As part of the course requirements, you will be required to write a position paper.

You must select your own topic for the position paper.  The only requirements are that it must be a persuasive paper, and that it has to discuss how a law or laws influence the conduct of businesses.  While this is a very broad mandate, you should choose carefully so that you will have enough sources to back up the position that you take.  I will provide you with some examples of paper topics, but you should be creative and think of your own if possible.  Sample topics may be:

a) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act unfairly penalizes innocent consumers of commercial music.

b) How does the Americans with Disabilities Act impact businesses?

c) How does Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 impact federal contractors?

d) Congress should act immediately to protect the environment from dangers posed by global warming.

e) The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act disadvantages American companies operating overseas.

f)  Tort reform should be undertaken in all states to lower the costs of liability to companies.

g) Has the 1964 Civil Rights Act gone far enough to protect women and minorities from harassment?

Again, choose your topic carefully, and craft your position statement, with great care.  Browse through the textbook to come up with ideas on what topics you might concentrate on, or talk to your friends or family members who may have been affected by a particular business law issue.   The best paper topics are on a subject matter that is of interest to you and demonstrates intellectual curiosity about why/what/how something in the business world works.

At this point in your college career, I assume you know what plagiarism is, and when you should cite or paraphrase, and when you should not.  See http://libguides.udayton.edu/avoidplagiarism for a refresher.  You will be required to turn your papers in to Turnitin, an online document source analysis service that UD subscribes to.  This service will give me an "originality report" after electronically analyzing your paper and will flag potential instances of plagiarism.

Organize, organize, organize ... Use section headings and titles where appropriate.  Your thesis statement should appear somewhere in your introductory paragraph, and should not only introduce the reader to your topic, but also provide a "roadmap" to your arguments that tracks your outline.

Outline, outline, outline ...  You will find writing this paper a lot easier if you outline before you begin writing.  As you conduct your research and formulate your thinking, start to draw out broad themes in what you find, and separate your research by these broad themes.  Use these themes, and any sub-themes that emerge, as the basis for an outline of your paper.  Then use the outline as your roadmap for the thesis statement.

Analysis matters ...  While it's important to bolster your arguments with the results of your research, it's also critical that you provide your own analysis of the problem. Your writing should reflect a level of critical thinking and analysis that is appropriate for college-level work.

Your paper should not exceed 5 pages and should be typed in Microsoft Word, Arial 11 font, double spaced, with 1'' margins.  Paraphrased material should not generally exceed 5 lines.

The syllabus contains your due date.  Papers must be turned in electronically to Isidore by the due date and time.  Late papers are penalized 10% for every 24 hours they are late.

On the last page of your paper, you must type: "On my honor, I have neither received nor given unauthorized assistance in any manner on this paper."

Hints and Tips on MGT 201 Persuasive Papers:

Your position statements will drive your paper.  Spend time to craft your statement carefully, as it will make the writing process easier.

Remember that there are two phases in this paper.  The first is research, to describe a landscape of the current legislation and case law surrounding your topic.  The second phase is to persuade the reader about your point of view.  This requires you to develop independent and original ideas on why your view is superior and should be believed over the competing view.

Feel free to use section headings and bullet points to organize your paper.  Most students make the mistake of not organizing their papers which makes it difficult to read and grade your papers.

Avoid passive voice and excess verbiage.  It is very easy to transform passive voice into active voice, and proofreading is usually sufficient to cull excess words.  While you're at it, pay attention to paragraphing.  If you find any single page with only one paragraph, it's too long.