Ethics Response Papers

Response Papers

The purpose of the response papers is to give you a forum throughout the semester to develop and express your own ideas in relation to the course material. The only requirements are:

1. Your essay must make significant and direct contact with at least one specific idea or passage from one of the readings since the last response paper was due.

2. Your essay must make a single point: explain and support a particular claim.

Some of the possibilities include:

Explore an assumption behind an author’s view.
Present an objection to one of an author’s claims.
Provide further or different support for one of an author’s claims.
Explore the connections between two different aspects of an author’s view.
Relate one author’s ideas to another author, either that we read or that you’ve read in another context.
Expand on or respond to a point made in class about an author’s view.
Apply one of the author’s views to your research topic.
Apply one of the author’s views to some other concrete ethical issue.

These are only suggestions; any other topic is fine, as long as it satisfies the two requirements listed above.

Length: There is an absolute maximum length of 650 words.
* Longer papers will not be accepted for credit!

Due: You can hand in your response paper anytime up to the beginning of class on the due date.
If you hand in a paper outside of our class meetings, you should leave it in my mailbox in the main Maxey office. Do not leave your paper outside of my office or under my office door.
* Late papers will not be accepted unless the Powers That Be verify that you’ve been unable to work for several days. Procrastinate at your own risk!

Format:
- Your essay should be typed, using 12-point Times New Roman or a similar font.
- In the upper left-hand corner, single-spaced, you should list your name, the course number, and the date.
- The body of your paper should be double-spaced.
- At the end of your essay, you should include a word-count.
- If possible, please print on both sides of the paper.
- Multiple pages must be stapled together.

Citation (very important!): If you use someone else’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks, and you must give proper acknowledgment. You must also acknowledge any specific passages or ideas that you paraphrase. For this assignment, informal citation is fine. After the end of the quote or paraphrase, include a brief parenthetical citation in the text. For outside sources, just include enough information for your reader to find the original source.

Grading: Individual response papers will be graded as follows:

Your paper expresses sophisticated insight into the text or issues, or draws unusual and profound connections between texts or ideas.

Your paper gives an adequate presentation of ideas that go beyond the text and our class discussion.

Your paper indicates some reflection on the material, but does not go far enough beyond a recap of the text itself or our class discussion, does not make adequate contact with the text, or is based on a serious misunderstanding of the text or issues.

Your paper does not constitute a serious attempt to fulfill the assignment: the substance and/or the mechanics of your paper fall far short of normal college-level work.

In calculating your overall grade, your lowest response paper grade will be dropped. You may skip one if you wish, but I recommend that you plan to complete them all: it is a good idea to have a cushion in case you don’t do as well as you’d like on one or need to miss one unexpectedly.

back to: [ syllabus ] [ ethics main page ]

Response Papers The purpose of the response papers is to give you a forum throughout the semester to develop and express your own ideas in relation to the course material. The only requirements are: 1. Your essay must make significant and direct contact with at least one specific idea or passage from one of the readings since the last response paper was due. 2. Your essay must make a single point: explain and support a particular claim. Some of the possibilities include: Explore an assumption behind an author’s view. Present an objection to one of an author’s claims. Provide further or different support for one of an author’s claims. Explore the connections between two different aspects of an author’s view. Relate one author’s ideas to another author, either that we read or that you’ve read in another context. Expand on or respond to a point made in class about an author’s view. Apply one of the author’s views to your research topic. Apply one of the author’s views to some other concrete ethical issue. These are only suggestions; any other topic is fine, as long as it satisfies the two requirements listed above. Length: There is an absolute maximum length of 650 words. * Longer papers will not be accepted for credit! Due: You can hand in your response paper anytime up to the beginning of class on the due date. If you hand in a paper outside of our class meetings, you should leave it in my mailbox in the main Maxey office. Do not leave your paper outside of my office or under my office door. * Late papers will not be accepted unless the Powers That Be verify that you’ve been unable to work for several days. Procrastinate at your own risk! Format: - Your essay should be typed, using 12-point Times New Roman or a similar font. - In the upper left-hand corner, single-spaced, you should list your name, the course number, and the date. - The body of your paper should be double-spaced. - At the end of your essay, you should include a word-count. - If possible, please print on both sides of the paper. - Multiple pages must be stapled together. Citation (very important!): If you use someone else’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks, and you must give proper acknowledgment. You must also acknowledge any specific passages or ideas that you paraphrase. For this assignment, informal citation is fine. After the end of the quote or paraphrase, include a brief parenthetical citation in the text. For outside sources, just include enough information for your reader to find the original source. Grading: Individual response papers will be graded as follows:
A	Your paper expresses sophisticated insight into the text or issues, or draws unusual and profound connections between texts or ideas.
B	Your paper gives an adequate presentation of ideas that go beyond the text and our class discussion.
C	Your paper indicates some reflection on the material, but does not go far enough beyond a recap of the text itself or our class discussion, does not make adequate contact with the text, or is based on a serious misunderstanding of the text or issues.
F	Your paper does not constitute a serious attempt to fulfill the assignment: the substance and/or the mechanics of your paper fall far short of normal college-level work.
In calculating your overall grade, your lowest response paper grade will be dropped. You may skip one if you wish, but I recommend that you plan to complete them all: it is a good idea to have a cushion in case you don’t do as well as you’d like on one or need to miss one unexpectedly. back to: [ syllabus ] [ ethics main page ]