Category: Homework

Please remember to upload the revised version of your thesis and arguments (homework assignment 4) to turnitin.com by tomorrow before midnight. 

Create a draft thesis and arguments for your paper

Note: you do NOT need to hand this assignment in to turnitin.com YET. Please prepare it ahead of time for class, where you will work on it in pairs. You will need to upload a revised version by midnight to turnitin.com on Wednesday, 11/1.

Please read the Written Report assignment on OpenLab (also found under “Assignments”—“Case Project”)

We have practiced identifying the thesis and supporting arguments for articles we have read and for articles summarized in the annotated bibliography. Now it is time for you to develop a draft thesis for your written case report, along with supporting arguments.

For the homework assignment, please do each of the 4 parts below. Please be as concise as possible—there is no need to write more than 150 words total.

1. Background: in about 2 sentences, give a brief background explaining what your case is about. This should be clear enough that a student who is not familiar with your case can read it and gain familiarity with the most important facts of the case.
2. Main Ethical Dilemma: In 1 sentence, explain what you think the main ethical dilemma in your case is. An ethical dilemma is a choice that must be made in which all possible decisions violate some ethical norms. It should be worded as a question (e.g., “should the doctor do X or Y?”). The main ethical dilemma is the most important ethical dilemma in the case.
3. Thesis: please formulate your thesis in one sentence. The thesis should summarize your main recommendation for what should happen in your case. It should respond to the main ethical issue. It should be a truth claim that is concise and appropriately specific. These are characteristics of any good thesis, as we discussed in class. The thesis should also be normative. It should explain what someone in the case—usually the health professionals—should do.
4. Arguments: please formulate 2-3 brief arguments (i.e. 1-2 sentences each) in support of your thesis. It should be clear to someone not familiar with your case how these arguments support your thesis.

Please complete a short quiz on Blackboard before class on Tuesday, October 10 (that’s right, we’re meeting on a Tuesday next week!). You can take the test on Blackboard any time between class tomorrow and class on October 10. 

The quiz will cover our discussion of plagiarism in class tomorrow (Wed 10/4) and the course page on Academic Integrity. It is multiple choice. It is not particularly hard, and it is open book. But you have only 10 minutes to complete it once you have started, so you will want to read the materials beforehand.

Make an annotated bibliography entry for the assigned reading:

Mazor, Kathleen M, George W Reed, Robert A Yood, Melissa A Fischer, Joann Baril, and Jerry H Gurwitz. 2006. “Disclosure of medical errors.”  Journal of General Internal Medicine 21 (7):704-710.

You can find the article here.

This is an empirical article, so be sure to use the format for an empirical article. Your entry should include three things:

1. Reference

The actual reference (formatted in Chicago Author-Date Style). You may cut and paste from above for this assignment.

2. Conclusions.

“Conclusions” are the claims that the authors think are supported by the evidence they present. They should be general and in the present tense.

3. Evidence

This section should briefly explain what the authors did (their “methods) and what they observed (their “results”). The results should clearly support the conclusions listed above. They should be specific and in the past tense.

Be sure to label each of the three sections. You do not need to include the fourth section, “relevance to my case,” because this piece is not necessarily relevant to your assigned group case.

Your entry should be in your own words. Your submission should be at least a half page (double-spaced), but should not exceed one page.

(150-300 words)

Please submit the assignment to turnitin.com before class (i.e. before 2:30 pm). 

Revise your previous work on the LeMorvan and Stock article. Please remember to submit the assignment to turnitin.com before the next class (before 2:30pm on 9/20).

1. Make sure your thesis meets the criteria discussed in class. This means your thesis should be:

a. a truth claim (about the topic of the article, not the article)

b. concise

c. appropriately specific

2. Make sure that the arguments you mention support the thesis you have identified. This means that it should be clear how they make the thesis more probably true.

3. Double check to make sure you have not used the author’s words without using quotation marks!

Read the article, “Medical learning curves and the Kantian ideal” (Le Morvan and Stock, link in syllabus) and answer the following questions concisely. Please use your own words. (Of course, if you do use the words of the authors, you must use quotation marks. But please try to use your own words).

1. What is the thesis of this piece? 
2. Briefly explain two major arguments the authors use to support their thesis. 

Your answer should be at least half a page but no more than one page (handwritten or typed and double spaced), or about 150-300 words.