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You will write a five-paragraph argumentative essay related to one of the controversial
issues introduced in the course readings. The task will be divided into two parts: an
outline (10%) and the final term paper (15%). External sources besides the course
readings must be used as supporting evidence.

Topic
You MUST write about the same topic for the outline and the final term paper. The topic
for these assignments should be the same as the one of your Literature Review. You
should write about the essay question corresponding to your chosen topic as below:

Reading I “For the Money? For the Love?”

Question: Should a student’s own interest on the subject be the main consideration when
the student chooses a college major?

Reading II “Don’t Lie But Don’t Tell The Whole Truth: The Therapeutic Privilege –
Is It Ever Justified?”
Question: Should doctors tell their patients the whole truth about their condition and
treatment?

Reading III “The French Euthanasia Debate”

Question: Should euthanasia be legalized?

Reading IV “What Changed When the Gay Adoption Ban was Lifted”
Question: Should homosexual people be allowed to legally adopt children?

Reading V “Death Penalty in Nigeria”

Question: Is the death penalty an effective method of deterrence?

Outline (10%)

A. Structure (Refer to Appendix I for a sample outline)

1. Paragraph 1:
Introduction – write a complete paragraph, including the thesis statement.
2. Paragraph 2:
Argument 1 – write a complete body paragraph, beginning with a proper topic
sentence. You must write in full sentences. Use 1-2 sources in this paragraph
and cite and reference accordingly in APA 7th style. The secondary sources that
you refer to should be based on your literature review.

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3. Paragraph 3:
Argument 2 – begin with a complete topic sentence, which needs to be
supported by supporting ideas and evidence written in bullet points. You must
cite and reference accordingly in APA 7th style, if you find it necessary to use any
sources.
4. Paragraph 4:
Counter-argument – begin with a complete topic sentence, which needs to be
supported by supporting ideas and evidence written in bullet points. You must
cite and reference accordingly in APA 7th style, if you find it necessary to use any
sources.
5. NO conclusion is needed.

B. Requirements
1. The outline should be around 600 words.
2. Provide a title to your outline.
3. The outline should be double-spaced.
4. The reference page is exclusive of the word count.
5. Outlines that do not fit the requirements will not be accepted.

In addition, please refer to the following formatting requirements:

1. Font: Arial/Garamond/Times New Roman
2. Size 12; double spacing; 1-inch margins

C. Due date: Lecture 5 (23:59, _______________________________)

D. Submission
You must submit a soft copy of your paper to Turnitin. Submission via emails will NOT
be accepted. Late submission of assignments will result in a sub-grade deduction for
each day of late submission (i.e. an assignment submitted one day after the due date
that is graded as B will be recorded as B- and so forth). Assignments that are submitted
more than seven days after the due date will not be accepted.

E. Plagiarism
Plagiarism will result in failure of the draft, or even the whole course. The lecturer has
no obligation to inform you about the failure. It is imperative that you check your work
carefully and make sure all of the direct and indirect quotations are properly
documented.

In-class Outline Consultation

An individual in-class consultation will be held in Lecture 8. Latecomers and absentees

will not be granted another consultation over their outlines.

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Appendix I: a sample outline

Using a telescope to see mobile advertising

[Introduction]

For companies aiming to build good images and wanting to attract customers in the short

term, there is no doubt that mobile advertising is indeed a sufficient way. Advertising plays a

critical channel of communication between enterprises and consumers. By various types of

advertisements, it could greatly enhance the company's image and attract potential customers.

Under the increasing popularity in the gaming industry and social media, mobile advertising

is all around. The feeling of audiences after watching mobile advertisements has become

highly irritated. Mobile advertising greatly affects our lives and distracts us. Therefore, the

advertisement should be banned due to the inevitably irritated feeling brought by the

frequency of advertisement, placement on the webpage.   

[Argument 1]

The information of advertisements triggers the sentimental feeling of recipients due to the

frequency of advertisements, therefore advertisements should be banned. The mobile

advertising of the company aims at its profits and promotion, especially in reaching diverse

customers. However, when the same advertisement comes out all the time and repeats in a

short period, the advertisement will become fretful. A daily example is that when we are

using YouTube, we can press skip to avoid viewing advertisements that we do not want to

see. When we watch the advertisement again, we will feel annoyed and irritated. The problem

of both the frequency of repeated advertisements and the high quantity of different

advertisements are significant. Vander Waldt et al. (2009) found that recipients exhausted of

advertising will trigger a cynical attitude. Therefore, as advertisements are not tailor-made to

all recipients, it is not acceptable to nonstop showing advertisements or things that audiences

are unwilling to see. They will be annoyed easily. It is ludicrous to establish an

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advertisement, making people mad. Therefore, the advertisement must be banned to stop the

inevitably irritated feeling of audiences.

[Argument 2]

The arrangement of the website in presenting advertisements is one of the factors that lead to

recipients’ annoyance, resulting in need of banning advertisements.

● Lin and Chen (2017): “with the rapid development of the mobile internet, consumers use

smartphones not only for communication but also for other activities, such as surfing the

web and participating in mobile business.” Advertising is disruptive 

● Oh and Xu (2003): “entertainment significantly affects the general situation, network

situation and behavioral intention in mobile marketing situation.” Pop-ups &

advertisements appear before the page content

● Park et al. (2008): “the communication methods used in mobile advertising can be

categorized into push and pull types.” Adverts play music suddenly + no close button

leave users with no choice

[Counterargument]

Some may agree that the content of advertisements could bring positive effects and

information in promoting new products to potential customers, especially for those hard- to-

reach customers.

[Refutation]

However, advertisements show information that is not that highly related to the product and

has targeted the wrong customer group.

● e.g. Red Bull advert: “Red Bull gives you wings” exaggeration

● e.g. Some property adverts: no information of the property price, address, and

transportation packages essential to potential buyers

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● Boateng et al. (2015): irrelevant information increases viewers’ irritation level

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References

Boateng, H., Okoe, A., & Omane, A. (2016). Does personal innovativeness moderate the effect

of irritation on consumers’ attitudes towards mobile advertising? Journal of Direct, Data and

Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 201-210. doi: 10.1057/dddmp.2015.53

Lin, H., & Chen, Z. (2017). Effects of mobile text advertising on consumer purchase tntention: A

moderated mediation analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1022-1022.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01022 

Oh, L. B., & Xu., H. (2003). Effects of multimedia on mobile consumer behavior: an empirical

study of location-aware advertising. 24 International Conference on Information Systems.

th

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.94.5084&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Park, T., Shenoy, R., & Salvendy, G. (2008). Effective advertising on mobile phones: A literature

review and presentation of results from 53 case studies. Behaviour and Information

Technology, 27(5), 355-373. doi: 10.1080/01449290600958882. 

Van der Waldt, D. L. R. , Rebello, T.M., & Brown, W.J. (2009). Attitudes of young consumers

towards SMS advertising. African Journal of Business Management, 3(9), 444-452.

http://hdl.handle.net/2263/11605

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Final Term Paper (15%)

Building on your work in the outline and the literature review, you will now complete
the final term paper.

A. Requirements
1. You must write about the same topic as you did in the outline. You can change
the topic in the final term paper only if you are granted permission by the
lecturer.
2. You must write a 5-paragraph argumentative essay of 1,000-1,200 words.
3. The term paper must cite from at least three secondary sources. Every direct
or indirect quotation must be cited accurately in APA 7th style.
4. It must include a reference page. Carefully follow APA 7 th guidelines when doing
citations and documentations.
5. The secondary sources that you refer to should be based on your literature
review, and the most pertinent sources addressed previously need to be
covered in this final paper. If you use sources that are not part of literature
review, you should make sure that they are sources with high credibility, such
as academic journals, reference books and authoritative newspaper articles. Do
not use online sources such as Wikipedia, Baidu, blogs, or unverified websites.
You may be penalized for use of unreliable sources.
6. You must submit the soft copy of your paper to Turnitin. Submission via emails
will NOT be accepted.
7. Plagiarism will result in failure of the paper, or even the whole course. The
lecturer has no obligation to inform you about the failure. It is imperative that
you check your work carefully and make sure all of the direct and indirect
quotations are properly documented.
8. The reference page is exclusive of the word count.

In addition, please refer to the following formatting requirements:

1. Font: Arial/Garamond/Times New Roman
2. Size 12; double spacing; 1-inch margins

B. Due date: Week 11 (23:59, __________________________)

C. Submission
You must submit a soft copy of your paper to Turnitin. Submission via emails will NOT
be accepted. Late submission of assignments will result in a sub-grade deduction for
each day of late submission (i.e. an assignment submitted one day after the due date
that is graded as B will be recorded as B- and so forth). Assignments that are submitted
more than seven days after the due date will not be accepted.

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D. Plagiarism
Plagiarism will result in failure of the draft, or even the whole course. The lecturer has
no obligation to inform you about the failure. It is imperative that you check your work
carefully and make sure all of the direct and indirect quotations are properly
documented.