showing that you searched several places for the information (the W5s)  You need the EXACT place you found each of the details for the citations.Please keep it short, but include all relevant facts followed by the parenthetical citation.

Background:  where or if necessary

Action Under Consideration: state it clearly -- choose only one.  Eg.  killing the murderer.

Works Cited:  You must indicate the origin of every bit of information right where you use it in your text.  Besides that, you also put them at the end of the paper.  In this assignment only, if there is room, you can put them at the end after you cse paragraph.  This integrated alphabetical list is called Works Cited.  When on a third piece of paper, the page is not numbered.

• See a sample Works Cited page with examples of various types of sources.

An Example of a Case where the details are relevant but unknown.
For example, see how we learn all different things from this item: To prepare a case about the topic: Violence (unnecessary use of force?) I looked at the incident in San Diego where the guy stole a tank and drove it around wrecking vehicles and property.  His action is NOT being considered -- we know it's wrong.  I can choose the action of the police officer:
See Begging Dog Records, "Shawn Timothy Nelson's Tank Rampage" which is at url  http://beggingdogrecords.tripod.com/tank.html

The author of the site collected lots of sources, however he or she did not give the details such as page numbers, etc.  and would fail this assignment in my class.

Format: double-spaced, Times New Roman size 12 font, no graphics, white paper, no extra covers, stapled to left. See cover sample, etc.

For the very first case study, you will not yet be doing any arguing of right or wrong -- just finding a case and identifying an action, and all in the correct (MLA) format.

Before submitting any assignment
If you know your English is weak, ask a native-speaker to check it with you.
(You could reciprocate with help in another area).
Edit it with a pencil at the last minute just in case you missed an error.
Hand it in on time, in person.
Ask for permission if you are going to be late and know the penalty.
 

USE YOUR BROWSER'S BACK BUTTON TO RETURN or use the links here below.
 

Assignment menu

BJ general topics.html

blue Office

Format