The Seminar Paper Assignment

Write a paper that connects a global or regional trend with developments in your profession as seen in a particular country. You must use the following format. The paper could potentially be made available to the entire Philadelphia University community, so you can assume that your audience is composed of intelligent, college-educated readers who may or may not be familiar with the specifics of your career field.

Your paper, 12-15 pages in length, should be clearly divided into 5 sections with appropriate headings as follows:

I. Introduction -- A maximum of 1-2 pages in which you lay out the subject of the paper.

II. Global Trend/Regional Issue -- Describe the global issue or trend with no discussion of your profession or your country choice. Account for the immediate background of this trend/issue, its scope, who it affects, and its significance. Place it within the overall discussion of globalization as addressed in the course (3-4 pps.).

III. Impact on Your Profession -- Explain how this trend is related to or is having an impact upon your profession (3-4 pps.).

IV. Case Study -- Analyze a specific example of the relationship between the trend and your profession as found within your specific country or region outside the United States -- that is, your case study. Identify the specific factors that shape this example and describe what you learn from studying this case. (4-5 pps.)

V. Implications — Summarize the main points of your report and discuss how this trend/issue is ultimately relevant not only in this particular case/country, but in fact throughout your profession. Discuss ramifications for the future. (1-2 pps.)

Organizing Your Seminar Paper

The material below is intended to help you structure the research and writing of your seminar paper. The suggested topics are not mandatory for every paper, but the papers that successfully fulfill this assignment generally provide the type of information described on this sheet.

Guidelines for writing Section II

In Section II (Global Trend) you should:

1. identify and briefly explain the immediate conditions/forces/changes that have given rise to the trend

2. describe the magnitude or scope of the trend, preferably by using a variety of indicators (number of countries or areas affected, amount of world population, or capital, or vital natural or cultural resources involved, etc.)

3. explain who ( i.e., countries, institutions, industries, etc.) supports the trend, why they support it, and how they have demonstrated their support

4. explain who ( i.e., countries, institutions, industries, etc.) opposes the trend, why they oppose it, and how they have demonstrated their opposition

5. briefly describe and assess the impact of the trend
   

Guidelines for writing Section III

In Section III (Impact on Your Profession), you should think about and research several ways in which your chosen global trend has impacted/is impacting on your profession, including (but not limited to) the following:

• how the global trend has affected the core knowledge/philosophy on which the profession is grounded

• how the global trend has affected the prestige of the profession and/or its relation to other professional fields

• how the global trend has affected conduct of the profession

• how the global trend has affected employment in the profession

• how the global trend has affected morale within the profession

• how the global trend has affected the training of new recruits to the profession
  

Guidelines for writing Section IV

In Section IV (Case Study), you should analyze the impact of your global/regional trend on your profession as it is practiced in a specific country outside of the United States.

Depending on your professional field and the country you are examining, your case study may focus on

• the impact of your global/regional trend of your profession throughout the country, or

• the impact of your trend on one specific corporation, industry or organization in that country, or

• the impact of your trend on the activities of one practitioner of your profession in that country.
  

This is the most focused segment of your seminar paper and an important opportunity to discuss liberal-professional connections. Some topics that your analysis might consider include:

• how the specific context of this country (economic, political, cultural, ethical, and/or historical) shapes the impact of the trend upon your profession there

• what we can learn about this country by analyzing your trend and profession there

• what this specific example reveals about the scope and nature of the trend and the impact it is having on your profession

• whether this example is typical or atypical of the larger trends discussed in your paper