The document outlines a grading rubric for a capstone essay assignment in an ethics course. It provides criteria in several categories, including content, style, tone, understanding, argument, and structure. For each category, it lists levels of achievement from advanced to not present and the associated points earned. It also provides space for instructor comments. The rubric will be used to evaluate students' capstone essays based on how well they meet the outlined criteria.

1. ETHC 101
Capstone Essay Grading Rubric
Criteria
Levels of Achievement
Content
Advanced
Proficient
Developing
Not Present
Points Earned
Thesis Statement
20 points
First paragraph includes a thesis statement and final
paragraph(s) reflect accomplishment of the thesis.
14 to 19 points
Contains something that is close to a proper thesis statement
and the conclusion basically reflects its accomplishment.
1 to 13 points
Thesis statement is unclear and conclusion does not clearly
reflect its accomplishment.
0 points
No thesis statement and conclusion is unconnected to any thesis
Style
28 to 30 points
Appropriately academic style of writing, free of slang,
informalities, sermonizing, anecdotes, etc.
21 to 27 points
Occasional lapses from academic style, such as slang,
informalities, sermonizing, anecdotes, etc.
1 to 20 points
Frequent lapses from academic style, such as slang,
informalities, sermonizing, anecdotes, etc.
0 points

2. Style is completely non-academic
Tone
28 to 30 points
Appropriately philosophical tone: obvious care for objectivity
and respectful consideration of multiple perspectives; nuanced
and insightful discussion of positions and arguments.
21 to 27 points
Occasional lapses into subjectivity; some one-sidedness;
positions and arguments are painted with a broad brush, etc.
1 to 20 points
Many lapses into subjectivity; consistent one-sidedness;
positions and arguments lack detail and nuance, etc.
0 points
No attempt at writing with a philosophical tone.
Understanding
28 to 30 points
Discussion reflects detailed knowledge of the issues in
metaethics taught in the course and very appropriate application
of this knowledge to the applied ethics issue selected.
21 to 27 points
Discussion reflects some knowledge of the issues in metaethics
taught in the course and a reasonable attempt to apply this
knowledge to a selected issue in applied ethics.
1 to 20 points
Discussion reflects some but not much knowledge of
metaethical issues, perhaps with some minor confusion, and
some attempt to apply this to the chosen issue.
0 points
Discussion reflects no knowledge of the metaethical issues
taught in the course.
Argument
28 to 30 points
Argumentation is logical (free of fallacies, including appeal to

3. emotion).
21 to 27 points
Argument is basically logical, though with some appeal to
emotion, unsupported assertions, or other similar issues.
1 to 20 points
Argument falls short of being logical by committing multiple
fallacies, appealing to emotion, making unsupported assertions,
or other problems of this sort.
0 points
No argument is present
Structure
Advanced
Proficient
Developing
Not Present
Points Earned
Length
15 points
Meets length requirement: 2100-2400 words (including
footnotes, title page, table of contents, and bibliography).
10 to 14 points
Word count exceeds 2400.
1 to 9 points
Word count is less than 2100 words.
0 points
Document is blank
Components
15 points
Contains a title page, table of contents, footnotes, and
bibliography.
10 to 14 points
Some required components missing.
1 to 9 points
Many required components missing.

4. 0 points
All required components are missing.
Format
15 points
Body of paper is double-spaced with 1-inch margins and 12 pt.
Times New Roman font; footnotes are single-spaced 10pt.
Times New Roman; footnotes and bibliography are formatted
according to Turabian.
10 to 14 points
Some degree of deviation from the proscribed format.
1 to 9 points
Considerable deviation from the proscribed format.
0 points
Complete deviation from the proscribed format.
Proofreading
15 points
Free of grammatical, syntactical, punctuation, spelling, and
other such errors.
10 or 14 points
Some grammatical, syntactical, punctuation, spelling, and other
such errors.
1 to 9 points
Many grammatical, syntactical, punctuation, spelling, and other
such errors.
0 points
Pervasive grammatical, syntactical, punctuation, spelling, and
other such errors.
Total
/200
Instructor's Comments:
Page 2 of 2

5. ETHC 101
ETHC 101 Capstone Essay Instructions
Summary
The final assignment for ETHC101 is a capstone essay that
brings all of the knowledge and skills developed in this course
to bear on a single ethical issue. Each student will write a paper
of 2200 to 2400 words (total, including the title page, table of
contents, quotations, footnotes, and bibliography), in current
Turabian format, that combines the insights and arguments of
the third and fourth discussion boards into a single carefully-
articulated work.
Content
Begin your paper with a brief introductory paragraph that
clearly states what positions you are going to argue for. State
what metaethical theory you will utilize, the issue in applied
ethics to which you will be applying it, and the conclusion(s) on
that issue that you want to defend.
Next provide a lengthy and detailed explanation of your
metaethic. This will likely reflect the metaethic that you argued
for in your Discussion Board Three (see Discussion Board 3:
Virtue Ethics below) thread and the feedback that you received
from the professor and/or classmates who responded to your
thread. (see Virtue Ethics Response below) Here you can go
into much more detail than you could in the Discussion Board,
which was limited to 600 words. If you use half of your paper to
develop your metaethic, then it will contain approximately 1100
words, which means that it will be roughly twice as long as your
Discussion Board thread was. As in Discussion Board Three, in
your explication of your metaethic you must interact with the
ethical theories that we have studied in this course.
Once you have fully explicated and argued for your

6. metaethic, proceed to an application of that metaethic to the
applied ethics issue that you discussed in your Discussion Board
Four thread. (see Discussion Board 4: My Ethical Theory:
Virtue Ethics below) This discussion may end up being twice as
long as your discussion board thread was. Add detail, nuance,
and argumentation, providing a fairly complete and
comprehensive argument for approaching the issue the way that
you do. You may illustrate the issue with real-life examples, but
please do not fill your paper with anecdotes. You should
anticipate possible objections to your approach to the issue and
respond to them in an objective and informed manner. (For
ideas on how others might object to your approach, a good place
to begin would be your own imagination and the many books
and articles that have been published on issues in applied ethics
can provide a wealth of possible arguments relevant to every
issue.)
Your final paragraph should reflect that you have
accomplished your thesis. It should recap what you have
accomplished and how you have accomplished it.
Research
This paper is not required to utilize any sources outside of those
that were used in the class but use of additional resources is
permitted and encouraged. At the minimum the paper should
utilize the resources from the class. All resources used must be
listed in the bibliography and any resources quoted,
paraphrased, or alluded to must be documented via footnotes
formatted according to Turabian.
For this capstone essay both the footnotes and the
bibliography count toward the word count. In other words, the
2400-word limit is all-inclusive. You will be penalized if you
exceed the limit, so please do not.
Format
Your paper must begin with a title page that includes a paper
title, your name, the date, and the course name and number. The

7. second page of your paper must be a table of contents. The last
page of your paper must be devoted to your bibliography. The
paper must utilize 12-point Times New Roman font, double-
spaced, with one-inch margins. It must be double-spaced rather
than triple-spaced between paragraphs and there should be only
one space after the end of each sentence.
Any documentation in the body of your paper must be done via
footnotes formatted according to Turabian. If you are not
familiar with how to do this, simply look it up online. There are
many websites that explain Turabian formatting. Footnotes
should be single-spaced 10-point Times New Roman font.
Your paper must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document.
Format Example
Title Page
Table of Contents
Body of Paper:
· Introduction
· Metaethic
· Application
· Conclusion
Bibliography
Miscellany
Errors of spelling, grammar, syntax, and punctuation will affect
your grade. This is a university-level writing assignment. Please
write accordingly.
This will be checked by SafeAssign. This a program that
checks for plagiarism.
Discussion Board 3
My Ethical Theory: Virtue Ethics
Top of Form

8. From the amount of time we have spent studying metaethics and
examining the many ethical theories, I believe that some of
better methodology to determine right from wrong for me would
be the areteological approach, which is also known and listed in
our assignment as Virtue Ethics. I say this because, according to
my understanding of Virtue Ethics, the right thing to do is to
live within your virtuous capabilities. Or, at the very least, stay
within the realm of the capabilities of a virtuous person,
creating a set of norms. The goal in Virtue Ethics is to become
virtuous ourselves and fulfill our purpose. In Virtue Ethics,
making a sound moral judgment is determined by one’s good
habits and practices. When we are trying to figure out what the
right thing to do is in a situation at hand, and we are unsure of
our own abilities, we should seek out a virtuous person for
guidance. If you already have someone who’s virtuous abilities
you admire you can also simply ask yourself, what they would
do. One of the more common phrases in that regard, heard
within the Christian community is: “What would Jesus do?”.
Although this has also become a phrase used in a lot of humor,
the meaning of it still holds true.
As Christians, our goal is to be seen as a good person in Gods
eyes. To do this we have to make good ethical and moral
decisions and some of those decisions may have already been
made by a known virtuous person. “Those who take this
approach think that good ethical decisions will be made by good
people.” (Stivers, Gudorf, & Martin-Schramm, 2012) By doing
this we can then know our decision, if it is the same, will be a
good one. An example of this would be reading the Bible and
following the word of God. We know this alone is a good
decision but by following the guidance within we can make
many other good ethical decisions as well. “An advantage of
this approach is that life is complicated and often requires
ethical decisions that have to be made quickly.” (Strivers, et al.,
2012) By creating the set of norms I has mentioned earlier, a
moral intuition will form. Having this moral intuition will help

9. you in making quick ethical decisions. One of the drawbacks to
this is that it can become very subjective. There are many who
may wear the mask of a virtuous person but are not actually
virtuous themselves.
In the military, when questioning something you were doing,
one would often hear the phrase: “Do as I say, not as I do.” I
worked with a specific individual who commonly preached this.
He would provide sound advice to many that any Christian
would have seen as good or moral. He himself, however, often
did not follow is own advice. This often caused him to end up in
difficult situations or make bad decisions himself. “The focus of
virtue ethics is on cultivating one’s inner character.” (Jones,
2017, p. 38). This is similar what I stated earlier and I believe
my friend simply lacked. “If a truly virtuous person would not
perform some act, then that act must not be moral.” (Jones,
2017, p. 40) This leaves me with a dilemma. Since my friend
would often not follow the moral advice he gave, does this make
him someone who is not virtuous? If so, does that mean that in
reality his advice may not have been moral?
References:
Jones, Michael S. Moral Reasoning: An Intentional Approach to
Distinguishing Right from Wrong. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt,
2017.
Stivers, Laura A., Christine E. Gudorf, and James B. Martin-
Schramm. Christian Ethics: A Case Method Approach. 4th ed.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012.
Discussion Board 3 Virtue Ethics Response
I can relate to your military experience and know very well the
term “Do as I say not as I do.” Especially being an aviation
mechanic, there were some short cuts to maintenance that didn’t
follow the publication that you just pick up from the people you

10. learn from. As a brand-new naval aircraft maintainer, I worked
under a guy that, whenever performing one of these short cuts
he would say “Do as I say not as I do.” Then as he is
performing the short cut, he would proceed to tell me the
correct way to do it and would also tell me why this short cut
won’t have a major effect on the aircraft. He would say it in a
way that sounded like he was trying to justify to himself why he
was doing the short cut.
In my opinion, any time you have to justify doing something to
yourself, it is not morally correct. Having to justify something
to yourself is your subconscious telling you that what you’re
doing is wrong. When you said, “Having this moral intuition
will help you in making quick ethical decisions.” It stood out to
me because my mentor at the time that was taking these short
cuts didn’t have this moral intuition to help him make these
ethical decisions. The ethical decision in that situation would
have been to do exactly what the publication says to do. Also,
when you said, “One of the drawbacks to this is that it can
become very subjective.” It made me think that maybe he did
have the moral intuition but he was subjective like you said, and
that doing that short cut, to him, was morally ethical.
I believe that your moral ethics can be subjected to how you are
raised. Everyone is raised differently and therefore not everyone
will have the exact same moral ethics. I also believe that society
can also have a huge impact on your moral ethics as you grow
up. I’ve used this example before however, an example of this is
the movie Jojo Rabit. It is about a little boy who grew up in
Nazi Germany. When he was a little boy, he wanted to become a
Nazi mostly because he believed it to be the right thing to do
due to the society, he grew up in. His mom, however, was able
to subjectively teach him otherwise and he eventually does the
right thing. I believe now it is even easier for kids’ moral ethics
to be subjective because of the ease of access to social media.
Kids’ can just hop on their phones or tablets and watch a
YouTube video about someone ranting on a moral ethic

11. perspective of theirs and be subjected to their opinions. This is
especially in celebrities and social media influencers because
they are looked up to. Of course, there are different situations
for everyone to can change or influence someone’s moral ethics
and I believe that some people can change from believing one
thing is morally correct to believe in the complete opposite.
Discussion Board 4
Applying My Ethical Theory: Virtue Ethics
On discussion board forum 3, I explained my approach to
metaethics. I believe that the methodology to determine right
from wrong for me is the areteological approach. This approach
is better known and listed in our last assignment as Virtue
Ethics. In Virtue Ethics, making a sound moral judgment is
determined by one’s good habits and practices. The goal in this
methodology is to become virtuous ourselves and fulfill our
purpose. We achieve this by following the guidance of a
virtuous person.
As someone who has spent a significant amount of his life in
the military and his entire life around the military, I wanted to
apply my methodology to poverty. I was raised to feel pity for
those who are less fortunate than I. I was always told never to
give money to the poor and instead volunteer at organizations
that help them. My grandparents had taught me that by handing
a homeless person money I am only placing myself one step
closer to their situation while they take a step away from it. My
views changed very little as I grew older. I remember reading a
book that mentioned how by handing someone who is homeless
money, you are essentially paying them to be homeless. Since
Virtue Ethics focuses on becoming a virtuous person, I certainly
do feel a moral obligation to help those less fortunate. I do what
I can to specifically help veterans of our military. I know how
difficult it is to work with the government when trying to

12. receive help once you no longer serve. “Veterans make up 20
percent of people who are homeless, and about half of the
people experiencing homelessness suffer from mental health
issues.” (Stivers, Gudorf, & Martin-Schramm, 2012)
There is a plethora of reasons that lead to our veterans living in
poverty. There are also various organizations that provide
resources to help them in almost every way. I once volunteered
to help a small organization build free homes for homeless
veterans in Virginia. There are others who provide food,
education, clothing, and many more out there as well. In
the Christian Standard Bible: Digital Reader Edition it says: “If
there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within
any of your city gates in the land the Lord your God is giving
you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor
brother. Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely
loan him enough for whatever need he has. (Deut 15:7-8)
Having served, brother or sister, carries another meaning for me
which is why this passage stood out to me. By helping my
brothers and sisters, the ones that are less fortunate than mysel f,
I believe I am on the right path to becoming a more virtuous
person. The Bible teaches us that helping others is the right
thing to do. There are many examples of our Lord, a virtuous
person, helping those living in poverty. I do my best to follow
the Virtue Ethics methodology and base my decisions based
upon good habits and practices I have developed from virtuous
people over the years.
References:
Stivers, Laura A., Christine E. Gudorf, and James B. Martin-
Schramm. Christian Ethics: A Case Method Approach. 4th ed.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012.