LINGUISTICS
Paper instructions:
Note…
First draft of Part One due 10/17.
Final draft of Part One due 10/31.
Draft of Part Two or complete paper (depending on how you organize it) due 11/14.
Final version of Parts One and Two (= the complete term paper) due Thursday 12/5 (last day of class).

 
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Linguistics 21. Moore, Fall 2013
Term paper assignment for part one
Overview of the crucial dates for the project:
– Decide on your topic and tell me by email by Thursday October 10th (kevin.moore@sjsu.edu). This is
just an informal email –– it does not receive a grade.
First draft of Part One due 10/17.
Final draft of Part One due 10/31.
Draft of Part Two or complete paper (depending on how you organize it) due 11/14.
Final version of Parts One and Two (= the complete term paper) due Thursday 12/5 (last day of class).
Total length of the complete paper parts one and two combined: at least 2100 words (about 8 pages). With
each draft that you turn in except the first, please turn in the previous draft with my comments on it. Please
also submit each draft to turnitin.com. Also you will need to give a short (10 minute max) presentation about
your paper to the class. I will give you details on this later.
Here is what you have to do:
For Part One: Identify an issue of broad social importance on which there is disagreement. This could be any
issue that affects society as a whole. (There is a list of suggestions below.) Research the issue and identify
two positions on the issue that are opposite to each other; i.e.: one position in favor of and the other
against a claim that you identify (“pro” vs. “con”, that is). Decide which arguments are the best and most
common on each side. Analyze and evaluate the arguments of each side, identifying premises and
conclusions, including any that may be unstated. Clearly present the results of your analysis; that is, say
whether the arguments are good or not, and why. Discuss any mistakes in reasoning (fallacies) that you may
find (but you are not required to find fallacies). Explain any background assumptions that may be involved.
Briefly state which position you favor and why.
Your writeup of Part One should consist of the following: i) A brief statement of the issue. ii) A brief
description of each position and its arguments. iii) Your analysis of the arguments. iv) References to the
materials that you cite. You should cite at least two sources for each of the opposite positions. That’s a total
of at least four sources. You may need to look at more than four documents/publications to find the relevant
arguments. The material you cite has to go into more depth than the newspapers and news magazines do.
Suggested length for Part One: three pages, not including the references. This is not a requirement or limit ––
if you think two pages is enough, that’s okay, and you can write as many pages as you want.
After you give me your rough draft, I’ll make comments on it and give it back to you before you write the
final draft. That way I can help you understand what you need to do before I have to grade your work.
Please type and double- (or one-and-a-half-) space, and use approximately one-inch margins, as you have
for the homeworks. All of what you turn in should be your own work, written specifically for this
assignment. I want to see your analysis in your own words. If you include any materiel that comes from
someone else, put it in quotes and cite the source. (You do not have to include quoted material, and if you do,
don’t include much.) Don’t cut and paste from the web. If you copy anything without acknowledging it, or
turn in a paper that has been turned in elsewhere, you will fail the course.
Everything you include in your paper should be directly relevant to describing and analyzing the positions
and arguments you are writing about. Do not include facts for their own sake; do not include extra
background information. But please do include necessary background information and assumptions.
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Some topics of broad social importance are listed below. You may want to focus on a specific issue within
one of these topics, for example a specific struggle in congress, a specific election, a government policy, a
trial in court, a proposition on the ballot, or issues having to do with university funding. In any case, most of
the topics below need to be made more specific. Feel free to suggest a different topic (by email or in person)
if you have ideas on what you want to write about.
Topic suggestions:
• Education. (Sources of funding for universities. [e.g. taxes or student fees]; benefits to the individual and to
society; the right to higher ed.) Oil severance tax. Online education as a solution to crisis in
education. Education vouchers; charter schools. Solutions to the student debt crisis.
• Tax cuts for corporations. Tax cuts for the rich. Corporate bailouts, Corporate subsidies, Bank bailouts.
Loopholes and tax policy, offshore tax havens. Corporate personhood.
• Welfare and social programs.
• Economic issues. (If you choose this, be sure to write about something you understand.) Suggested issues:
The deficit, the cause of the current economic problems, fraud by banks, regulation/deregulation,
methods of solving economic problems (e.g. taxation and cutting spending), capitalism vs. socialism,
free trade agreements, corporate mergers, taxes. Should corporations have the same rights as people?
(Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission) The occupation of Wall Street. The cause of the
world financial crisis. Tax increases for people and corporations earning certain (high) amounts of
money. Seizure of property by local governments for the purpose of saving people’s homes
(Richmond CA).
• Diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender (equal pay for equal work, maternity leave, abortion), gender
identity, sexual orientation (same-sex marriage), age). The banning of high school ethnic studies in
Tucson Arizona. The elimination of African American studies programs and other ethnic and
women’s studies programs. The need for Black history month.
• Human Rights.
• Civil Liberties. Sample issues: Government surveillance, NSA data gathering, the case of Edward
Snowden. DNA sampling of arrestees, DNA privacy rights, freedom of speech, the case of Lynn
Stewart (convicted of aiding a terrorist), freedom of information on the internet, the wikileaks
controversy, control of information flow on the internet (“net neutrality”), the right to protest,
detention/prisons, Guantánamo, extraordinary rendition, trials, torture.); the case of José Padilla; the
case of Bradley Manning; Wikileaks. Extraordinary rendition and the conviction in Italy of CIA
agents. The privatization of national security. The death penalty. Gang injunctions. Prisoners’ rights.
Solitary confinement. Journalist and attorney access to prisoners. Killing of suspected terrorists
(including U.S. citizens) by the U.S. government. The use of drones for targeted killings. Acquisition
of drones by police departments in the U.S. Use of drones for surveillance. Peter King and the
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“radicalization of Muslims” hearings. Surveillance of Muslims; e.g. by the New York Police
Department. The right to vote and voter suppression, purges of registered voters.
• Union rights. Legal efforts to limit the influence of unions; e.g. Scott Walker’s efforts in Wisconsin. “Right
to Work” laws.
• Foreign Policy (e.g., military action (e.g. the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the threat of war on Iran,
attacking Syria), economic sanctions, covert actions, policy towards Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela (or
other countries), nuclear disarmament.
• Language Policy (e.g., bilingual education, other policies regarding language and education [e.g., Ebonics],
policies restricting the use of languages other than English, bilingual voting materials, laws against
“hate speech”)
• Social Policy (e.g., affirmative action, school desegregation, health care, prisons, education, death penalty,
homelessness, welfare)
• Immigration policy (laws, Arizona’s SB 1070, border patrols, driver’s licenses, the social benefits or
detriments of immigration). Other immigration laws and policies in other states; e.g. Alabama’s HB
56. Operation Community Shield; “Secure communities.”
• The environment: global warming and other pollution issues, genetic engineering (of crops or animals, e.g.
genetically engineered salmon), cloning (e.g. of livestock), chemicals given to livestock. Nuclear
power. Biofuels. Electric cars. The diversion of water from northern to central and southern
California. The privatization of natural resources. Obtaining natural gas by hydraulic fracturing
(fracking). Mother earth has rights.
• The outing of Valerie Plame Wilson; the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
• Claims that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The facts behind the 9/11
terrorist attacks, and exactly what happened that day.
• Health care. (The health care debate/crisis, publicly funded health care (“the public option”) vs. private
health insurance, the healthcare industry.)
• Decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, or other government
agencies.
• Specific legal cases (e.g. Mumia Abu Jamal, Troy Davis, the killing of Oscar Grant III by Johannes
Mehserle, the killing of Trayvon Marin by George Zimmerman.)
• Specific political races.
• Women’s rights. The rights of rape victims.

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linguistics
how do we recognize behaviours as communicative, and why is this important for the evolution of human communication?
Comments from Support Team: the course is about evolutionary linguistics. the sources should be written within the essay. I mean you should mention the writer name and year after every information in the essay. the last page should give the whole reference arranged as the UK system in writing

linguistics
how do we recognize behaviours as communicative, and why is this important for the evolution of human communication?
Comments from Support Team: the course is about evolutionary linguistics. the sources should be written within the essay. I mean you should mention the writer name and year after every information in the essay. the last page should give the whole reference arranged as the UK system in writing