Project 1 Assignment
For this project you will write an analytical paper related to Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. As long as you engage critically with the material, there aren’t too many restrictions but you should make sure to discuss your ideas with me over conferences, during office hours or over email. Here are some possible topics:
1. You can analyze the way the text portrays a concept by exploring its answers to one of these questions: What does it mean to be human? How do humans change through their interaction with the digital? How does our race alter our perspective of the world? Does technology turn us into hybrid digital/human beings? What defines a country in a global society? What is a hero? Your research might include other scholarship on the concept your select and/or on how digital technology and/or cultural ecologies help us better answer those questions.
2. You can do a critique of the text from a certain perspective, such as gender, class, race, sexuality, age, etc. Your research might include theoretical works from the perspective you’ve selected (feminist theory, working-class studies, etc.) and/or work on how digital technology and/or cultural ecologies intersect with the critical perspective you’ve selected.
3. Snow Crash deals with cultural ecologies in many ways, through immigration, nationality, race, gender, language (both computer and spoken languages), social class, etc. For this option, you would look at your own cultural ecology and compare and contrast it with Snow Crash. In which ways do your experiences mirror those explained by Stephenson? In which ways are they different? Has Snow Crash helped you gain a different perspective on your own cultural ecology? Your research might include historical and/or sociological research for your cultural ecology and/or for the cultural ecology issues presented by Stephenson.
4. Snow Crash critiques imperialism and war. Choose a particular conflict going on in the world today or that took place in the past and compare and contrast it with the ones portrayed by Stephenson. Does Snow Crash help you better understand that particular conflict? Can fiction help us elucidate present and historical events? Your research might include learning about the conflict you select and scholarship on the general concepts of war and imperialism.
5. Snow Crash argues that our relationship with digital technologies can both enrich and impoverish our existence. In the end is he leaning more towards the benefits or the detriments of digital technologies? Or is he saying they’re here to stay no matter what we think of them? Pick one digital space you inhabit (Facebook, YouTube, texting, chatting, Twitter, a particular video game or app, etc.) and analyze the ways in which Snow Crash helps you better understand your relationship with this technology. Your research might include theoretical work and critiques of the digital space you choose to research as well as scholarship on the how the digital in general affects our lives.
If none of these options seem appealing to you, we can discuss other possibilities.
Keep in mind the concepts of ethos, pathos, logos and having a clear thesis that we have discussed in class, as well as audience awareness, tone and language. Remember to take into account what your audience knows about this topic and what their already established opinions are. If you think illustrations, graphics or pictures would add to the impact of your project, you are welcome to use them, but you must address them as you make your points.
Your paper should be double-spaced and 5-8 pages long (around 1,500 - 2,400 words). You will need at least three sources. One from the web, one from print (newspapers don’t count as print for our purposes) or the library catalogue, and a third that can be whatever you wish as long as it’s credible. You can have more than three sources but don’t get carried away. No more than eight would be advisable.
Your name must be on the assignment and you need to give it a title. Your first draft is due on Thursday, October 4. You should have an electronic copy of the paper that you can email to your fellow workshop members. Your final draft is due on Friday, October 5. I will return work electronically. Everyone will receive their graded assignments within a week of turning them in, but not all at the same time. I will return them as I grade them, and I will grade them in the order that they reach my inbox at: [email protected].
A “C” project should:
• Meet all requirements of the assignment.
• Provide appropriate description so that an audience can understand the situations and issues
involved.
• Have a thesis that follows logically from the body of the paper.
• Control surface errors.
• Use MLA citation to document all sources.
A “B” project should do everything a “C” paper does but should also:
• Show evidence that possible audience objections have been anticipated and responded to.
• Incorporate sources smoothly.
• Include an analysis that interrogates the experiences, observations and sources critically.
An “A” project should do everything a “B” paper does but should also:
• Arrive at a thesis that is original, insightful and sensible.
• Show a flair with language and/or visual rhetoric.
• Have a clear organizational strategy based on audience needs.
1. You can analyze the way the text portrays a concept by exploring its answers to one of these questions: What does it mean to be human? How do humans change through their interaction with the digital? How does our race alter our perspective of the world? Does technology turn us into hybrid digital/human beings? What defines a country in a global society? What is a hero? Your research might include other scholarship on the concept your select and/or on how digital technology and/or cultural ecologies help us better answer those questions.
2. You can do a critique of the text from a certain perspective, such as gender, class, race, sexuality, age, etc. Your research might include theoretical works from the perspective you’ve selected (feminist theory, working-class studies, etc.) and/or work on how digital technology and/or cultural ecologies intersect with the critical perspective you’ve selected.
3. Snow Crash deals with cultural ecologies in many ways, through immigration, nationality, race, gender, language (both computer and spoken languages), social class, etc. For this option, you would look at your own cultural ecology and compare and contrast it with Snow Crash. In which ways do your experiences mirror those explained by Stephenson? In which ways are they different? Has Snow Crash helped you gain a different perspective on your own cultural ecology? Your research might include historical and/or sociological research for your cultural ecology and/or for the cultural ecology issues presented by Stephenson.
4. Snow Crash critiques imperialism and war. Choose a particular conflict going on in the world today or that took place in the past and compare and contrast it with the ones portrayed by Stephenson. Does Snow Crash help you better understand that particular conflict? Can fiction help us elucidate present and historical events? Your research might include learning about the conflict you select and scholarship on the general concepts of war and imperialism.
5. Snow Crash argues that our relationship with digital technologies can both enrich and impoverish our existence. In the end is he leaning more towards the benefits or the detriments of digital technologies? Or is he saying they’re here to stay no matter what we think of them? Pick one digital space you inhabit (Facebook, YouTube, texting, chatting, Twitter, a particular video game or app, etc.) and analyze the ways in which Snow Crash helps you better understand your relationship with this technology. Your research might include theoretical work and critiques of the digital space you choose to research as well as scholarship on the how the digital in general affects our lives.
If none of these options seem appealing to you, we can discuss other possibilities.
Keep in mind the concepts of ethos, pathos, logos and having a clear thesis that we have discussed in class, as well as audience awareness, tone and language. Remember to take into account what your audience knows about this topic and what their already established opinions are. If you think illustrations, graphics or pictures would add to the impact of your project, you are welcome to use them, but you must address them as you make your points.
Your paper should be double-spaced and 5-8 pages long (around 1,500 - 2,400 words). You will need at least three sources. One from the web, one from print (newspapers don’t count as print for our purposes) or the library catalogue, and a third that can be whatever you wish as long as it’s credible. You can have more than three sources but don’t get carried away. No more than eight would be advisable.
Your name must be on the assignment and you need to give it a title. Your first draft is due on Thursday, October 4. You should have an electronic copy of the paper that you can email to your fellow workshop members. Your final draft is due on Friday, October 5. I will return work electronically. Everyone will receive their graded assignments within a week of turning them in, but not all at the same time. I will return them as I grade them, and I will grade them in the order that they reach my inbox at: [email protected].
A “C” project should:
• Meet all requirements of the assignment.
• Provide appropriate description so that an audience can understand the situations and issues
involved.
• Have a thesis that follows logically from the body of the paper.
• Control surface errors.
• Use MLA citation to document all sources.
A “B” project should do everything a “C” paper does but should also:
• Show evidence that possible audience objections have been anticipated and responded to.
• Incorporate sources smoothly.
• Include an analysis that interrogates the experiences, observations and sources critically.
An “A” project should do everything a “B” paper does but should also:
• Arrive at a thesis that is original, insightful and sensible.
• Show a flair with language and/or visual rhetoric.
• Have a clear organizational strategy based on audience needs.