Identity theft
Chapter 7 focuses on understanding your credit report. Abagnale begins the chapter with a story of his son who discovered two fraudulent accounts in his credit report, one that would have been opened when he was eight years old and one Discover card that he never had. He recounted the arduous task of removing that accounts from his son’s credit report. Abagnale points out that a person’s credit report and credit score are critically important in obtaining loans for houses, cars and other assets, when applying to colleges, and in the workforce. Yet, surprisingly, a recent study by the Federal Reserve showed that 70 percent of credit reports contain a mistake. Abagnale’s take home message from the chapter is to frequently check your credit report, which can be done free once a year from each credit bureau (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
Each person’s credit report contains four sections: 1) Identifying information; 2) Credit History; 3) Public Records; and 4) Inquiries. The identifying information contains basic personal information including a person’s name, social security number, and address. Credit history includes a history of a person’s accounts and balances, credit limits, reliability of payments, etc. These play a large role in determining a person’s credit score, which ranges from 300 (worst possible) to 850 (best possible) and is vital in determining whether a person is approved for credit. The third section is blank for many people as it includes information, if applicable, about bankruptcy, tax liens, overdue child support, etc. The inquiries section contains information of all those who have requested your credit report.

Abagnale concludes the chapter by saying “credit history should be handled by a government agency, not by a profit-making organization” (p. 158). Why does he say this? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Research Paper Using Word

This assignment has two goals: 1) have students increase their understanding of the concept of Protecting Personal Information (PPI) and other ethical issues related to the use of information technology through research, and 2) learn to correctly use the tools and techniques within Word to format a research paper, including use of available References and citation tools. These skills will be valuable throughout a student’s academic career. The paper will require a title page, NO abstract, three to four full pages of content with incorporation of a minimum of 3 external resources from credible sources and a Works Cited/References page. Wikipedia and similar general information sites, blogs or discussion groups are not considered creditable sources for a research project. No more than 10% of the paper may be in the form of a direct citation from an external source.

A list of topics from which students can choose is provided below.
Topics for Research Paper

1. Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
2. Social Engineering
3. Employee Monitoring
4. Information Privacy
5. Electronic Medical Records
6. Biometrics (in terms of ethical and privacy issues)
7. Identity Theft
8. Use of Cookies
9. Privacy Laws related to Information Technology use
10. Intellectual Property Rights; Copyright

If there is another topic that addresses ethical issues as related to information technology that is of special interest to you but one that is not in the list above, request permission from your instructor before selecting this alternate topic.

Writing Quality for the Research Paper
* All Grammar, Verb Tenses, Pronouns, Spelling, Punctuation, and Writing Competency should be without error.

* Be particularly careful about mis-matching a noun and pronoun. For example, if you say “A person does this…” then do not use “their” or “they” when referring to that person. “Person” is singular; “their” or “they” is plural.

* Remember: there is not their, your is not you’re, its is not it’s, too is not to or two, site is not cite, and who should be used after an individual, not that. For example, “the person WHO made the speech” not “the person THAT made the speech.”

* In a professional paper one does not use contractions (doesn’t, don’t, etc.) and one does not use the personal I, you or your. Use the impersonal as in the previous sentence. It is more business-like to say “In a professional paper one should not use contractions,” rather than saying, “In a professional paper you don’t use contractions.”
*Remember: spell-check, then proofread. Better yet, have a friend or colleague read it before submitting it. Read it out loud to yourself. Read it as if you are submitting it to your boss.

You can find instructions on how to use the References tool in Word on a PC or on a Mac in the separate file attached here.

Complete rubrics for this paper are found in the table on the next page.
Element # Requirement Points Allocated Comments
01 Paper should be
– double-spaced,
– margins are set to 1” (left, right, top bottom),
– 12 point Arial type is used for all text
– headings, if used, are bold but in 12 point Arial type 0.5 This is the font in normal paragraphs. Heading and title fonts may be in bold, but should remain in 12 point font.
02 Body of the paper is at least three full pages and does not exceed five typed, double-spaced pages. The 3- 5 pages does not include the title and reference pages and these are not included in the page count of the body of the paper. 0.5 Charts and other graphical information are not included in the page count.
03 Title Page which shows title of the paper and the author’s (student’s) name. The title and author’s name should be centered on the title page. 0.5 Title must be appropriate for content
04 At least three (3) APA formatted in-text citations.

If you are not familiar with APA format, it is recommended that you use the References feature in Word for your citations and Reference List or refer to the “Citing and Writing” option under the Resources/Library/Get Help area in the LEO classroom.

It is important to review the final format for APA-style correctness even if generated by Word. 2 These can be anywhere in the document, but the citations must be relevant to what is being referenced and the APA format is used correctly.
05 At least two (2) informational footnotes.

(Note: APA Style does not use footnotes for citations; however, APA style does allow for the incorporation of informational footnotes)

Footnotes are not used to list a reference! Footnotes contain information about the topic to which the footnote has been attached. 1.0 These can be anywhere in the document, but the informational footnotes must be relevant to the associated text. The purpose of this requirement is to effectively incorporate the information and demonstrate that you can use the MS Word footnoting functionality.
06 Reference Page using APA format for references. The References must be on a separate page from the body of the paper.

If you are not familiar with APA format, it is recommended that you use the References feature in Word for your citations and Reference List or refer to the “Citing and Writing” option under the Resources/Library/Get Help area in the LEO classroom.

It is important to review the final format for APA-style correctness even if generated by Word. 1.0 All works listed must be incorporated within the writing of your paper as specified in APA style

07 Describe the topic and ethical issue as it relates to the use of Information Technology 2
08 Discuss the trends, ways individuals and/or organizations are impacted by the issue or are working to prevent the impact. 2
09 Paper must be well-organized, clearly written in a style appropriate for college level work. 1
10 Paper should be grammatically correct and contain no spelling errors. 1.5 Although you should use the Spell Check and Grammar Check function in Word, this will not catch all errors – you are ultimately responsible for proofreading. Direct citations should not exceed 10% of total words (use Word’s ‘word count’ function)
TOTAL: 12