Research & Development Proposal

TUT 100 - Virtue in Animal and Machine - Professor Weinman

Summary:

You will complete the stages of writing a paper by proposing a new direction for research and/or development.

Purposes:

Our goals will be to

engage in creative thought,
work through the major stages of writing, and
practice revising and giving/receiving feedback.

Due:

There are two milestones for this assignment.

Smooth Draft:: 10 pm, Wednesday 20 November
Final Paper:: 4:15 pm, Friday 6 December

Turn In:

Each milestone has a slightly different submission mechanism.

Smooth Draft:: Submit a copy by the deadline to PioneerWeb. Bring two copies to class with you the next day.
Final Paper:: Submit a copy by the deadline to PioneerWeb. Bring your draft review sheets and all marked copies my office by the deadline. Please attach them all together with a paper clip, binder clip, or staple.

Background

Read about Heilmeier's Catechism for research and development proposals.

Assignment

The broadest general theme of both Wild Justice and Moral Machines could be stated as thus: there is much work left to do! Many questions are unanswered and many concerns are unaddressed. Your task is to take this message and run with it by proposing some specific new research or development in animals or machines. If you are feeling particularly creative, you might even propose something involving both!

Topics

You may choose one of the following topics for your paper.

Animal Research

In describing the suite of moral behaviors exhibited by animals, Bekoff and Pierce point out unanswered questions nearly as often as they cite scientific studies. Moreover, the studies themselves typically raise further unanswered questions, both explicitly and implicitly.

One response to this issue is proposing to fill a gap in our scientific knowledge. Place yourself in the role of a practicing scientist and advocate for a study to pursue the answer to a question about "the moral lives of animals." Write a persuasive paper proposing some specific new research on animal morality. Your proposal should do five things with abundant clarity:

Identify the question,
describe the gap in our knowledge,
explain how the gap relates to what we know,
argue why it is important to close the gap,
and suggest how that might be done.

Technology Development

Wallach and Allen elaborate on the philosophical, technical, economic, and political forces surrounding ethically sensitive, autonomous technology. In providing a system for understanding the principal issues, they often take a pragmatic approach to addressing the variety of concerns.

One use of this approach is to take it as both impetus and framework for some new technological development. Place yourself in the role of a technology specialist and advocate for the development of some feasible new technology that falls under Wallach and Allen's broad heading of "Artificial Moral Agent" (AMA). Write a persuasive paper proposing development of an AMA-based solution. Your proposal should do five things with abundant clarity:

Identify the problem,
describe any existing, relevant technology,
explain how that technology comes up short,
argue why the problem is important to solve,
and suggest how that might be done.

You should address both the philosophical and technical issues of your proposal.

Something Else?

Because both texts suggest there is a lot of creative work to do, and these topics overlap significantly, you may have an even more radical proposal involving both animals and machines. If that is the case, send me your topic proposal (perhaps in a form similar to those above) no later than 4 PM Thursday 7 November. Because I want you to have ample time to work on your paper, any topic proposals received after this will not be considered or allowed. No exceptions. I will give you a response (approval, denial, or revision request) within 48 hours of my receipt or by 4 PM Friday 8 November, whichever is earlier.

Audience

The audience for your work are those who have your level of scientific understanding (i.e., in the general subjects of our course topics). However, they might not be familiar with the detailed arguments or examples from our course readings. In particular, though it contains only questions without answers, be mindful of Heilmeier's catechism for crafting clear and successful proposals. He asks the type of questions your reader-who may sit between your proposal and the financing that makes it possible-will want to know the answers to. Do not assume readers will know the complete context for your work.

Length and Format

The length of your paper should be 900-1200 words (not including references or headers and footers). Please use a twelve point serif font and one inch margins. Your name, the course, and paper title should be on the first page, while your last name and a page number should be on all subsequent pages.

Sources

To place such work in context, you will no doubt need to draw on a wide variety of sources, such as others' persuasive writing, scientific studies, scholarly accounts of existing technology, and perhaps even popular media. In all cases, your references should be as close to the original as possible. For instance, that means scholarly articles are preferred to press accounts of the same technology. (Of course, if you use an idea from the press account, you must cite that.) Under no circumstances are Wikipedia or other tertiary sources allowed.¹

References should be included in a list of works cited at the end in APA format, and in-text citations should be made in APA style.

Planning and Revisions

Although there is no explicit requirement for pre-draft work, you will have much to do, including deciding on a rough topic, finding sources, and outlining or pre-writing before finally drafting your proposal. Be mindful of these stages! I recommend using the Academic Advising planning tool.

Milestones

Smooth Draft

As in your first two paper assignments, you will bring a smooth draft to class that will be peer reviewed in a workshop. Review the tips given in the first assignment and run your draft through Professor Simpson's 30 point inspection. Allot at least an hour to do so, leaving yourself at least a half day between completing the rough draft and beginning your polishing.

Final Draft

Your final draft should exhibit incorporation of the comments from your peers and the Writing Lab (optional, but highly recommended). I also suggest checking your paper against the 30 point inspection one last time.

Original material is Copyright © 2010, 2013 Jerod Weinman, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. All other material is property of the respective owner(s).

Footnotes:

¹For a concise explanation of source categories, see http://www.lib.umd.edu/ues/guides/primary-sources