Home page: http://wrt-howard.syr.edu/205S08/Syl205S08.html

Course projects, WRT 205, Sect. 270, Spring 2008

The class will brainstorm possible revisions to this list. Then each student will choose one topic to pursue through the semester. Each student must work on a topic that at least one other student has chosen. That way, students can potentially get help not only from the instructor and librarians but also from classmates. No more than three students can work on a single topic; that way, class conversations will cover a wide range of related issues.

After each topic, I've listed some preliminary research questions. These are not a restrictive list; I offer them only as a means of helping you think about possibilities for each topic.

1. Business ethics: When is it acceptable or ethical to make things seem other than they actually are? (hiding money, laundering, etc.) Where are the lines drawn between acceptable/unethical, and how does one reach a decision? (Enron, Martha Stewart) How do giant corporations get into abuses of power? How do corporations manipulate government legislation (e.g, copyright laws) to their own advantage? How legal should that be? As you think about possibilities for this topic, keep in mind that the general category is "crimes of writing." So your research will need to fit into that category.


2. College plagiarism policies: How much do plagiarism policies differ from one college to another? How have college plagiarism policies changed? What makes an effective college plagiarism policy? How do college plagiarism policies differ from copyright law? How do plagiarism policies represent student writers?


3. Copyright and its alternatives: How long has the U.S. had copyright law? How has it changed? What does copyright law purport to do? How well does it do it? What alternatives are presently available to writers and users of text? How good are these alternatives? How ethical are illegal downloads? Are all these laws necessary?


4. Ethics: Do we live in an unethical culture? How much do shared community ethics matter, and how can they be promoted?


5. Fraud: "Fraud" covers broad territory, including fake resumes; college students' buying term papers; and scientists faking research data. How much of a problem is fraud, and for whom? What, if anything, should be done to contain or prevent it?


6. Ghostwriting: To what extent do executives, politicians, and students have others write their papers for them, and why? What are the differences between executives', politicians', and students' having others write their papers for them? How should we regard the practice?


7. Images: What messages are sent by advertising images in which bodies have been perfected through image manipulation? What responsibilities do the producers of such images have?


8. Imitation: Is imitation (including copying, pastiche, parody, sampling) bad? Is it bad for texts (e.g., Romeo & Juliet, Quentin Tarantino's films) to share common characteristics (motifs, genres, characters, etc.), one copied from another? How can/should imitation be used as a learning device? When should one stop imitating? Should colleges teach imitation as a way for students to learn what is and isn't plagiarism? As you think about possibilities for this topic, keep in mind that the general category is "crimes of writing." So your research will need to fit into that category.


9. International textual standards: How do standards of textual ethics vary from one culture to another? How important is it to have one global standard? How possible is it to have one global standard? How would we arrive at that standard?


10. Originality: Is originality possible?


11. Plagiarism: How might "plagiarism" best be defined? How much does plagiarism matter, to whom, and why? How much should it matter? How does students' plagiarism compare to the plagiarism of professional writers? How it is represented in the media? How should it be understood?


12. Plagiarism-detecting services: How legal are plagiarism-detecting services such as Turnitin.com? How ethical are they? How effective are they?


13. Scientific misconduct: How extensive is the misrepresentation of scientific research? How much does it matter, to whom, and why? What should be done to curb it?


14. Students' intellectual property rights: Do you own your work? Should you? Are students "writers"? Are they "authors"? Can they be?