ENG 101: Assignment Two

Length: 3 to 5 pages plus a Works Cited page

Goals/Grading Criteria

In this paper, I want to see:

• A strong title and thesis.
• A balanced and organized discussion that provides sufficient background regarding your topic and which supports your thesis.
• Coherent, well-developed paragraphs.
• Proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• An academic tone.
• Proper document format (see page 56 of A Writer’s Reference).
• References to at least two works we have read for class. You can either quote directly or paraphrase the material you use, but be sure to provide proper citations in either case.
• In-text citations that follow MLA format.
• A Works Cited page that follows MLA format.
• A strong conclusion.

For more information on many of these topics, see the “Notes on Writing” folder under Course Materials in Blackboard.

Instructions

By the time this paper is due, we will have read the following essays: “The Power of Patience,” “Obstructed Reality,” “The Documented Life,” “Feeling Old on the Internet,” “Why People Name Their Machines,” “Real Adventurers Use Maps,” and “What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades.” For this assignment, develop your own argument about the relationship between people and technology, and use two of the essays we have read to support or lend depth to your argument.Your thesis might make a point about the influence of technology on a particular aspect of our lives, examine the ways in which technology is changing our ideas about what it means to be human, or offer a single theory about how to prevent a particular piece of technology from overtaking a specific aspect of our lives (and why doing so matters).

To focus your discussion, you can limit your discussion to a single aspect of technology (e.g., smart phones, GPS, music players) or service (e.g., social networking, file sharing, electronic banking, shopping). Additionally, you can further focus your discussion by examining the ways in which the type of technology you are discussing influences a specific aspect of our lives (e.g., how we communicate, how we think, our creativity, how we behave in public).

When you use material from our course readings to elucidate your own argument, be sure to present sufficient context to allow the reader to understand how the material you are quoting or paraphrasing fits into the essay or article in which it appears, and then be sure to relate that information to your own position. Cite your sources using in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

By “lend depth to your argument,” I mean that you might not simply use it to support your position. You could, for example, present information that goes against your thesis. In such a case, you would summarize the position of the author you are citing in one paragraph before going on to critique or refute that position in the following paragraph.