Final Seminar Paper Assignment (350 pts)

Final Due Date:

Task:

Write a 12-15 page research paper that explains the connections between a specific global

trend and current developments in your professional field.  Your paper must organize its factual

evidence to support your arguments in three thesis-based sections (see details below). 

Audience: The paper’s content and arguments must be written for a knowledgeable audience

who is interested in the economic, social, cultural, political, historical and ethical dimensions of

the issues (not just students or faculty in your major).

Format:

Your paper will be divided into three sections.  Each section must have its own heading and be

organized around its own thesis statement (4-5 pages per section):

1. Global trend/issue (your choice, in consultation with your professor)

• Implications of the trend for your professional field worldwide

• Analysis of how this global trend is affecting your professional field in one specific country (choose from the country list provided by your instructor)

CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION:

Section 1: Global Trend or Issue

This section describes and analyzes a specific global or regional trend.  For the purposes of this

assignment, a global trend is an historic (since World War II or later) significant international

social, economic, cultural or political development that is changing over time and has major

impact on a large proportion of the world’s population.  Such trends are both causes and effects

of innovation, development, and change and your analysis must explain the trend in terms of

both cause and effect. Your chosen trend must extend beyond your major or professional field; it

cannot exist only or primarily in your field or major. In this section, you must describe the

trend’s history, size, characteristics, and ways in which different actors (meaning in this case

global, regional, national and local governments, organizations (IGOs, NGOs,) business

(MNCs), professional societies and networks, workers organizations, and influential individuals)

have debated their support or opposition to its development. You must address:

• History of the trend: identify and briefly explain the conditions/forces/changes that are causing and driving the trend.  Why is this trend occurring now?

• Size and direction of the trend: describe the intensity, scope, and pace of the trend, preferably by using a variety of indicators (number of countries, areas, or people affected, amounts of resources involved, growth rate of the trend, etc.).  Provide evidence to prove that the trend is having significant global (or regional) effects.

• Perspectives on the trend:  depending on the nature of the trend, outline the current debates about or responses to it.  If appropriate, explain who or what (i.e., countries, institutions, industries, public figures, etc.) supports the trend, why they support it, and how they have demonstrated their support, and then do the same for opposition to the trend.  If your trend cannot be analyzed in terms of “support” and “opposition,” then discuss any public controversies or policy debates that the trend has inspired worldwide.

Section 2: Global Implications for Your Profession

This section must analyze how your professional field is impacted by and is responding to your

global trend globally or regionally.  It is just as important to maintain a global perspective in this

section as in the previous section; do not focus specifically on the United States, nor make

generalizations based on U.S. data.  This provides a valuable opportunity to demonstrate your

ability to combine your College Studies education with the skills and knowledge you have

gained in your professional major. In other words, you must demonstrate your ability to make

liberal professional connections.  Here are questions you should answer in order to accomplish

this task:

• In what specific ways is your profession being impacted by the global trend discussed in Section I, in terms of priorities of the profession, ways it is being practiced, taught, etc.?
• What are the main viewpoints of leading professionals worldwide regarding this trend?  Do differences in location and culture influence how professionals in your field are responding to this trend?  In addition to aggregate data if available, use several examples from outside the United States to illustrate your profession’s intersection with and response to the trend and to support your more general points.
• What conclusions can you draw about the significance of this trend for your professional field and about how your professional field worldwide is dealing with or responding to this trend? 

Section 3: Impact on Your Profession: Country Case Study

This section must analyze the impact of your global trend on your profession, and the responses of practitioners, as it is practiced in one of the countries on the list provided by your instructor.  The country itself must be as much the focus here as the trend and the profession.  Focus on how the specific context of this country (economic, political, cultural, ethical, and/or historical factors) helps explains the impact of the trend upon your profession in that country. Explain what people can learn about your country by analyzing your trend and profession in that country.  Depending on your professional field and the country you are examining, Section 3 will present and support a thesis statement that focuses on:

• the impact of your global/regional trend on your profession as a whole throughout the country;  or
• the impact of your trend on one specific corporation, industry or organization within your profession in that country; or
• the impact of your trend on the activities of one significant practitioner of your profession in that country.

You should conclude Section 3 by projecting into the future, speculating on how the trend in

question might continue to impact your professional area both in the country you’ve addressed

here and beyond, reflecting on the possible ramifications this may have for your field in the years

ahead.