Writing Homework Help

1) First, listen to The Ezra Klein Show podcast episode “This Conversation Changed the Way I Interact With Technology” (the transcript is there, so you can also read along with it) and “The Questions Concerning Technology,” which is from L. M. Sacasas’s newsletter for The Convivial Society (for this, too, there is a transcript you can read as you listen). In the latter, Sacasas lists the 41 questions he thinks are important to ask when we think about a technology. Klein’s podcast is about 57-or-so minutes with a couple of breaks along the way, while the Sacasas audio is only about 11 minutes long.

2) After you listen (and read) both texts, think about a technology that you use or about which you are familiar, a technology of interest to you. Then, with this technology in mind, go back to the Sacasas document and select 2 questions that you think are important for you to ask and answer about this technology. Explain why the questions are important and give answers to the questions you select, in as much detail as possible. In your answers, you are welcome to make references and connections to any of the other texts that we have read thus far this term.

3) Finally, after you submit your thread, return to the DB to read and reply to at least one other classmate’s thread. Please give a response that is detailed: do not just indicate that you liked or disliked or agree or disagree with what a student says in their thread; explain why you give the reply that you do. While you are only required to reply to one other thread from the DB, you are welcome to reply to more and to the feedback that you receive for your thread.

Essay #1,

Assignment: Write an essay that expands on what you wrote for the Discussion Board #3 Forum and that integrates ideas from at least one other assigned text this semester. See “Course Content” for the complete list of texts from which to choose.

Additional information to help you get started: The thread you submitted for DB #3 is, of course, informal writing. For it, you were assigned to write about a technology that interests you, using two questions from L. M. Sacasas’s list of “The 41 Questions Concerning Technology” to guide you. Now, you are writing a formal essay that requires a clear focus, structure, and more development of what you began in DB #3 and the replies that followed. You can use one or both of the questions you chose for the DB assignment (or choose a new one altogether) to help you figure out the thesis for your essay; regardless, an essay should develop a single focus—that is, a thesis—so that it is unified and coherent. If you are unfamiliar with any terms used in this paragraph, they will be covered in upcoming classes.

In addition, think about your audience as you plan your essay and try to anticipate how they will respond to what you write in it. Doing so will affect how you organize and develop what you write in the paper, which are good things. Your essay should focus on a particular technology for this assignment, so think about what they know or do not know about it. You have to figure out how much detail to give or to leave out in order to describe what it is effectively.

And remember, too, that your audience has not read what you have read, so this means you have to introduce effectively and cite and document properly all sources you integrate into the essay. This assignment requires you to integrate a minimum of two texts: Ezra Klein’s podcast/L. M. Sacasas’s newsletter (using one or both is considered one) and at least one other text from the list in “Course Content.” In replies to DB #3 threads, I suggest texts from the assigned course readings that relate to the topics developed in them. And, the DB threads can be used as the “other text” in your essay, which is a reason to read and reply to as many as you can. We are following MLA guidelines for how to integrate sources and how to create a Works Cited page. If you are not familiar with this style, the basic guidelines will be explained in upcoming classes.

With all of the above said about formal-essay conventions, you also want your essay to be as engaging as you can possibly make if for the reader. This is accomplished in different ways in an essay, but it starts by giving yourself time to read, think, and plan what you will do in the essay before you start to draft it. I will add that telling stories about your experience is often a good way to engage with readers. You are writing about a technology of interest to you, so there are probably stories that go along with this interest that can be used to grab and keep your reader’s attention. This, too, will be discussed in more detail in future classes.

Finally, be prepared to share your work, receive feedback, and make changes to the essay going forward. This is only the first draft, so you will revise and resubmit this essay at least one more time. If later in the semester you choose it as your Capstone Essay for the Final Portfolio, you will revise the essay even more. It is important at this point to get a draft started so that you can receive feedback and then continue with the process after this.

should make better use of the texts you include as sources in the essay. In addition to summarizing what you read, you should be using exact, quoted and paraphrased evidence from these texts to “show” what you “tell” to the reader effectively. If you have yet to integrate a second assigned class reading into the essay, you need to do so for this draft. Go to Course Content in Blackboard to see the list of texts from which you can choose.should have a Work(s) Cited page that lists the source(s) cited in the paper. See the “Basic MLA—10 Things for ENG 12” handout found in “Syllabus and other course information” in BB and the Purdue OWL website for more information and examples.