Sample research paper

Unlike other company rules, however, Internet usage policies ofteninclude language authorizing companies to secretly monitor theiremployees, a practice that raises questions about rights in theworkplace. Annotation. Thesis asserts Orlov’s main point. Although companies often have legitimate concernsthat lead them to monitor employees’ Internet usage”from expensive security breaches to reduced productivity”the benefitsof electronic surveillance are outweighed by its costs to employees’privacy and autonomy.

While surveillance of employees is ot a new phenomenon,electronic surveillance allows employers to monitor workers with unprecedented efficiency. Annotation. Summary and long quotation are introduced with a signal phrase naming the author. In his book The Naked Employee, Frederick Lane describes offline ways in which employers have beenpermitted to intrude on employees’ privacy for decades, such asdrug testing, background checks, psychological exams, lie detector Title is centered. Opening sentences provide background for thesis. Thesis asserts Orlovs main point. Summary and long quotation are ntroduced with a signal phrase naming the author.

Source:Diana Hacker (Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007). This paper has been updated to follow the style guidelines in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (2009). SSoourucrec: eH:aDckiearn/Sao mHmaecrkse (Br o(sBtoons: tBoend:foBrde/ dSfto. Mrda/rStint. ‘sM, 2a01 rtl i,n 2’s0,0 72)0. 07). tests, and in-store video surveillance. The difference, Lane argues, between these old methods of data gathering and electronic surveillance involves quantity: Technology makes it possible for employers to gather normous amounts of data about employees, often far beyond what is necessary to satisfy safety or productivity concerns.

And the trends that drive technology”faster, smaller, cheaper”make it possible for larger and larger numbers of employers to gather ever-greater amounts of personal data. (3-4) Lane points out that employers can collect data whenever employees use their computers”for example, when they send e-mail, surf the Web, or even arrive at or depart from their workstations. Another key difference between traditional surveillance and lectronic surveillance is that employers can monitor workers’ computer use secretly.

One popular monitoring method is keystroke logging, which is done by means of an undetectable program on employees’ computers. The Web site of a vendor for Spector Pro, a popular keystroke logging program, explains that the software can be installed to operate in “Stealth” mode so that it “does not show up as an icon, does not appear in the Windows system [and] cannot be uninstalled without the Spector Pro password which tray, YOU specify’ (“Automatically’).