There will come soft rains questions

ENGL 133-51: Science Fiction –Stories of a remade Future Prof. Marilyn Marquez de Mercado Essay Due Date: Friday June 24th, 2016 This is a list of the topic options for the first essay. You need to pick only one of these topics and develop it fully into a five to eight (3-5) page essay. This essay accounts for 25% of your total grade in the course. Below are a few things to keep in mind when you are writing this essay: 1. Introduction: Your introduction is your opportunity to tell your reader why you are writing on this topic. It should start with general ideas (big picture stuff) and progressively narrow it down to the specific ideas, a.k.a your thesis. Think of a camera zooming in. It starts with a lot of images (information), but little detail, and progressively, as it zooms closer to its target, you start to see more and more details, until the target is all you can see. It is the same with your introduction: you start with the most general idea, and sentence by sentence, get closer to your thesis. There are a few things you don’t need in an introduction. The biggest one is summary. In your introduction you are merely mentioning what you will write about, and why. The summary should go in the body of the essay, and it should not take up the entire essay, either (but more on that later). 2. Your Thesis Statement: Your Thesis Statement should express your opinion and the reasons why you believe that opinion is valid, no more, no less. It needs to be as specific as you can get, so avoid words like “something,” “it,” “sometimes,” etc. Instead, use specific words. This way you avoid ambiguity and it is easier to stay on topic. 3. Balance: The content of the essay needs to be balanced. Think of it painting: what would the world look like if we were only allowed one color to paint our buildings, dye our fabrics and paint our cars? The world would be monochromatic and somewhat monotonous. It is the same with writing an essay. You need to add different “colors” to your piece: summary, argument, discussion, examples from the text, comparison, and description, to name a few. You must use a wide variety of Rhetorical Strategies in your paper to prove your argument, don’t rely on only one or two. Summary should only be used as a tool to remind or inform the reader about what is happening in a specific part of the text, but it needs to serve a purpose. So, when you find yourself using summary in your paper, ask yourself, why? Are you using it to explain the context of quote you plan to use as an example? Are you using it to support an argument? I guess my best piece of advice in this matter is this: every sentence, every word in your essay needs to move it forward. It needs to help you prove your thesis. Sometimes we write “in circles” because we are not sure of what we want to say yet, but you have to push past that phase and move your argument forward with the tool you deem better suited for the job. 4. Style: Just like Essay 1, your second essay should be written in the past tense and in the third person, this means no “I’s” no “We’s” and “You’s.” Again, I remind you: I am not requiring this because I am evil, or because I enjoy making people cry. The reason for using third person instead of first (or second) is very simple: when we write in the first and second person, we tend to use a more colloquial style. What is the danger in that? Very simple, the danger is that you, as a writer, can lose focus of the importance of analyzing your argument objectively, and fall in the trap of “this is right because I say so.” When you write in the third person, you are forcing yourself to express your ideas in a more neutral manner, and this kind of analysis will help you build a stronger argument. So please, no “I,” “You,” or “We” in the essay. The essay needs to be double-spaced, 12 point font, preferably Times New Roman (because it is easier to read, so please don’t use anything like this, or this, or this, and certainly not this). 5. Conventions: Please pay attention to writing conventions. Part of your grade will be based on your accurate use of spelling, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary and clarity. Please avoid the use of jargon and colloquialisms. Also, don’t believe everything Microsoft Word tells you, and when in doubt, consult the dictionary. You also need to be careful when it comes to apostrophes. If you have doubts as to how to properly use apostrophes, you can check out these handy websites: http://www.scribendi.com/advice/using_apostrophes.