Summer1 2014 Ethics Course Assignments

Return to Ethics Online Summer 2014

Required and Optional Assignments

• Final Paper: Critical Inventory or Critical Analysis (20-35%)
• Online Chat Transcripts (formal) (25 - 30%)
• Open Book Final Exam (formal) (25 - 35%)

You may also include informal assignments in your grading scheme.

• Journal Entries (10-20%)

Critical Inventory (formal)

• A 4 page paper in which you select both important, true, false, or unhelpful theories or views from the course. The purpose of the paper to be anything from an "inventory" of best and worst ideas (and why they are that) to a brief statement of your own approach (your own inventory) of beliefs about ethics and our obligations after studying ethics.

• This assignment is optional for this course, but you must either choose this paper assignment or the Critical Analysis Paper. Weight range: 20%-30% for 4 pages; 35% for 6-7 pages

• I've added this audio [1]to help elaborate on the assignments.

Critical Analysis

• A 4 page paper giving a reconstruction and philosophical analysis of some theoretical or applied issue related to the course. There is a topic list on the wiki, but you may suggest a topic of your own. Students often research issues very current in the news (still, at this point, drone warfare, immigration, gender issues). There are also theoretical topics for this assignment.

• This assignment is optional for this course, but you must either choose this paper assignment or the Critical Inventory Paper. Weight range: 20%-30% for 4 pages; 35% for 6-7 pages

• I've added this audio [2]to help elaborate on the assignments.

Journal Writing

• Journal entries of 2-3 pages each reflecting on course content or topics related to the course. Entries are normally submitted by email one at a time. Journals must be completed by the beginning of the last week of the term.

• This is an optional assignment. Weight: 3 entries: 10% or 6 entries: 20%