Description
I am using the phrase “cultural artifact” to denote a wide variety of “texts,” from poems and short stories to advertisements, photographs, television shows, blogs, films, and videogames (other artifacts could work, too, such as a building or a celebrity, even a specific belief or practice). I encourage you to come up with your own, but this does not mean that our classroom examples are off limits; rather, you will have to, as always, move beyond our classroom discussions when you write your own paper with your own ideas. I suggest, but do not require, that you clear your cultural artifact with me before writing your paper. Details and Requirements For Essay #3, you will need to incorporate at least five different sources. No more than two of the sources may be explicitly about your cultural artifact. The other sources must support your argument in some other way. For example, if you were writing about Julian Dibbell’s essay “A Rape in Cyberspace,” you might decide to look up some information about sexism, about cybercrimes, about virtual or electronic identities, or about electronic communities. Research around your topic, not just your topic. In addition to your secondary sources, you will also need to quote or describe your primary source extensively (approximately a page of background should be adequate) – a major part of your evidence will be your interpretation of the cultural artifact itself. Your paper, as always, needs to include a works cited, heading, title, etc., and it should be at least six pages long (5½, by the way, is not 6). Whatever you choose to write about, you will have to come up with a creative, interesting, original thesis that is argumentative (makes a plausible case). Remember that this assignment sheet is just a guide – we will cover in class the majority of the material that you need to accomplish your task; read over this sheet many times, before, during, and after you write your paper.