Apply the work of Karl Marx in analyzing capitalism in modern America.
A. – Fully describe at least three major ideas/concepts in the work of Marx.
B. – Apply each of them to the characteristics, processes, and/or outcomes of modern American capitalism in providing your assessment of whether the work of Marx is useful in understanding modern capitalism. Present specific evidence to support whatever position you take.
Label each section (A. and B.)
In doing section A. of this assignment, information on the theorist (Marx for this week’s assignment) must be presented from only the textbook to support this part of the analysis, not any other sources.
In section B. there must be information from the textbook and at least two outside sources to support your analysis. The outside sources can be but need not be from academic sources. They must, however, be credible sources. Someone’s blog rantings or an opinion article would not be an appropriate source.
Discussion participation requirements
As is the case in a face-to-face classroom environment, discussion of the topics and issues we will be covering is an essential part of the course experience. In addition, the work you will be doing on the discussion assignments will prepare you for the kinds of work you will be asked to do on the Comprehensive Exam. You will be posting responses to discussion questions in the first eight weeks of the term and will also be posting at least two substantive replies to classmates for each of the discussion questions in each of these weeks.
Here are the requirements that you need to meet to ensure that you maximize what you can accomplish on this part of the course.
1. The minimum length requirement for your responses to the discussion questions the instructor posts is 600 words each. To earn any credit, your post must meet this minimum. Not surprisingly, the most effective responses to discussion questions well-exceed the minimum. A sample essay written by a student in a previous edition of this course is provided for you in the discussions area of the course.
2. As noted above, you must also post two responses to your classmates for each of the discussion questions to which you respond each of the assigned weeks. These must be at least 150 words in length each. To earn any credit, each of the two required replies to your classmates must meet this minimum. And as shown on the Discussion Question Rubric, to earn the maximum points for replies, multiple pieces of information must be incorporated and cited in each of at least two replies.
3. With regard to replies to your classmates, we are not looking for statements of agreement but rather substantive discussion. Do not post replies to your classmates in which you simply articulate that you agree with what they posted. Pick some with which you disagree, indicate your opinion, and then explain your reasoning and the evidence you find persuasive.
4. In a graduate course, we naturally want you to support your discussion question responses and replies to classmates with evidence from the course material. There is enough unsubstantiated speculation floating around and we don’t want to add to it! You will earn more points on your replies when you do this, as per the grading rubric. And make sure to cite and reference the information you include from that material. In-text citations must include author, year of publication, and page number. APA recommends but does not require including page numbers in summarized or paraphrased information taken from sources. But in this course, we will follow the APA recommendation and include page numbers in ALL citations, for both quotations and paraphrased information. And remember that direct quotes must also be in quotation marks to distinguish them from your own writing. Paraphrased information is information that you have obtained from a source (such as our textbook) but that you have rewritten entirely in your own words.
Proofread what you write and take a moment to run the spellchecker before hitting the “submit” button. As in all written assignments in this course, writing is part of the grading. I encourage you to use Grammarly. It is free and will definitely help your writing. (I know it helps me!) www.grammarly.comLinks to an external site.