Mastering Conceptual Understanding: Applying Course Principles for Insightful Essays

Abstract

600-word Paper The goal of this assignment is for you to pick a concept taught in this course and discuss this concept in the detail requested below. Note, this is not a concept paper. Rather it is an application paper that, with each example (which is the application of the concept), explains how the concept changed your thinking about the world. This paper typically has a high B average… and I frequently award perfect grades. However, if you don’t follow the instructions and don’t know the concept, you can end up with a zero or very low grade (and this happens too). 1. Topic Assignment: About one week before the paper is due I will email a list of concepts that you learned in this class. You need to email me your concept choice and have it authorized before you start your paper. I will not be accepting papers for concepts not pre-approved… the sooner you pick a concept the better as only 6 students can select the same topic choice. I stop receiving topic requests a couple of days before the due date. At this point, if you do not have an approved topic you get zero on the paper. 2. Where to submit: This assignment needs to be submitted to Turnitin (Turnitin on the internet NOT blackboard). I will not be accepting email copies. To create an account you need to: (i) go to the internet, type turnitin and select option to create an account (ii) enter a class id, which is: 32276971 (iii) To create an account you also need an enrollment key, which is: intro If you have problems with creating a Turnitin account, please consult Itech. They cannot help you unless you have both the class id and the enrollment key. Note, you lose grades if you leave this to the last 30 hours before it is due and then you proceed to ask me questions. Sorry, but part of your grade is proving you can solve your own problems. You need to create a turnitin account and make sure that you can log into the account for your course. 3. Percentage Duplication on Papers: Do not worry too much if Turnitin says you have 0 – 8% duplication with other papers… this is normal as the depository of papers in Turnitin is large. However, you should check to verify that it is filler words and not content of your paper (except of course maybe your definition – which is most likely to overlap with a source – and I am okay with this). If, on the other hand, you have 9% or more duplication you need to look at what Turnitin says is overlapped. If it is filler words and phrases I would not worry about that – that is just writing style stuff. However, if it is content you need to make some changes to your paper as you get no credit for an example that overlaps with other sources (so you want to avoid this). 3. LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Due date for your paper is posted on the syllabus. Although the system will accept late assignments I will not be grading them. In other words, you get a grade of zero. Computer failure, lack of access to a computer is not a valid excuse. You have approximately one week to do this assignment and most students submit assignment two-three days in advance. 4. Papers need to be 600 words (not including titles, your name and other such peripheral stuff). Papers that are < or > 10% of the word count will be penalized. < > 20% is penalized even more. For example, if your paper is 10% longer (i.e., 660 words+) expect to lose 10%. 5. STRUCTURE/CONTENT OF YOUR PAPER: Your paper consists of four parts: (i) a title page, (ii) an opening paragraph, (iii) the main body of your paper, and...