This assignment has two goals: 1) have students increase their understanding of the concept of Protecting Personal Information (PPI) and other ethical issues related to the use of information technology through research, and 2) learn to correctly use the tools and techniques within Word to format a research paper including using Word 2010/2013’s citation tools. These skills will be valuable throughout students’ academic career. The paper will require a title page, NO abstract, three to four full pages of content with incorporation of a minimum of 3 external resources from credible sources, and a Works Cited/Reference page. Three pages of content means 3 full pages, to the bottom of the third page. Two pages plus five lines on the third page will not suffice. Note that submitting a paper that is less than three pages may affect your grade on several rubric items, including page length and several content items.
A list of topics from which students can choose is provided below. Wikipedia and similar pages are NOT creditable sources. Blogs and discussion groups are not creditable sources. The course textbook cannot be used as a source for the research paper. No more than 10% of the paper may be in the form of a direct citation from an external source.
Topics for Research Paper
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
- Social Engineering
- Employee Monitoring
- Information Privacy
- Electronic Medical Records
- Biometrics (in terms of ethical and privacy issues)
- Identity Theft
- Use of Cookies
- Privacy Laws related to Information Technology use
- Intellectual Property Rights; Copyright
Writing Quality for the Research Paper
* Grammar, Verb Tenses, Pronoun Use, Spelling, Punctuation, and Writing Competency.
*Remember: spell-check, then proofread. Better yet, have a friend or colleague read it before submitting it. Read it out loud to yourself.
* Remember: there is not their, your is not you’re, its is not it’s, too is not to or two, site is not cite, and who should be used after an individual, not that. For example, “the person WHO made the speech” not “the person THAT made the speech.”
* In a professional paper one does not use contractions (doesn’t, don’t, etc.) and one does not use the personal you or your. Use the impersonal as in the previous sentence. It is more business-like than saying, “Also in a professional paper you don’t use contractions.”
* Use the impersonal as in the sentence immediately above. It is more business-like than saying, “Also in a professional paper you don’t use contractions.”
This is not a speech, it is a research paper. First and second person should NOT be used.
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Requirement |
Points Allocated |
Comments |
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Paper should be double-spaced, 1” margins, 12 point Times Roman type |
0.5 |
This is the font in normal paragraphs. Heading and title fonts may be in bold, but should remain in 12 point font. |
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Deliverable is at least three full pages and does not exceed four typed, double-spaced pages |
0.5 |
Charts and other graphical information are not included in the page count. Title and reference pages are not included in page count. |
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Title Page which shows title and author’s (student’s) name. |
0.5 |
Title must be appropriate for content |
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At least three (3) APA formatted in-text citations.
You are required to use the References feature in Word 2010/2013 for your citations and Reference List. It is important to review the final format for APA-style correctness even if generated by Word. |
2 |
These can be anywhere in the document, but the citations must be relevant to what is being referenced and use the APA format.
|
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At least two (2) informational footnotes.
(Note: APA Style does not use footnotes for citations; however, does allow for the incorporation of informational footnotes) |
1.5 |
These can be anywhere in the document, but the informational footnotes must be relevant to the associated text. The purpose of this requirement is to effectively incorporate the information and demonstrate that you can use the MS Word footnoting functionality. |
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Reference Page using APA format for references
You are required to use the References feature in Word 2010/2013 for your citations and Reference List. It is important to review the final format for APA-style correctness even if generated by Word. |
2 |
All works listed must be incorporated within the writing of your paper as specified in APA style
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Describe the topic and ethical issue as it relates to the use of Information Technology |
2 |
|
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Discuss the trends, ways individuals and/or organizations are impacted by the issue or working to prevent the impact. |
2 |
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Paper must be well-organized, clearly written in a style appropriate for college level work. |
1 |
|
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Paper should be grammatically correct and contain no spelling errors. |
2 |
Although you should use the SpellCheck and Grammar Check function in Word, this will not catch all errors – you are ultimately responsible for proofreading. Direct citations should not exceed 10% of total words (use Word’s ‘word count’ function) |
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TOTAL: |
14 |
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Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
OVER
RATING
YEARS
