I - English Composition I Individual Project Unit:  Expository Essay Capstone

For this first Unit IP, you will create a journal entry that is due mid-week.

Reflecting back over the entire course, prepare a narrative essay journal entry that shares your perception of your writing composition experience. Support your writing with examples from the course assignments and course resources, including the use of intellipath.

Be sure to consider the following:

Discuss whether this course met, did not meet, or exceeded your expectations.

Share any unexpected outcomes or identified gaps.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your writing skills, and discuss how this or future courses might be adjusted to address or support them.

List any surprises that you experienced throughout the course.

Discuss the role that your classmates played in the growth of your writing skills.

Specifically, your journal narrative should address the following:

Represent your personal point of view

Offer chronological support for a well-defined thesis statement

Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and an end

Make a point and present a series of events in an organized manner

Your submission should be an example of reflective writing, at least 500 words, and double-spaced with 12-point font and 1" margins.

II - English Composition I - Expository Essay Capstone (750-1,200 words)

Specifically, you will bring together the writing techniques that you have learned throughout the course to compose an expository paper. Exposition is a type of discourse that is used to explain, describe, or inform. In an expository essay, the purpose is to give readers a balanced account of a subject with a neutral, objective tone (usually third-person point of view or voice) and offer the opportunity to incorporate a combination of writing techniques.

For this final assignment, you will complete the following:

Step 1: Using the thesis statement, outline, and essay that you developed in Unit 3, revise your content. Be sure to incorporate any instructor feedback and suggestions.

Step 2: Based on the instructor feedback that you received from Unit 4 (opposing view draft), revise your content.

Step 3: Integrate elements from Steps 1 and 2 to create an expository paper that reflects your knowledge of both perspectives of your topic question. You will write a balanced account of your chosen topic using an unemotive, neutral, and objective writing style (third-person voice). Be sure to include an updated introduction, an updated thesis statement, clear and logical transitions between supporting paragraphs (based on both sides of the topic question), supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.

Step 4: Your final submission should include the following elements:

Title page

Abstract

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Reference - American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Learning APA style. Retrieved from

http://www.apastyle.org/learn/index.aspx

Content

Demonstrates mastery of rhetorical mode and uses it to deliver appropriate, detailed, and pertinent content structured in a logical pattern. Mastery of thesis statement, supporting topics, and expository essay writing skills.

Critical Thinking

Demonstrates critical analysis of topic with the use of relevant, insightful, and logical sub-points.

Format and Presentation

Follows APA 6th edition format and presentation requirements as listed for the assignment. Demonstrates effective college-level syntax, word choice, correct grammar, and mechanics.

III - Introduction to Philosophy: Fate or Free Will?

2-3 pages of content, not including title page or reference page In a researched essay:

Consider a work situation or a social situation in which you believe that your right and ability to make a decision from free will was compromised by obstacles or rules or societal norms.

Answer the following questions:

Why do you think that free will was compromised?

What led you to make the decisions and take the actions that you took?

How did you resolve the differences between what you really wanted to do in the situation, and what the restrictions, rules, or societal conventions "told" you to do?

How should people, in general, react to conflicting feelings about the actions to take in given situations?

Should they follow the rules, or should they be free to pursue what they believe to be right, regardless of the rules?

Base your discussion and argument on what you have learned about free will, determinism, and other philosophical concepts. Use outside resources, from your reading materials, the library or elsewhere, to complete the assignment.

Use the APA document format to construct your paper, and be sure to follow guidelines for research citations and reference formatting.

IV - Introduction to Philosophy

Individual Project Unit: What is Morality?

Read the following article by Jay Feldman: Tuesday Dialogue: How Corporations Behave

Considering the article, write an APA-formatted paper of 4-5 pages that addresses the following:

Part 1: Developing the Philosophical Thesis Statement

Alfred North Whitehead's statement: "What is morality in any given time and place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like and immorality is what they dislike" is a very controversial statement. Think about this statement as you consider the following questions as a guide to help your formulate a thesis statement.

Select 1 of the following questions to answer and develop your thesis statement:

Businesses can have ethical standards, but businesses are not moral agents. Do you agree or disagree?

Is it true that the "bottom line" of business is profit and profit alone?

In business, are there other less tangible goals that are intrinsic to and just as important as making money?

In a business environment, why should people be moral as individuals?

Why should a corporation or organization be moral?

Could you apply the first formulation of Kant's categorical imperative to a business environment?

Part 2: Developing the Essay

Identify your thesis statement (argument claim) within the introduction of your paper.

Conduct research using library resources.

Outline your essay, considering deontological ethics, teleological ethics, moral objectivism, and ethical relativism in your argument.

Provide at least 3 valid reasons to support your argument.

Also, be sure to include the following in your APA formatted essay:

Use of explanations of philosophical concepts such as utilitarianism, categorical imperatives, process philosophy, moral relativism, moral absolutism, ethical relativism, moral objectivism, deontological ethics, or teleological ethics to structure your essay and provide evidence to support your claims.

Your argument and reasons (claims) should be defended by philosophical concepts supported by evidence, which is based on your research. Please use the APA library to begin your research.

Part 3: Conclusion

Consider morality and ethics from the perspective of Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and Immanuel Kant's universal categorical imperative. After conducting your research and writing your essay, could you conclude that businesses can have ethical standards, despite the fact that businesses are not moral agents? Why or why not? Please explain summing up your argument.

Part 4: Review Checklist before submitting essay

Your essay should be checked for proper use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

You may find that you change your mind on the issue as you are writing your paper. That is fine, but be sure to present your ultimate decision at the beginning of the paper, and stick to it consistently throughout. This may require that you go back and change paragraphs to support your changed thesis statement.

Your argument should be clear, concise, and supported with logically valid claims and evidence followed by APA in-text citations.

A reference page documenting your sources should be included.