JUSTICE SANDEL VIDEOS
Mini Research Paper
http://justiceharvard.org/justicecourse/
This Mini Research Paper involves writing an in‐depth study, survey, and/or evaluation of one or more topics .
A research paper examines the use of specific evidence in one or more application areas. A research paper must relate to one or more of the topics discussed in class (or in this case, a video), but must not be simply a summary of the material covered in the video. The goal of such a "research project" is to go beyond class material, video, etc.; examining the topics in a much more in‐depth
manner. Students are required to select any FOUR lectures (excluding Episode # 1 and 2) and
links for videos
Episode #3
Episode #4
Episode #5
Episode #6
include:
Pages 2-3: YOU ARE A NEWSPAPER REPORTER/AUTHOR/JOURNALIST: write a well-constructed essay (minimum 100 words) of the student’s understanding by writing the essential theme of the Episode (Lecture); by extracting (summarizing) elements, lecture/students’ conversations, and integrating into a well thought out essay. These pages’ submission is the student’s own writing without reliance on outside sources.
Following pages (2-3):
1. Research the philosophical position(s) discussed in the video and briefly discuss them;
2. What is your personal opinion? Why? What are your arguments and basis for your position? Cite all research, e.g., books, journals, that led you to this opinion. Footnotes/Endnotes are required. The paper must contain at least three (3) sources per EPISODE (LECTURE).
3. Do you believe that factors such as gender, age, religion, birthplace, community will generate differing positions; or regardless of variables, there will a majority of people that will agree with your opinion.
4. Does a decision have to always be YES/NO, TRUE/FALSE? Can there be an effective compromise that everyone will be more comfortable with?
Thus: each video is approximately 4-6 pages; total amount for all FOUR VIDEOS is 16-24 pages.
The evaluation of the papers will be based on thoroughness (including adequate coverage of relevant issues/techniques as well as references to the related work), soundness (including justification for any claims made, illustrative example, correct and adequate analysis of connections or relationships among concepts or techniques), clarity/organization, and significance (defined by the degree to which the paper covers new material, and the extent of the original work by the author in drawing conclusions;
and synthesizing scholarly work in this area). Note that the paper must not simply be a concatenation of material from several other papers, but must include some original analysis of that work in the context of the paper topic.
• The suggested length for this mini research paper is 15-20 for the entire 4 videos; single‐spaced pages; font size of 11.
• Please follow the APA Writing Style for your research paper.
When citing information from your textbook, websites, and any source besides yourself, use in‐text/parenthetical citation and include a References Cited section; FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES MUST BE INCLUDED. Paper submissions will randomly be subjected via TurnitIN or other softwares for plagiarism. Please draw the references from scholarly, academic or professional journals. Citing resources like Wikipedia is not acceptable. Citing and formatting information correctly in your assignments will help you do so easily on your final paper and get a better grade. See APA style (http://www.apastyle.org/).
