ESSAY TOPIC:
Is it right for intelligence to be involved in covert action, denial and deception, propaganda, or promoting or stirring up conspiracies for purposes of misleading an enemy, an adversary, or tampering with civil society?
Paper Guidelines:
– There is no need to follow APA format or write in a typical term paper fashion. Writing should be in your own words. Do not cut and paste anything and there’s no need for citations (although name-dropping is OK if you feel the need to mention something or someone foundational to what you are talking about).
– Please do not waste time introducing or educating your reader on what the definition or description of something is. Go straight to the heart or core of the matter/issue and try to write as if you are addressing a knowledgeable, educated audience [This WHO IS THE AUDIENCE advice applies similarly to the PowerPoint assignment].
– Do not plagiarize.
– Try to express a good-natured attitude, critical insight, or “tone” of voice [This VOICE advice applies similarly to Discussion]. In fact, “tone of voice” is one of the RUBRICS used in grading.
GRADING RUBRIC #1:
• 20% Good taste in forceful (confident) expression of emphasis about things that might be morally or otherwise outrageous to the student (control of language, tone, disingenuousness, signaling, sarcasm, corny humor, etc.)
• 20% Good taste (and gracefulness) in handling/stretching one’s thoughts toward ideas that the student thinks are way over their head or otherwise frustrating to understand (tolerance for ambiguity and complexity)
• 20% Good taste (and open-mindedness) on judgments in addressing issues that involve diversity, inclusion/exclusion, multiculturalism, racism, sexism, or ethnocentrism (tolerance, wokeness)
• 20% Good taste (and insightfulness) at concisely getting to some kind of plan or proposal that will “fix” a problem without sounding too optimistic or too pessimistic about things (fairness, empathy, justice)
• 20% Good taste in showing progressive (creative) development of reflective thought, changes of opinion, learning, and opportunities for personal growth RUBRIC #2: You may perceive limited feedback on your essays, or fail to comprehend the feedback, so the following scale for grading a 15-pt assignment might be helpful:
• 12-15 points – exceptionally concise, clear, and thorough grasp of a critical aspect
• 9-11 points – marginally superior work that is focused and relevant without sacrificing comprehensiveness
• 6-8 points – general understanding expressed in general terms but lacking in insight, focus, clarity, or some component of “voice”
• 5 pts or less – misunderstanding, confusion, irrelevance, carelessness; looks like work was done to just get it over with
SOURCES:
– The textbook used in this course is: Intelligence Analysis (2021) by Thomas O’Connor – I would like for you to use some of the information from this book into the paper. If you cannot get access, I can provide it if needed just let me know.
Try to leave “opinions” out of the essay. This is just feedback from previous papers that will need to be taken in when writing this one.