ETHICS IN A DIGITAL AGE
Final Project
OVERVIEW
For the final project, you will conduct scholarly research on ethical issues related to a new or emerging technology. You will apply theoretical frameworks that have been discussed in class to the ethical issues raised in order to develop a policy proposal for addressing related ethical concerns. The final project is broken up into five different parts, which will be completed at various points throughout the semester. They are explained below. See the Course Calendar for dates.
INSTRUCTIONS
Final Project, Annotated Bibliography
Use EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Premier database (accessible through the Edison portal under My Resources > Educational) to search for articles on ethical issues raised by the new or emerging technology that you selected in Part 1. Locate at least four scholarly sources to support your analysis. Develop an annotated bibliography, providing a 150-word summary (main points and ethical issues), assessment (reliability, bias, and goal of each reference), and reflection (Was the resource helpful? How will it support your research study? Did your thinking change after reading the resource?) for each source. You may use either APA or MLA format for your references. See the Purdue OWL website for information on developing an annotated bibliography.
Final Project, Policy Paper
Building on the research you conducted for the annotated bibliography, write a paper of 1000 to 1200 words discussing the ethical issues related to your selected technology that are occurring now or will likely occur in the future. Make sure to include relevant findings from the scholarly sources you used in Part 2 and any other sources you wish to use. You must use at least four relevant sources to support your paper. Consider how the legal issues (freedom of expression, copyright, right to privacy, etc.) we have been discussing relate to your selected technology.
Using one or more of the ethical frameworks (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, social justice and social contract theory), propose a policy for addressing the ethical issues related to the new or emerging technology.
Final Project,: Presentation
Develop an 8- to 10-minute presentation that provides an overview of your policy paper and discusses its main points, including an overview of your proposed policy. Feel free to get creative with the format of your presentation. You could make a video of yourself presenting the paper in a conference-like format, record the presentation in the style of a TED Talk, or narrate over PowerPoint slides. For instructions on how to record and upload your presentation, review the Kaltura Capture section in the following document: Using Video Tools in Moodle.
Part 4 will be worth 12% of your final grade in the course. You can view the grading rubric for Part 4 in the Evaluation Rubrics folder.
WRITING AND RESEARCH RESOURCES
The following links provide online writing and research aids to help you with your paper assignments.
- OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University
- Writer’s Handbook, the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
- APA Guidelines
- Information Literacy for TESU Students (an online guide from the New Jersey State Library to assist you in starting your research, searching databases for articles, citing sources, using ILLiad to request books or articles, etc.)
RESEARCH-TOPIC-ETHICS-EMMANUEL-M–1–docx
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MLA
198 words