REQUIREMENTS:
1. Target length – 1500 words 5 pages
2. Sources – at least two are required; one chosen from the above list, and one from outside any assigned reading for this course. You may use more sources than this (both assigned, others from the course text, or outside sources), but this is the bare minimum requirement. Use an appropriate citation method of your choice.
3. Do not plagiarize – Your electronic submissions are automatically checked to see if portions of your paper have been cut and pasted from elsewhere. If that happens without quotation and citation, that is plagiarism that can result in a failing grade.
GENERAL ADVICE:
Review those readings and your earlier assignments. There is much that could be covered in your paper. This could include cultural relativism, the universality of rights, the relationship between human rights and morality, social contract theory, the necessity and fundamental nature of rights, skepticism about rights, and so on. Of course, you are not going to be able to cover all of these. We have had several readings in this course on these topics, in addition to my lectures.
Have a clear thesis in your paper; make clear what your own position is. Perhaps you might not settle on what that position is until you start writing at least a bit of the paper out. But make sure you present a clear thesis at the outset in your final submitted draft. It will be helpful to go back and review the lecture and readings about writing a philosophy paper to help you with all of this.
It should be clear to me that you:
1. Can clearly explain the issues and the terminology involved.
2. Take a clear position on the philosophical issues at hand.
3. Use, correctly cite, and understand the sources that you cite.
4. Are capable of philosophically engaging with the sources that you choose.
5. Are capable of supporting your claims with clear and thoughtful reasoning
