Do not use a thesis like “This paper will discuss how the Ten Commandments and

Benjamin Franklin would respond to bullying on social media.” That is a good topic but

does not capture the specific claims you will defend. A better thesis would be “To

reduce bullying on social media, the Ten Commandments would tell people to ____,

while Benjamin Franklin would stress the importance of ____.”

2. Ethical Challenge: Present background information about the ethical challenge you

have chosen, including quotes or paraphrases from reputable outside sources such as

reliable news articles or websites.

3. The Ten Commandments: Describe how the Ten Commandments would tell people to

respond to the ethical challenge. Include at least 2 direct quotes from Exodus 20.

4. Ben Franklin: Describe how Franklin would tell people to respond to the ethical

challenge. Include at least 2 direct quotes from the assigned Franklin selection. You can

draw from his list of virtue or from other parts of the text.

5. Compare and Contrast: Discuss the similarities and differences between how the Ten

Commandments and Franklin would respond to the ethical challenge. Would their

advice be mostly the same? Would it differ in certain ways? For this, draw on evidence

and examples from your earlier paragraphs.

6. Conclusion: Signal the end of the paper and review your thesis and main ideas. End

with a memorable closing. If you want, you can include your own opinion on which text

(or both) is more helpful in addressing your chosen issue.

For the required quotes from Exodus 20 and Franklin, use the original readings on pp. 45-46

and 55-61 of the iBook. For these quotes, do not use the iBook introductions to the readings,

the course videos and notes, or any other sources, such as outside websites. In addition to

these required iBook quotes, you will also cite two outside sources with background details on

your chosen topic.

Grading: Your grade will be calculated using the attached Dialogues paper rubric, with

Content Area worth 30% and all other rows worth 10%. Writing Strategy concerns the paper

genre and the compare and contrast paragraph. Content Area concerns detailed and accurate

information from the course readings and outside research, as well as correct paper length,

quotes, sources, and paragraphs as outlined above. For Layout and Documentation, follow APA

style. Further details about rubric items and criteria can be found on the rubric itself.

Documentation: Here is advice for your APA style in-text citations and References page.

Exodus 20

In-text citations – Put the relevant verse number where I have ___. The verses are the

numbers at the beginning of certain sentences. The words “Everett Fox translation” only go

First citation (Exodus 20:___, Everett Fox translation)

Later citations (Exodus 20:___)

References page – Since the Bible is a major classical work, APA style says you should not

list it on the References page. Surprising, but true.

Franklin

In-text citations – Put the relevant page number where I have ___.

(Franklin, 1793/2019, p. ___)

References page

Franklin, B. (2019). Autobiography. In C. Simpson, M. Lewis, J. H. Hall, and C. Rice (Eds.),

Dialogues of belief and reason level 100 (5th ed., pp. 55-61). Boca Raton, FL: Lynn

University. (Original work published 1793)

Outside Sources

For outside sources, visit the Lynn Library APA site and use the tabs there. For example,

there are options for books, websites, and many other types of sources. If you paraphrase

from an outside source (put things entirely in your own words), you still need an in-text

citation and References page entry. For paraphrases, you leave out quotation marks but still

include these forms of documentation.

Canvas Materials

Do not cite the materials I have posted to Canvas in place of the required quotes from the

readings. If you need to quote or paraphrase from my materials in addition to the required

quotes (from my videos, notes, etc.), you can cite them by explaining in the text of the

paper “As Dr. Rice says in his lecture video…” and then using quotation marks for a quote or

putting things in your own words. For these kinds of materials, there is nothing that goes in

parentheses or on the References page.