Cybersecurity-related Technical Systems

Analytical Paper. For this assignment, you will produce a paper-length analysis of the social meaning and impact of cybersecurity-related technical systems. It’ll be easier than it sounds. You’ll produce a rough draft of most the paper by combining two to three of the discussion board assignments you’ve already completed. After that, you’ll edit and revise so that it reads smoothly, and then add a final section with a concluding analysis. In the end, you’ll have a 1200+ word paper that draws from and draws together work that you’ve done throughout the course.

Works Cited: You are required to do a works cited page (choose eith APA or MLA) if sources are used. The works cited is not to be counted in your overall word count. If you use any information not of your own and have not cited it, this is considered plagarism. Even with sources, the content of your paper must be in your own words. Please keep in mind the student code of conduct (as with all courses).

Assignment detail

Grading rubric

Analytical Paper
Technology & Society

Summary

For this assignment, you will produce a newspaper op-ed article which is an analysis of the social meaning and impact of cybersecurity-related technical systems. It’ll be easier than it sounds. You’ll produce a rough draft of most of the paper by combining two to three of the discussion board assignments you’ve already completed. After that, you’ll edit and revise so that it reads smoothly, and then add a final section with a concluding analysis. In the end, you’ll have a 1200+ word paper that draws from and brings together work that you’ve done throughout the course.  See the grading rubric for detailed grading criteria regarding the quality of your writing.

Your Role

Imagine you are ten or so years into your career and a respected authority in cybersecurity.  You have enough experience to form an opinion on potential impacts, both good and not-so-good, these technologies may have on our broader society.  You have been asked by your local newspaper to contribute to the publications’ Op-Ed section and share your thoughts with local readers.

The Audience

Newspaper articles are intended for a broad, general audience.  Articles that are too genre-specific, or technical in nature usually have to be edited to be understandable to this general audience.  Your writing must subscribe to this notion, as you are educating the reader on technical concepts.  So, this will require you to reduce technical or cyber-security related jargon to everyday terms that a layman will understand – something you will find necessary throughout your professional career. 

The Format

The format for this assignment is an op-ed article for a local newspaper

Requirements (Your Task)

This will be an analytical paper as done in the humanities, but with a business writing twist. We expect writing to offer rational justifications of a given position, and that means we want to see…

• Writing in the first person, without falling into merely personal statements. Say what you believe, but only assert that others should agree insofar as you are able to provide compelling arguments in support of your belief.
• Rationally persuasive writing. Argue in favor of your view, but only using legitimate argumentation—don’t appeal to emotion, don’t exploit ambiguity, don’t descend to slippery slopes, ad hominems, or other logical fallacies in your treatment of views you disagree with. You should always assume that those who you disagree with have good reasons for their (perhaps quite incorrect) views, and those you disagree with and their positions should be taken seriously and considered in their best possible light.
• Frank admission of ambivalence. Our concerns are not of a kind that can easily be resolved, and any honest analysis of a complicated issue should recognize that there are important topics unaddressed, important questions unanswered, and important criticisms unresolved. So, you’ll want to make sure that you acknowledge this in your conclusion.

Just like your manager at work, the reader of a newspaper has limited time and an even more limited span of attention.  Therefore, your article must start with a clearly defined Bottom-Line-Up-Front (BLUF).  That is, let the reader know, immediately, what you are writing about and your position.  Additionally, the paper must contain proper headers, guideposts for the reader indicating the subtopic being discussed.  Remember, do not make your boss work to understand your paper!

This kind of writing may be less familiar to you than other kinds, but your discussion board entries and other writing will prepare you well. If it’s helpful, you can think of an analytical paper as similar to a position paper. In a position paper, you’re supposed to pick a position and defend it, and in this paper, you’re supposed to analyze the situation and put forth your best understanding and defend it. The difference is that the main point isn’t to win an argument, but to work toward a better understanding by putting forth a position in your analysis while recognizing that it’s incomplete and that other views have points worth taking seriously too.

The Task at Hand…

To complete the assignment, go through these steps:

1. Gather together three of your discussion board posts that fit well together.

2. Put them together in an order that makes sense. Your paper should begin with a theoretically-based position, followed by detailed considerations. If you feel confident writing this kind of paper and you think a different ordering will work better for your analysis, you may arrange them differently.

1. Look at the breaks between paragraphs within each section, and the breaks between sections. Add in transitions and comments so that the whole thing looks like a paper that you wrote all at once.
2. Add a concluding section. The concluding section, clearly indicated by a “Conclusion” header, shouldn’t contain your argument in favor of your analysis—that should be happening from the beginning and throughout the first three sections. Instead, your conclusion should be reflective by (a). Summarizing your position and connect it to the evidence you’ve provided, (b). considering objections or alternate analyses, (c). responding to them (but it’s okay not to have all the answers!), and (d.) summarizing your overall analysis, including your position, evidence for it, the evidence against it, and alternative positions.
3. Look through the Analytical Paper rubric included along with these instructions on Blackboard. Make sure that you have done each one of these things, and—aside from items 2 and 3, which happen throughout the paper—LABEL the location in your paper where you think you are most clearly accomplishing that objective. Just put in a (1) or (4) or whatever at the start of the most relevant paragraph. This will help you to make sure you’ve done everything, and it will help to make sure nothing gets overlooked so that you can get the grade your work deserves!

1. Check to see if you’re at 1200 words yet. If not, look for places that seem weak or incomplete and add more material there. Once you’re at 1200 words or more, read the whole thing OUT LOUD to yourself or someone else and fix the parts that don’t make sense or otherwise need fixing.  The paper must be no more than 5 pages.  Remember, it takes time to develop your point in a concise fashion, so expect to take a few edits to eliminate redundancies and to compact your writing.

You’re set. Submit your finished Analytical Paper through SafeAssign on Blackboard, using the link under Assignment Submissions. You will also use this assignment when completing your ePortfolio.

Suggested Outline

1. Clearly state your position on either 1) the development of cyber-policy/infrastructure or 2) changes needed in regulation or limits on markets/businesses/groups/individuals. 
2. Contributing Topic 1
3. Contributing Topic 2
4. Conclusion
5. Works Cited (Required) in-line text citations are required. Use APA or MLA.

Please REMEMBER to use headers to guide you reader through the paper.  Papers with missing headings (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc…) will be marked down.

Submission

Submit through the blackboard “Assignment Submissions” tab.

If you did not cite your sources this is considered plagiarism.