UWT/TCSS Position Paper Review Form

TCSS 325: Computers, Ethics, and Society

Version 27 July 2007

Reviewer's name: _____________________________________

Paper author's name: __________________________________

Title of Paper: _______________________________________

To the reviewer: Your task is to provide your seminar partners with honest and serious input. Your critique should focus on whether the author's paper is well constructed, not on whether it reflects your views. The basic question here is "how can this paper be improved?" Your comments should be straightforward and helpful. Say it nicely, but don't hold back. Answering the questions on this form does not preclude identifying specific spelling and grammatical errors in the text. Make sure to bring two copies to class on the due date, and give one to the student whose paper you reviewed and one to the professor.

To the paper author: Examine these comments critically. Even if you think they are wrong, why do you think she/he picked up on a certain point? Is it a weakness in your paper? Is it something about the way you phrase it? The final choice is yours, but you must take your reader seriously.

Review questions to address

1. Summarize the technology.
2. Summarize the public policy.
3. Summarize the author's position on the policy.
4. Into which of the main ethical theories that we explored would you place it?
5. What is the argument that the author uses to defend his/her position? Summarize it. Don't mention how they argue (e.g. "the author uses several examples to illustrate ..."), but rather, provide the argument itself (e.g. "the author gives an example of ... to show that ...")
6. Is there a bibliography? Is it properly formatted? Is it properly referenced in the body of the paper? Are the bibliographic sources authoritative? Does the author substantiate her/his claims with reference to the bibliography? How might the argument be improved with additional bibliographic support?
7. What do you like best about the paper?
8. What do you like least about the paper?
9. Other comments? Can you suggest any additional sources?

This form was adapted from the Critical Response forms developed by Dr. Michael Forman, IAS faculty at UWT, for his "Evidence and Action" course. The instructions for reviewer and author are taken verbatim from Dr. Forman's Critical Response 1. Questions 3 - 6 are verbatim from Critical Response 1, except question 3 asks additional questions about the bibliography; The remaining questions are adapted from Critical Response 1 and 3 to fit the current course.