CMSC 304 Final Paper Guidelines

The final paper will be a deeper ethical analysis of a broad issue. Students may work individually or in pairs (groups of 2).

Paper Content

For the ethical analysis choice, you will select a topic (e.g., one from the list we went through on the second day of class), identify the issues or ethical questions in this area, and analyze the ethical, social, economic, and/or legal aspects of these issues. You should identify at least one ethical question identified to which you apply the 11 steps of our ethical analysis framework, analyzing possible policies, identifying stakeholders and consequences, and drawing and supporting a conclusion. Since this is an extended analysis, you should go beyond that simple framework in two ways.

First, you should look at the issues from multiple angles (for example, if you were to write an extended analysis of cryptocurrency, you might analyze the policies and issues from three perspectives: those of the crypto miners, ransomware victims, and policymakers).

Second, you should also include at least two specific cases or incidents. For example, if you if you chose bias in AI, you might consider the cases of Timnit Gebru, the Optum health care algorithm, and Amazon’s hiring algorithm, discussing the ethical issues and how they have been interpreted in different contexts.

Format

Length: The target length for the final paper is approximately 4000-5000 words (roughly 8-10 pages) in single-spaced, 11- or 12-point Times. Please do not exceed 6000 words.

References: You should reference at least five substantive sources that you consulted when researching your topic area. These may be books, academic papers, articles, news sources, or any other reasonable source of information. While you may refer to "informal" sources such TED Talks, please use good judgment when selecting sources. Do not include non-reviewed, non-edited, or junk sources like quora, answers.yahoo.com, clearly unfiltered/stream-of-consciousness blogs, or obviously promotional/commercial websites. If you have doubts about a source, feel free to ask me. Please use MLA or APA citation style.

Organization: Since this is a fairly long paper, it should be organized into sections the way that a scientific paper or longer magazine article would be, with section titles (and subsections if appropriate) that help the reader to follow the flow of the paper and identify the main sections.

Topic Statement

The topic statement is a short summary of your intended topic area. Please include: The topic paragraph is meant to be a single paragraph, but you are free to write more if the muse inspires you. The topic statement should be turned in as a Word or PDF document via Blackboard. If you are working in a pair, please make sure both names are on the topic statement you turn in, and only turn in one copy.

Rough Draft

We will be doing an in-class paper writing workshop, in which you bring a rough draft of your paper to class as a Google or Overleaf doc. Group members will take turns looking over each others' drafts and offering suggestions and possible improvements. At the end of the class, the improved version of your rough draft will be submitted to Blackboard as a PDF.

The more complete your paper is, the more this exercise will help you. However, at an absolute minimum, please ensure that your rough draft includes:

Academic Integrity

This should go without saying, but the paper itself, the draft, the topic statement, and anything else you turn in along the way must adhere to the class academic honesty policy. All writing that you submit should be your own, other than clearly delineated quotes with proper references. All authors are responsible for the integrity of the finished paper.