Humanities
. Describe your own experience with one of the forms of technology we are considering in the first unit of the course (intelligent computers, artificial intelligence, robotics, cyborg enhancemen)t, and then discuss whether your thinking about that technology has changed, or perhaps been reinforced, as a result of anything we have been reading in class.
In responding to this topic, you might use some of the following questions to stimulate your thinking. (Note: I am not suggesting that you write a paper that answers each of these questions, or order. The questions are here to help you generate idea.)
a. To what extent have you/do you use this technology in your daily life?
b. Has this use changed in recent years?
c. If you don?t recognize yourself directly using a specific technology, in what other ways might you have been made aware of it? Where do you see it in our culture, in other words?
d. Before starting this class, did you have a sense of where this technology was headed in the future?
e. What new aspects of this technology have been raised for you by the reading (either our non-fiction pieces, the stories by Asimov, Smith, or Moore)?
Grading Rubric for Essay
In evaluating your papers, I will be looking for and at the following elements.
1. Presence of a clear thesis statement, early in the paper, indicating how you are responding to the topic.
2. Use of specific evidence to support your thesis and all the various sub-points you might make in the body of the paper to develop that thesis.
2a. If you are referring to class readings in your response, be clear and specific in doing so. Indicate which text you are using. Clearly explain what you are drawing from it. If you are quoting from a class reading, use a parenthetical page citation after the quote to indicate where it comes from. EX: Asimov describes Robbie in the following way: ?QUOTE. QUOTE. QUOTE? (Asimov, 15). And remember that the significance any quoted evidence needs to be explained as part of your argument. If you quote Asimov?s description of Robbie, in other words, you should include along with that quote your own explanation of why this evidence is significant and what it shows us.
3. Coherent structure in the paper. This means paragraphs that make sense and are organized around specific idea and topic sentences. Clear transitions between paragraphs.
4. Comprehensible prose. At the sentence-level, your paper should be clearly written and carefully edited.
5. Thoughtful engagement with the prompt. Put some thinking into your paper, in other words. A half-hearted effort to respond will yield a dull paper.