Digital technologies

For the first formal assignment, you examined the strength of the argument in a student essay. This allowed you to see how to effectively craft an argument as well as serving as a primer for incorporating an outside source into your own writing. We’ve moved on to our major project for the term, a massive undertaking made up of several assignments: you had to develop a topic related to writing/literacy, evaluate and present academic research related to this topic, and you’re working on putting your ideas together for an argumentative research paper. This shorter formal essay, Essay #2, is an opportunity to think about a specific literacy-based topic – technology. Essay #2 will be due at the end of Module 9.

For this essay, you’ll need to read the following article from They Say/I Say with Readings:

Thompson, Clive. “Smarter than You Think: How Technology is Changing our Minds for the Better.”

They Say/I Say with Readings, edited by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst, W.W.

Norton, 2015, pp. 441-461.

It will be imperative to read this entire article, making sure you have a strong understanding of Thompson’s main idea.

Topic
Write an essay reflecting on the ways digital technologies have influenced your own intellectual development, drawing from Thompson’s text and at least one of the following other readings from Chapter 17:

Nicholas Carr – “Is Google Making Us Stupid” (424)
Kenneth Goldsmith – “Go Ahead: Waste Time on the Internet” (500)
Sherry Turkle – “No Need to Call” (505)
Jenna Wortham – “How I Learned to Love Snapchat” (474)
Include references from Thompson and at least one of the other assigned readings listed above – and your own experiences – as support for your argument. Be sure to acknowledge views other than your own. The key will be connecting your ideas with the required support (Thompson + one of the other listed articles).

Citations
You will need a Works Cited page for this paper that lists Thompson’s article and the other article(s) from the assigned list used in your essay. Citations should follow the format for sources in an anthology like my citation for Thompson’s article above. You can use my citation as a model, but it will help to reference The Little Seagull Handbook as you’re putting together your second citation.

Additionally, you must include proper in-text citations every time you reference one of your sources. For example:

According to Thompson, “History also shows that we generally improve and refine our tools to make

them better” (Thompson 354).

It’s important to include signal phrases and in-text citations whether you’re directly quoting or summarizing your source material. Think of this as a good way to practice for the final research paper later this term!

Format
500 – 600 words (approximately 2 – 3 pages) – typed in standard 12 point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. Do not attempt to play with margins, font size, etc. to make papers appear longer!
Final draft must follow MLA 8th edition format
The Little Seagull Handbook pp. 119-169.
For heading example, see syllabus.
Include an appropriate title centered on the first line.
Do not underline the title or put it in “quotation marks,” italics, or bold.
The title should reflect your discussion, not the name of the assignment.
Write in standard, formal English, avoiding slang and casual language.
Use of the second-person perspective (“you”) is not appropriate or acceptable in this essay.
You must include a Works Cited page listing the assigned article and any other articles referenced for this assignment.
You must save your paper as a Microsoft Word document. If you are using a different program, make sure to “save as” and select either .doc (or .docx) or .pdf as your file type.
Submission Requirements
The final draft of your paper must be submitted on Canvas by the assigned deadline.
The link will become available prior to the submission deadline.
Papers submitted to the Canvas dropbox will automatically go through Turnitin.com for review.
Papers receiving high plagiarism evaluations from Turnitin.com will not be accepted.
In certain cases, revisions will be allowed for a reduced grade.
In extreme cases, plagiarized papers will be reported to Academic Affairs for further review.
Review the submission guidelines listed in your syllabus for more information.
Late formal essay submissions will be accepted per the policy listed in the course syllabus – all late papers are subject to a significant grade deduction.
Follow the formatting guidelines carefully. Review the notes in the “Formal Essay Submission” pages as needed.
Core Assignment
Essay #2
As a reminder, Essay #2 is due this week. For whatever reason, this always feels like an easy assignment to either forget about or find confusing. I think part of the issue is that assignments really start to overlap this time of year. It’s so important to stay focused and organized – and reach out if you’re confused or feeling lost! This isn’t our research paper, so I don’t expect to see any of your own research from your Annotated Bibs here, nor should it be an exploration of your research topic. It will be so important to make sure you’ve reviewed the instructions found in Module 8 carefully as this should be based on the topic provided in the handout and use the specific sources from They Say/I Say mentioned in the instructions.

In many ways, this will feel like a more formal version of Timed Writing 2. The instructions will tell you what essays you need to read from They Say/I Say and will give you the writing prompt. This is a formal essay, so it will be helpful to review the “Formal Essay Submission Guidelines” handout from our earlier modules in addition to the actual assignment instructions. I saw quite a few formatting/technical goofs in Essay #1 submissions that could have easily been avoided by following the submission guidelines better.

As you approach this essay, think of it as a good way to practice incorporating sources into a discussion. This will be a bit easier than the research paper – you’ll be given the sources, you’ll only need to use two, and the essay is much shorter. However, you’ll still be doing much of the same work – you’ll be quoting sources, citing sources, and creating a Works Cited page.

My Essay #2 Expectations
Overall, I’m looking for the standard things on your Essay #2 submission like clear thesis development, significant support, logical structure, strong grammar, etc. Like always, I expect a solid, organized discussion that develops the claims made in your thesis. I always think of writing in terms of an argument, so I’m looking for strong development in that area. Specific to this assignment, I will expect to see the following:

A clear understanding of the assignment instructions (see Module 8)
An argumentative discussion based on the topic provided in the instructions
Support for your claims from Thompson’s article (They Say)
Support for your claims from at least one of the additional articles listed (They Say)
Support for your claims based on your own experiences (I Say)
Appropriate use of in-text citations for all summaries, paraphrases, and quotations
Standard adherence to formatting guidelines including a proper heading, title, and page numbers
A Works Cited page listing Thompson’s article (see example citation in the instructions) and the additional article used
Based on the nature of the topic, first-person point of view (“I”) would be appropriate in this paper. After all, the topic does ask about you, the writer. However, keep it balanced – it shouldn’t be all “I,” all the time. However, use of second-person point of view (“you”) is not appropriate here. It’s always important to avoid directly addressing the reader in formal writing situations.
Essay #2 is a Core Assignment.
In addition to earning an overall passing grade in the class, students must also earn an average of 70% or better on core assignments to be eligible for a passing grade in ENC1101.