Requirement:

For your individual term project, you will research an issue about which you are initially undecided. Your final assignment for the course will be an argument in which you take a stand on this issue.

For this assignment, write a short letter (email) to the TA (zkira @ cc) with the subject line "CS4002 tp#1":

(1) identifying the issue that you have chosen,
(2) explaining why you are interested in it, and
(3) why you can't make up your mind yet for sure which position you will take.

Grading & Warning:

This assignment is part of your term project. Its purpose is to help you narrow down your choice of topics and issues. It will contribute 10 percent of the term project grade. That's not much, and you only need to write a paragraph; however, you will have to live with your choice for the rest of the semester, so give your topic some careful thought.

Hints:

Look through the syllabus for topics that interest you, narrowing them down to four or five themes. Then do the issue-brainstorming process described in class in which you start from one issue and generate a set of related issues.

Now, instead of starting from an issue, such as "If more robots were used in Iraq, fewer soldiers would be killed" you will be starting from a topic, such as "Robots in warfare"

Whereas an issue can be summarized in a sentence, a topic can be summarized in a word or phrase. Just generate as many interesting-sounding issues as you can for a while, then leave your list alone.

Later, come back to your list and choose one of the issues as your major research topic for this course. During the term, keep a log of your research activities and be ready, in class discussion or in writing, to explain what kinds of arguments or evidence turned out to be most persuasive in helping you to take a stand.