English10LC Paper Assignment - Short Research Paper
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
Paper Two
Mini Research Paper
For Kim Knight's Winter 2006 English 10LC
Contents |
[edit] Purpose
- To formulate a thesis based upon close textual analysis.
- To provide development and support for your ideas.
- To effectively utilize outside sources as part of your argument.
- To demonstrate your ability to structure a clear and effective essay.
[edit] Texts
Frankenstein, Patchwork Girl, l0ve 0ne, or Neuromancer.
Special allowance: If you would like to look forward to Robot Stories, any of the short stories, or the gaming section, you may do so. This of course, requires that you do the reading ahead of time. However, if you choose not to write about any of the texts listed above, on Thu, Feb 23rd, you must turn in a one-paragraph topic proposal at the beginning of class.
[edit] Outside Sources
A minimum of 3 outside sources; you must find at least two of these through the use of library research. In other words, at least two must be sources that do not appear on the class schedule.
[edit] The specs
4 – 6 pages, double spaced; 12 point Times font; 1-inch margins all the way around; MLA format; Formal tone written for a general academic audience.
[edit] Timeline and Due Dates
The assignments below are due at the beginning of class on the date listed. The grade for a late paper will be reduced one full letter grade for each day it is late.
Thu, 2/23 (in class) Be prepared to share your topic idea with the class; Topic Proposals due for those not writing about Frankenstein, Patchwork Girl, l0ve 0ne, or Neuromancer.
Mon, 2/27 5:30 p.m. Post a full-length draft of your paper to the class forum.
Wed 3/1 5:30 p.m. Online Peer Response Due in class forum.
Fri, 2/3 5:30 p.m. Paper due. Post on the class forum.
[edit] Grading Breakdown – 20 points possible
- Draft and Online Paper Workshop – 3 points
- Final Draft – 17 points
The final draft will be evaluated according to the same grading rubric used for paper one. The grade for a late paper will be reduced by one full letter grade for each day it is late.
[edit] Possible topics include, but are not limited to
- Analyze the framing and narrative structure of any text. In what ways do these formal characteristics affect the materiality, characterization, etc.
- Using the concepts outlined in Chapters 1 – 3 of Writing Machines, perform a media-specific analysis of any of the texts. How does embodiment function in relation to content? Is this a technotext? Why does it matter either way?
- Examine either of the hypertexts in relation to the ideas in Aarseth’s chapter on Hyptertext aesthetics. You might address Aarseth’s argument about hypertext regaining aura (although you’ll also need to be familiar with Benjamin here), the idea of co-authorship, ergodics and the game of narration, or the concept of heterarchy.
- Bill Nichols writes, “a tension can be seen to exist between the liberating potential of the cybernetic imagination and the ideological tendency to preserve the existing form of social relations: (627). Analyze this tension in either of the hypertexts or in Neuromancer. One might also do a comparison between one hyptertext and Neuromancer in this area. Remember to consider both form and content.
- In “The Seductions of Cyberspace,” N. Katherine Hayles writes, “these inversions are consistent with virtual reality, for they figure the flow of information within systems as more determinative of identity than the materiality of physical structures” (306). Use any one of the texts to support or refute Hayles’ statement.
- Use Haraway’s or Hayles’ discussion of the cyborg body to analyze Frankenstein, Patchwork Girl, or Neuromancer. How are race or gender or subjectivity in general affected by the relationship between the body and science/technology?
- N. Katherine Hayles locates “a masculinist subtext” (315) in relation to cyberspace and virtual reality. Bill Nichols similarly attributes a masculine aura of aggression to videogames and seems to suggest that the attraction to cybernetic systems is a “primarily masculine phenomenon” (632). Yet Donna Haraway argues that a critical relationship exists between women and technology. Analyze Neuromancer, Patchwork Girl or l0ve 0ne in terms of the relationship between gender and technology.
- Using Frankenstein and one of the later texts, examine the idea of the “monstrous” in relation to human nature and technology.
