Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. (1st Amendment to the US constitution – 15 December 1791) 

Topics – Select One from the Following Four Topics

1. Is it ever right for governments to restrict freedom of speech?
2. Does free speech apply to social networking sites like Facebook?
3. Read the article Fitbits for Bosses, by Lynn Parramore in chapter one (pgs 30-33). Take a position on the following statement: Do you yhink biometric measurement by employers is ever justified or do the privacy and security of one’s own body outweigh concerns of employers? why or why not?
4. Should the government be able to wiretap the Internet or is this a dangerous expansion of  the government’s surveillance powers? (Read the New York Times article below for more information).

Requirements for your essay 

• Your brief persuasive essay must be in MLA format and two full pages. Do not write more than 600 words as this is not a research paper. You will have several writing opportunities in this course. Write a brief persuasive essay based primarily on  personal opinion.
• Your essay must have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
• Get organized http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/persuasion.pdf before you begin to write.
• Use at least one correctly documented quote, paraphrase, or summary  from one acceptable source (no more than two sources permitted)
• Use MLA rules for documenting your source.
• You must use in-text citations each time you use the words or ideas of your source in the essay. Example – (Jacoby 45).
• You must include your works cited list at the end of your essay (use a good citation generator as previously discussed in the citation exercise or consult purdue owl: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html) .
  Example of Works Cited List Entry – Jacoby, Susan. “A First Amendment Junkie.” From Critical Thinking to Argument: A Portable Guide. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau, eds.Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2017.
• Use your source to support your own ideas.
• Do not create a Frankenstein Essay by copying and pasting. Write!
• Check your originality report in Turnitin and make necessary corrections.  You do not need a password. Just click on the Check Module One Essay for Unintentional Plagiarism drop box in the Module One essay folder and follow the directions.

Additional Resources for Research and Understanding

• American Civil Liberties Union: Free Speech
• National Coalition Against Censorship
• Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
• Employers – Get Outta of My Facebook  (from Bloomberg.Com)
• Internet Censorship ( ACLU)
• First Amendment Center
• Debatepedia  – Freedom of Speech  Debate: Restrictions on Freedom
• Free Speech vs. Hate Speech on FaceBook
• Supreme Court of Florida – Sultaana Freeman v. State of Florida, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
• The U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap  the Internet
• Would Wiretapping Laws Spell the End of Quantum Encryption?