Op-Ed Paper Writing Assignment (required)

Here are the details of your first paper assignment for the writing course. This is identical to what I’ve already posted, emailed and discussed in class. I’m putting it here for reference as a final reminder.

“Op-Ed” Paper Writing Assignment

This page contains the details of your main writing assignment for this course.

There are two parts to the assignment:

1. The article itself.

2. A document containing supplementary reading that you used in your thinking about your topic. (See below for more details.)

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1. The article should be a “middle range” article on a topic of your own choosing, and it should be about 750-1000 words long.

Broadly construed, your topic should be an intellectual one, to which you will bring an Objectivist perspective. You could choose a topic directly in philosophy (e.g., egoism, justice), an aspect of the culture (e.g., a trend in education, an action of the government, a Supreme Court case or nomination, a popular commentator), etc.

NB: For various reasons, I would prefer that you not write a review, whether of a movie, book, or any work of art or non-fiction. If you have a strong reason for wanting to do a review, please write to me for approval first. 

You should envision your audience as educated but not as Objectivists or academics; the kind of audience, say, that Ayn Rand addressed in her Ford Hall Forum talks or that the President addresses when he gives a televised presentation. Such an audience will include Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, those of no particular political affiliation, scientists, businessmen, artists, religious people, non-religious people, etc. It is not a hostile audience, but it is one to which you will have to show that what you have to say is of interest. This also means you should not assume specialized knowledge on the part of the audience.

Please remember to:

1. Write the article in Microsoft Word, or in Google Docs but saved as a Microsoft “docx” document. Do not upload a PDF document.

2. Include in the body of the document the following information:

• A title
• Your name
• The article’s word count
• An indication of the intended audience, if it is other than the general public.

3. When you save your document before uploading, please use the following format for the filename: 

<Lastname>, <Firstname>, <Title of article>

So, for example, if I were to write an article called “My Awesome Paper” I would save the document as: 

Lockitch, Keith, My Awesome Paper.docx

4. Post the article to the class website, not to me directly. (A posting “quiz” will be created for this purpose in the appropriate week.)

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2. Finally, as a second part to the assignment :

If there are one or two news stories or articles that inspired your article, or that you used for information in doing research on your article, please post those as well.

Post the full text, as well as a link, in a separate Word attachment labeled “Supplementary Information.”

This will be especially helpful if you are using a quotation from someone mentioned in the story, and/or if the story contains a clear statement of the contrasting arguments from which you are differentiating your viewpoint. Don’t post more than two articles.

1. If you upload a second document, please use the following format for the filename:

<Lastname>, <Firstname>, Supplementary Info

So, for example, if I were to upload a document with the supplementary information for “My Awesome Paper” I would save the document as:

Lockitch, Keith, Supplementary Info.docx

2. A separate, optional posting “quiz” will be created for this purpose in the appropriate week.

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END