First Essay -- Fall 2004

Prepare an essay responding to one of the questions linked below . You may draw upon any of the materials assigned for the class or on class lectures and discussions. Your grade will be based primarily on your use of these materials and not other materials you may refer to. If, however, you do make use of material that is not assigned, be sure to footnote your sources very carefully.

Essays Must be submitted both electronically through oncourse and in paper form in Class on Thursday October, 26, 2004

I. Submitting the Essay

– Papers should be printed on a computer and double-spaced

-- After you have printed out a copy of your paper:

  1. Copy the entire paper using your word processing program,
  2. Go to oncourse [see the link above]
  3. Log on using your own personal username and password.
  4. Click the tab marked "In Touch"
  5. Click on the line "First Essay -- Fall 2004
  6. Click on "Up Load a File
  7. Click on "Browse" and find the folder on your computer that contains the paper.
  8. Click on the file name of the paper
  9. Click upload

2. The Form of the Essay

  • Include a cover sheet with the paper copy your name and write your name on the back (but not the front) of each sheet of the essay. [This will assure anonymity in grading.]
  • Any ideas or information used in your essay that are not common knowledge (e.g. that you did not know when you began the course) must be clearly cited. A simple form may be used In the case of materials from the course reader (e.g. Becker, "History of the Future Reader," p.19.), other assigned readings (e.g. H.G.Wells, The Time Machine , p.68), the lectures (Pace lecture, Sept.10), or the web site (Thomas Ewbank, The World, a Workshop, History of the Future Website, Week 4) Any other material influenced your ideas or provided you with examples should be clearly cited in notes that provide all the information needed to find the original source. (There is certainly no expectation that you will need anything except what has been provided in this course, and, even if you make some use of other sources, the majority of the essay should be based on the course materials. )
  • -- All papers must be securely stapled together

III. Maximum Length -- Five Pages

We will cease reading essays at the end of the fifth page, and nothing that follows will be considered in determining your grade. You should use standard margins (at least one inch) and fonts no smaller than 12cpi.**

IV. Extra copy

It is your responsibility to keep an extra copy of the final draft of the paper until the original is returned to you.

V. Plagiarism and Late Papers

Be sure that you thoroughly understand the course policies on plagiarism and late papers . (Click on the words to reach a statement of these policies.) If anything is not clear, please let us know. If you are confused, you are almost certainly no alone.

Click here for the questions: