MHHS M301/PHIL P383

Fall 2010

Paper Assignment

The course utilizes books and readings that approach medicine from the perspectives of history, philosophy and literature.  The paper assignment is to do an analysis growing out of one of these perspectives.

The following are the options from which you may choose your paper assignment. Be careful to follow the instructions specified for the paper topic you select.

1) Literature Paper: This paper should examine the value of literature in understanding medical history and bioethical issues. Select two or three stories from the Reynolds & Stone book and show how they do this. Support your essay with examples from the stories, such as an ethical dilemma, how situations were different or similar in earlier times as compared to current practices, and the enduring lessons of medicine and health conveyed by these stories. Literature essays/papers must be written in third person perspective, and follow the format of a thesis statement in the opening paragraph, followed by supporting discussion and finally, a summary. Utilize at least one external scholarly source for your paper, and be sure to cite all references used, including those from your texts.

2) Bioethics Essay: Based on a careful reading of one or two of the bioethics readings from this course, why do we need bioethics? What do we stand to lose if we do bioethics poorly, and what might we gain from doing it well? How does the particular topic under discussion in the reading(s) you have chosen illustrate your perspective? If you choose this assignment, you will be writing an essay, not a research paper. Nevertheless, you should draw on specific examples from the reading(s) to make your point.

3) History Paper: Pick an individual important to the history of medicine mentioned in one of the chapters in the Porter book, A Short History of Medicine, and write a paper that analyzes that person’s role as follows. What was the setting and background in which they lived that shaped their ability and opportunity to contribute to change? What was their contribution? What was the immediate and longer term influence of their work? This paper will require at least two additional resources. They may come from “Suggestions for further readings” at the end of the book (arranged by chapter), or found in a database search. (See note on additional sources below.)

General features of the paper

The paper should be 6-8 pages in length, double-spaced. List the sources used at the end, and use scientific or MLA notation system for notes. For this and all extra credit papers, be sure you understand the school's policy on plagiarism (copying).  Click here to see the Student Code of Conduct. Those guilty of plagiarism will be dealt with in accordance with the regulations spelled out in the code.

DUE DATE:

The paper is due November 29. Late papers will not be accepted.

Note on additional sources

Some web-based sources are acceptable BUT they are only as good as the depth and credibility of the information they contain. (Note: please use notation that includes the URL and the date accessed.) The standard by which to judge a web source is a book or article published in a reviewed journal, many of which are on-line now. In addition, some primary documents (diaries, letters, archives, etc.) are available on the web. A web encyclopedia entry may be useful in finding initial information, but encyclopedia articles are NOT acceptable sources for college-level research. Likewise, information pages of organizations may help in clarifying terms or guiding further research, but they are NOT the equivalent of reliable, scholarly sources.

In addition to the University Library’s databases by subject and electronic journals, two convenient sources of scholarly online journals in the humanities (searchable by keywords) can be found at:

JSTOR (over 700 journals online)

Project Muse (mainly journals published by university presses)