FP210_13

As you turn to focus on your Final Paper, please remember that it is to be a research paper of  a topic - not a case study.  A general topic, for instance 'employee standards at work', should be narrowed down to a possible ethical issue that is presented in that area.  Let's say you want to look at the ethical issues that arise when religious freedom and/or personal autonomy conflicts with a corporation's employee standards.  The opposite could also be reviewed: when the religious standards incorporated into a corporation conflict with employee freedoms/autonomy. . . .  How ought those conflicts be resolved?  What dilemmas can arise within those conflicting values?  What insight do the ethical theories help us achieve as we consider what counts as "good" under those ethical theories?

Please do not fall back into turning this into a single case study, with a single story line and actual characters.  Your final project asks you to look at the topic and consider the possible ethical issues and dilemmas that can arise - not to look at a single example and find the ethical issue/dilemma. 

You may use examples, but your examples should illustrate your points - not be the point.  You should be writing about the conflict I described above, for example, rather than writing a study about Abercrombie & Fitch and the employee who wanted to wear a hijab to work, for religious reasons. 

You should also be going well beyond the single article from which you selected your initial topic.  The article merely suggests the topic - the article itself is not meant to be your topic, where you critique the article, for example, or just report on what the article said.

Your final paper gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think and analyze, ethically.  Remember what I've said about the reasons that count, ethically!  That means you must talk about the traditional ethical theories. Week 8 Instructor Notes goes into some additional detail, but this has been an area I have been emphasizing for the whole course.  If you do not talk about ethics, ethical values, issues, and ethical theories, you will not be doing ethical analysis.  If you're not doing ethical analysis, your final paper will not be a very good indication of your ability in that regard.