The final project for the course is a Service Learning Final Paper.  It is worth 40% of your final grade.   This paper begins towards the end of the semester, at which point you will be done with all the readings, journals and discussions.  You should be very familiar with your community partner and comfortable with your service learning. 

The purpose of the paper is to allow you to do research on the moral issue addressed by your community partner, think critically about the ethical approach of your community partner, apply the ethical theories and perspectives that you have learned throughout the semester to your service learning and propose a "how to" for short and longterm effective change. The final paper is POLISHED writing, unlike discussions and journals.

You will want to use the textbooks, lectures, your own journal entries and group discussions in this portfolio whenever possible. You will also do research on that particular moral issue. You may want to post some questions and responses in the "final paper discussion" to hear how others are developing their final paper. Your instructor may contribute when necessary.  

There are 3 parts to the final paper. Each of you must sumbit all three parts of the paper into D2L Dropbox on the due dates.  Check the Calendar for due dates. 

Part One:  What is the central moral issue addressed by your community partner? (500 words min.)

By this time you should be able to identify the central moral issue or problem that your community partner is attempting to address and change. For this first part, describe this moral issue from a local and global perspective. You will need to do research to provide historical and contemporary information (what is poverty?) to analyze the issue from both a global and local perspective. For example, if your community partner is addressing poverty, you will need to include in your answer research on poverty in recent history (what has changed in the last 50 years), throughout the world (how is poverty different in different places) as well as in your local community (what is poverty here in my city and neighborhood). The MCTC library has digital databases to help you in your research. Contact a librarian for assistance. Your community partner may have good research on the issue as well. Throughout your answer, you may find disagreement as to the nature of the issue and how to handle it. That is ok. Include this disagreement when necessary. You will have an opportunity at the end to provide your own view as to how to address the issue. Provide citations when necessary.

Do not just repeat the mission and goals of the organization. Through your research you should identify how this issue, locally, nationally and globally, influences many different people.

I am really looking for some good critical thinking.  No issue/problem is simple and straightforward.  I want to see that you understand complex moral issues and problems within your community and your world, and can express those in a detailed and clear way

Note: Some of you may find several issues/problems at your site. If so, you can explain that, but then pick one issue to present as the focus for your paper.

Recommended Basic Outline for Part One:

Introduction: explain who your community is and describe the central issue

Historical Background: explain where this issue came from and how it may be different today than it was when it began

Global Perspective: analyze this issue from a global perspective. How is this issue influencing people around the world

Local Perspective: analyze this issue from a local perspective. How is this issue alive in your neighborhood.

Complexities Around Issue: here you need to show how this issue is complex and requires a complex answer. Here you may want to include disagreement as to the solution.

Part Two:  Ethical Theories used by Community Partner (500 words min.)

By this point in the term, you will have had extensive exposure to many ethical theories (rights, consequentialist, egoist, etc.) and to the varied cultural expression of those theories (Buddhist, Taoist, Abrahamic, Kantian, Mill, etc.) You will also have been watching to see how the service learning community you are part of thinks about and acts on the moral issue. For part two of the paper, explain how your community partner uses one or two ethical theories that you read about to address, or at least to talk about, the moral issue. Give specific details about the theory and specific language, action, etc... to show how ethical theories and expressions are used to address the central moral issue. You may use specific individuals (keep them nameless) or the organization as a whole to represent the ethical theories. The goal is to show that you understand the details of at least one ethical theory and can "see" this theory in the actions of organizations and individuals.

For example, you may find that the director at your site has the problem of reporting accurate information about services performed and thereby losing funding or of slightly fudging that information and retaining funding. Does the director follow a strict Kantian valuing of honest and thereby lose funding or does the director decide that the utilitarian end of maintaining funding is more important than absolutely clear reporting of services? How do you know? Explain things you hear people say, actions they take, words they write. Describe how you think the reasoning and actions are Kantian or utilitarian.

As another example, you may find that a case worker must decide, at 3 o’clock on a Friday, whether to respond to a child abuse case by visiting with the parent and child or to a potentially homeless family by trying to find them weekend lodging. Does the case worker take a Taoist approach of going with the flow (and how would you know?) or a Buddhist perspective of wu wei (and how would you know?) or a rights based approach (and how would you know?)?

As another example, you may be working at a site that provides training and skills for immigrant families, such as teaching English, job training, housing, etc... Does this organization justify their work from a Human Rights perspective (these are rights that each person deserves regardless of their situation) or from a Utilitarian perspective (if these immigrant families have these skills, they will result in certain effects for them and this city) or from principles of Distributive Justice (the social goods of this community must be shared with everyone equally)?

If you find that multiple theories are being expressed at your site, you should include that. 

Recommended Basic Outline for Part Two:

Introduction: explain which ethical theories and expressions are used at your service learning site.

Details about Ethical Theory: explain in detail the ethical theories and expressions used and

Examples from Site: give clear examples as to how these theories are used.

Alternative Theories?: here you should identify an ethical theory or expression that is not being used at your site that you think might be helpful to the moral issue. Explain the theory and show how it might be beneficial to use that theory.  

In part three of your paper, you will write a proposal as to why and how this moral issue should be addressed. In the first part, you should give a clear argument to your reader as to why this moral issue should be taken seriously by the general public, politicians, businesses, organizations, religious groups, etc... In the second part, you should give clear practical steps as to how to address this issue both in a shortterm and longterm manner. You will want to give steps for the general public, lawmakers, businesses, organizations, religious groups, etc... - all who apply. You may want to be critical of how it is currently being addressed.

Recommended Basic Outline for Part Three:

Introduction: explain briefly the moral issue.

Why the issue? make connections between the moral issue for the daily life of your audience; show why this violates certain shared moral principles; show consequences of this issue and what might happen if the issue/problem was dealt with rightly. For the general public, show how this influences their daily life; for businesses, show how this influences their profit margins; for politicians and lawmakers, explain why the law should follow this issue; for religious groups, show how their religious tradition addresses the issue; etc...

How are we going to address the issue? are there certain policies/laws that need to be changed?; are there resources that need to be obtained and used better...and what are those resources?; how can one use media, religion, the internet, art, music, tv, news, etc... to educate everyone on this issue?; are there organizations that should be partnered with or created to address this issue? Be creative!!!