In order to clarify:
(a) you must do three case studies, each of which is at least 750 words.
(b) you should submit them all as one continuous document with the three case studies in them.
(c) send it to me and the TA as an attachment and not a link. We need to be able to see it in GMAIL without downloading or pressing a link.
(d) you should use the cases I have listed, but you need not. You can look elsewhere.
(e) you should look over the sample case studies in the uint. They will guide you.
A Guide to Case Study Write Ups.
Think of a case study write up as a formal document where your goal is to do the following:
1.) Identify a moral question / issue that is present in a fact pattern (a series of facts about what happened or will happen).
2.) Provide an answer to the moral question, by offering a moral argument. A moral argument contains a moral principle and facts and draws a moral conclusion that is supported by the principle and the facts.
3.) Offer a set of considerations against your conclusion. These considerations are so to speak what people who don’t agree with your conclusion might challenge you to respond to.
4.) Offer a set of responses to the considerations / objections to your answer.
A case study write up also has the following features.
a.) It is between 750-1150 words, double spaced preferred, and emailed to me directly at: [email protected]. Please do not send it through canvas, I have to download it, and I don’t want to do that. Just email me.
b.) It cites sources that are used in the case study write up, most importantly it cites the article from which the case study write up was derived, but also it can cite additional sources that you use to make your argument.
c.) It is well written, divided into at least four paragraphs, one for each of the mains sections 1-4 discussed above.
d.) It aims to be an objective defense of an answer to a moral question via an argument. Your goal is to provide an argument and offer responses to the most challenging objections. You don’t need to concern yourself with whether you win the debate. Rather, you need to concern yourself with whether you believe the answer you are giving and the reasoning that goes into it. Reflect on the problem, and give your authentic answer that you believe to be correct.
Grading
You are not graded on the position you take. You are graded on the format of your write up, the quality of your argument (the proper application of a principle and the use of facts from the case), and the quality of the objections and responses you give.
Case study write ups are graded based on the four sections that are required: question, argument, objections, responses. If you don’t have all four sections, you cannot get an A. If you have all four sections, you might still not get an A, but it is a lot more likely that you will. As soon as one section is missing, you are in the B range, and depending on the quality of your argument you can get a B+, B, or B- most often not the B-. If you are missing the argument portion, you get knocked down to a C/C+. I tend to keep my grades in the C-A+ range. So unless you simply don’t do the assignment at all, you won’t get a D or an F.
