Q INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL REFLECTION ESSAYS PH 251—Introduction to Ethics (Revised 7-13-2020 to a 5 point grading scale and to correct a few typos) ASSIGNMENT: These essays are informed, personal reflections on activities or issues in our course. By “personal,” I mean that these essays are mostly about personal opinions and experiences, and whatever you think or say about them is fine, as long as your discussion is thoughtful. I know that what counts as “thoughtful” is subjective, but I mean that you should give opinions and say why you hold them. You should also try to ask hard questions of yourself. By “informed,” I mean that these essays are academic in nature and should show some engagement with the ideas in the course. The specific instructions for an essay might be based on a course reading and ask you to say something specific about it. Otherwise, you do not have to cite a course reading, but one or two quotes likely makes for a better essay. Remember, do not allow the reflective element of the essay to lead you to become too informal, chatty, or unorganized. In short, these essays are more like a homework response or discussion board post than like a formal paper. Most of your grade is based just on doing them according to the instructions. FORMAT: ? Between 550 and 900 words. This will 1 to 1 ½ pages of single-spaced writing, usually 3 to 5 paragraphs, with a return space between each paragraph. ? Due on Mondays at 12:00 noon (grace period to 2:00 pm). ? These essays do not need a Works Cited, unless you use or quote something specific not assigned in the course—then use the MLA or APA style. For a reference to a source from the course, just give a parenthetical citation, e.g. (Stiltner, 54) and no Works Cited listing. ? Put your name and a descriptive title of the essay at the top of the first page of text (e.g. “Reflection 1: Ethical Analysis of the Time a Co-worker Pressured Me”). State the # of the Reflection you are writing and feel free to be creative with your title! ? If applicable, put an Acknowledgements line at the end to thank anyone who proofread your paper or shared specific ideas with you. This is a matter of professional courtesy. ? Page numbers are not needed, as these will be no more than two pages. GRADING: Essays will be assessed by: having followed the instructions, being submitted on time (unless an extension was granted), being on-point and appropriately detailed, showing thoughtful reflection, and being clear and error-free. I will use the follow grading rubric. Typically I will use these just these numbers, but I might give a nearby number, for instance, 4.8 would still be an “A.” I actually expect all grades for all students for all of these reflections to be at least 4.2 (B/B-), but that is not a promise; it does depend on you following through. • 5 (A): Your essay directly and accurately answers the prompt; discusses specific, relevant example(s); shows thoughtful reflection on the prompt (giving a personal opinion when asked, and explaining why you hold it); shows engagement with the course (addresses ethics and whatever technical concepts are in the prompt, and shows that you have done the necessary readings to answer the prompt); and is very clear (the writing is easy to follow and has no or very few grammatical errors). • 4.6 (A-): Same as the previous level, and either slightly less clear, slightly less connected to the course concepts, or slightly weak in written expression. Usually there’s just one of these areas that needs a tweak, as I will explain. • 4.4 (B+/B): Your essay directly answers the prompt; discusses a relevant example but a few more details are needed; offers personal opinion with support, but the connections to the course are thinner or your reasoning needs to be fleshed out. The writing is still clear and smooth. • 4.2 (B/B-): Same as B+, with these same issues being more pronounced. • 3.8 (C): Submits the essay on time and follows all the instructions, but the essay is not well crafted or is too superficial. At this point, you have not answered at least one element of the prompt very clearly, or you have gone off on personal thoughts and experiences without making them relevant enough to the course. Or such an essay is below the minimum word count or just at the minimum, and leaves the reader with questions. • 3.4 or lower (D+): Lack of clarify, weak relevance to the course, too short, and/or late. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Work submitted for this course must be written only by you. It must be written for this specific course—not recycled from a prior course (but if you want to draw upon some previous work of yours, please check with me first). Any source that is quoted word-for-word anywhere in the essay without being put in quotation marks and cited is grounds for failing the assignment. Words paraphrased from elsewhere without being cited is grounds for failing the assignment. Extensive instances of the above in any one assignment in course, or in a second assignment, is grounds for failing the course, at my discretion. So please take proper care as your prepare your essay (tip: create your citations right away when you put them in your draft; don’t wait to go back to them, lest you forget) and double-check your citations and Works Cited before submitting (tip: check with me first if you have any questions; I am always happy to pre-check your essay or give you feedback on a draft). Reflection 3: On a discussion you have with a someone else on an ethical topic. Ask a friend, family member, or co-worker to have a conversation with you. You can just steer them into the conversation, or you can tell them that you have an assignment for class and ask them to help you out (depending on the person, it might be easier to raise a controversial topic and discuss it civilly if they know it is for your class). I want the topic to be one of the issues we look at in Week 3 or 4: animal welfare, alleviation of poverty, or racial justice. If you want to discuss a different topic, check with me first. Prod your partner with some challenging questions and let them to do the same to you; ask them what they think and why; explain what you think and why; and see think you two agree or disagree and why. Be civil and be humble—the point is not to win a debate but to understand the issue better through conversation. In your reflection, describe who you talked to and what about, summarize the main points of the conversation, discuss how one or more ideas from the course helps your think about the conversation, and conclude with any take-away lessons for yourself.