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Essay 2
Topic and Annotated Bibliography due:
Monday, November 21, in class.
Draft of Essay Due: Friday, December 2, in class
Final Essay Due: Friday, December 9, in class
Essay 2: Computers and Society--Your choice of topic
In class we have been discussing the effects of computers and the internet on various aspects of
society, both American and global society. In this essay, you will pick a topic within this
area, either one that we have discussed or from the topics remaining in the semester, and define
a question on that topic that you would like to further investigate. You may not write
about the same digital divide topic that you examined in the first essay. Some examples of topics
are below:
- How has the advent of social media changed the way we communicate with one another?
- How have concepts of privacy changed with the increased surveillance and from data mining on
the internet?
- What are the potential effects of cyber-warfare on society?
- How has the internet changed the character of political activism?
- How does digital identity (e.g. our representation of ourselves on the internet)
relate to real identity?
- How does the presence of robots in our society affect how we interact with robots and
with other humans?
- How has the internet changed our economy in terms of globalization?
- How has media convergence affected our society?
- Pick your own topic and question (if you're not sure it's OK, check with me)
Turn in your topic and the question you will address in your paper on the date listed above.
Research
Before you begin your essay, you should research your topic to add background and supporting
material for you essay. You must find at least 5 reliable sources to use as references (in addition
to your textbook). Please review your notes from Lecture 11 to try to determine which sources
are reliable.
Annotate your list of references, describing the criteria you used to judge that each source
is reliable. This does not mean saying that it has a lot of good information. This does mean
describing the journal or newspaper or book that the source is from and analyzing (based on
the notes in lecture 11) why it is a reliable source.
Turn in your list of sources by the due date for references listed above.
Sections of your essay
Your essay must contain the following sections:
1. Introduction
The introduction should include a description of the question you are examining, what the
varying viewpoints are and why it is of interest to the reader.
2. Background
In the background section, you will describe the topic you are addressing and the
background issues that are relevant to your question. This is where you will write about information
you learn from your sources, to set the stage for making your arguments. You should give more
detail supporting the differing arguments you described from the introduction.
3. Analysis
In this section you will make your own argument as to how the question you are investigating
should be answered. Support your arguments with the sources you have researched.
4. Conclusion
In this section you whould wrap up your argument and summarize the main conclusions you have drawn.
5. Annotated Bibliography
List your research sources. For each source, you must state how you found the source (e.g.
did you use the library databases, the textbook bibliography, etc) and why you believe it is
a reliable source to use.
Notes:
- Sections 2 and 3 will form the bulk of your essay. Sections 1 and 4 will be relatively
short.
- Your paper should be about 5 pages long, not including the bibliography.
Home | | Syllabus | |
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Constance Royden--croyden@mathcs.holycross.edu
MONT 112G--Computers and Society
Date Created: September 4, 2011
Last Modified: November 13, 2011
Page Expires: September 4, 2012
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