| CMSC 122 | |
Term Paper
Due Wednesday, 11/15 at the beginning of class
The topic of the paper will be "Ethical Use of the World Wide Web". Note that we are talking about just the Web, not the entire internet. How you approach this assignment is largely up to you. You may choose to discuss issues facing any combination of the following groups of people: those posting information on the web, those who control access to web content, those who run search engines, as well as those merely using information found on the web. You may discuss whichever facets of ethics you choose; you may choose to discuss issues related to privacy, censorship, freedom of speech, search engine biases, intellectual property, etc.
This is a research paper -- we are not asking for your opinions, but we are expecting your critical evaluation of the resources you find. You are expected to find a wide variety of resources (not just obvious ones), and your resources should span numerous perspectives and points of view. For example: legal experts, social scientists, psychologists, and scientific researchers might all discuss this topic with different goals, assumptions, and opinions. Your analysis should evaluate the credibility of your sources, and discuss common assumptions, complexities of the issues, and any ambiguities that surround these issues.
Your grade on the assignment will depend on the quality and variety of resources you have obtained, as well as the quality of your evaluation of the information you have found.
Your paper must be 4 to 8 full pages in length. The length requirement only counts actual lines of text -- headings, spacing between sections, images, diagrams, or pictures do not count toward the length requirement, so you should really be submitting more than 4 pages. The length requirement also does not include your citation list (resource list), nor does it include your cover page, just the actual textual content of the paper, itself.
You must format the paper as follows:
As with any research paper, you are expected to fully cite sources you are using. This means that any quote or idea that is presented in your paper but was taken from someone else's work must be cited. The "In-Text Citation" must immediately follow the passage in question, and will refer to a reference that you have listed in the "Citations List" section at the end of your paper.
There are many acceptible styles for citing sources, including MLA, APA, etc. We don't care which style you use, but be sure to cite EVERYTHING that you have taken from another source. Please see this webpage for a detailed description of the MLA citation style, which we recommend. (The menu at the left offers various categories of useful information.)
We expect to see numerous citations throughout your paper taken from a list of several references. You will be penalized if your paper does not include enough citations, and you will be penalized if you have not used a sufficient number of resources, and if your resources do not span a variety of different perspectives on this topic.
Since we are expecting you to do much of your research online, many of your references will be web pages. Suppose you found some information on a webpage titled "A Brief History of Piracy" located on the website RoyalNavalMuseum.org. Here is how an "Intext Citation" might appear in your paper:
Piracy began in Ancient Greece more than 2000 years ago. (RoyalNavalMuseum.org)
At the end of the paper, the "Citations List" would include more information about this source:
"A Brief History of Piracy." RoyalNavalMuseum.org, 2002. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.
In the above reference, the date 2002 is the date listed on the webpage. The date March 27, 2012 was the date when you viewed the page. (This is important since webpages are updated frequently.) There are many variations on this theme. If in doubt, you can also include the full URL. Please see the official MLA style guide for further information. This webpage may be of use.
Please print out your paper and bring it to class with you on Wednesday 11/15. We will not accept email submissions of this assignment under any circumstances; you must print the paper out and bring it to class. The paper is due at the beginning of the lecture. Late papers will be accepted up to 48 hours after the due date, but they will be assessed a 20 point penalty (out of 100 points total). No papers will be accepted under any circumstances after class on Friday 11/17.
Please make sure you read the academic integrity section of the syllabus so you understand what is permissible in our assignments. We want to remind you that we check your assignment against other students' assignments and any case of academic dishonesty will be referred to the University's Office of Student Conduct.