Joe Lau

Writing assignments

Short writing assignment #1

Read this article about eating meat. Then complete the assignment by following these instructions:

  • Deadline: 5pm 21 October 2011. Late submission will be penalized (-50%. 0 marks after 5pm Mon 24 Oct 2011.)
  • Your submission should have exactly four A4 pages. Font size 11 or 12. Single line spacing. Times font. 1 inch margin max.
  • Page #1: Write down your FULL name, HKU student ID, email, group no, and the name of your tutor. Also, find TWO arguments from the article above and reformulate the arguments clearly and simply in the STANDARD FORMAT. See lecture powerpoint and this page: http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/arg/arg.php No need to discuss or evaluate the arguments. But the two arguments should be clearly contained in the article.
  • Page #2: Write a short essay DEFENDING the point of view of the article. Your essay should be in your own words and your aim is to support the article's main conclusion. Try to relate your essay to the points discussed in the article.
  • Page #3: Write a short essay CRITICIZING the article.
  • Page #4 (half a page to a full page) : Write down your own point of view in light of the article, the lecture and the readings. It does not matter whether you think eating meat is right or wrong, or whether you are not sure. Try to give good arguments to defend your own position.
  • The submission should be entirely your own work. If you copy you will be sent to the university disciplinary committee with the recommendation that you fail the course and be penalized further.
  • Submit your essay as a word article or plain text file to http://turnitin.com. Class ID 4453934 password i123 for Irwin's students, and class ID 4453939 password k123 for Kelly's students.
  • Make sure you know how to use the website to submit your assignment. No allowance will be made for late submission due to computer problems or any other reasons, e.g. my friend forgot to submit it for me, I can't setup an account, I don't know which file format to use, etc. See http://lib.hku.hk/turnitin/students.html
  • You don't have to, but if you want you can consult other sources. But whatever you do, you have to use your own words and not copy from anything or anyone. No need to give citation or references. If you need to quote from the original article, just use quotation marks, e.g. the author says "...", or the author says that she ... .

Short assignment #2

Font size 11 or 12. Single line spacing. Times font. 1 inch margin max. But two pages of A4 maximum. Discuss this passage and evaluate the argument:

@Many people argue that drug policies and legislation should be changed and that drugs should be made legal. But this is just wrong. It is like arguing that we should not put people in jail if they steal and rob because the law is not going to eliminate these problems.@

  • Although your essay is very short. You should be systematic and clear, and be as comprehensive as you can in your analysis.
  • Deadline: 5pm Friday 11 November 2011. Submit to http://turnitin.com
  • Late submission will be penalized (-50%. 0 marks after 5pm Mon 14 Nov 2011.)