Purpose: The purpose of this assessment is for students to demonstrate the capacity to develop an ethical argument/s based on the four ethical principles: autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Students will use their allocated topic to develop a sound ethical argumentative opinion piece.
Assessment criteria: Marking will be undertaken using a rubric (see Appendix 1 in your unit outline). Please include the word count of your assignment on the front page of your assignment or in a header. Please note that in-text citations are included in the word count whilst the reference list is not included in the word count. Words that are more than 10% over the word count will not be considered Please see further information in the section titled ‘Word Count’ in your unit outline.
Topics
1. Healthcare workers have a moral obligation to care for COVID19 patients and cannot object to caring for these patients.
2. Organ retrieval should be performed on all deceased persons despite objections from loved ones.
3. Expectant mothers who misuse alcohol and/or illicit drugs should be subject to mandatory reporting requirements for child abuse.
4. Governments should have the authority to stop citizens from participating in community activities when they refuse immunizations.
HLSC220 Argumentative essay – Points to consider
Ethical arguments are comprehensively informed by credible, well-chosen academic literature, &/or professional codes & standards. Evidence of sophisticated level of critical thinking, reasoning, defence & evaluation. Ethical arguments (use of argument and/or counter arguments) are cogent & always well defended. The argument is organised in an exemplary manner: repetitiveness is avoided, the argument flows succinctly, ending with a strong, comprehensive, & rational conclusion.
In addition to the rubric the content below are some guidelines for student consideration in writing their argumentative essay. This is not an exhaustive list, but simply points for consideration.
The bare minimum is that you should let the reader know the topic and introduce your stance on the issue for example – “ this essay will address the options health care workers ( HCW) have in confronting issues of violence against them and will show and reason why HCW ought to be able to refuse care”.
Remember to clarify your understanding of the topic and key terms or concepts used – do not assume the reader knows – the examiner wants to know that you know.
A good argumentative essay considers the counter arguments against the position taken and seeks to defend them with reasoning and logic and always with reference to the literature. Failure to do so cannot be considered an argument – it is a one-sided account and unchallenged opinion even if well sourced and referenced.
The essay must be ethically sound and constructed –it ought to provide a rich account of ethical thought and justification based on sound ethical theories and priniciplism. Much of this is available to you in the modules and Leganto reading list in the same tile. Where necessary you might choose to reinforce arguments with professional codes, and legal considerations.
Communicating based on an “emotional account” can detract from the essay as the write is communicating on a personal stake on the topic and thus is invested in that emotion. It is better to give example and support the example with the literature in mind. However, you can obviously draw the reader to your argument by providing strong ethical, conventional, and contemporary arguments that support your stance.
As always in any essay the following points ought to be respected: • paragraph construction • Flow of argument • Avoiding repetitive statements • Considering the literature and carefully providing sources used • Consider using the literature to point of redundancy – i.e. you read the same view in other sources • A good argument is well supported with the literature and this ought to be provided from multiple sources
• There is no required number of reference sources. The lower the volume of evidence will rarely make for a salient essay • You should summarise your stance and argument in the conclusion • Do not introduce new material in this section (Conclusion) • Remember the requirements for presentation in terms of spacing, font size and structure available to you from ACU academic skills unit • If you do use clinical examples, they ought to be reflective of your ethical argument • Finally it is required that you write in the 3rd person