Writing Homework Help

In the first part of this class, we have explored classic science fiction–that is, science fiction published between 1818 (Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the first commercially successful SF story) and 1960. This includes three periods of SF history: proto-SF, Pulp Era SF, and Golden Age SF. For this assignment, you will select one of discussion posts you’ve written for this unit, expand it into a 1250-1500 word essay, and then turn it in for 30% of your class grade.

Please note that you are welcome to revise extensively and even shift the focus of your post as it becomes a longer essay–that’s actually a good sign that your thinking on the subject at hand has developed as you’ve been learning! Please remember that you are more than welcome to either shoot me an email if you want to quickly run a new thesis or direction by me, and I will have extended online office hours next week for those who want to make appointments with me. I will send a separate email about this at the end of this week.

1. your ability to use a range of class terms, concepts, and themes accurately and intelligently. This means beginning with an introduction and a thesis organized around the class terms that will be under consideration in your essay. It also means making sure that every single body paragraph is organized around and actively employs class terminology.

2. Your ability to back up all claims with specific textual evidence. Quotes from books and quotes and images from video (that you then describe in text as well) are the best forms of evidence, followed by focused descriptions of specific moments or scenes.

3. Overall literacy: I expect precision in your thought and clarity in your language. This means you should:

*write in full sentences and use properly crafted paragraphs;

*begin your paper with an introduction that has all three of the following elements: the topic of your post, the texts that you will explore, and the thesis of your paper (in 1-3 sentences, tell us what we should learn from your paper). Do not begin with any generalizations about literature or culture that you cannot prove. Stay focused on showing off your class knowledge;

*present evidence in properly structured persuasive paragraphs that only contain the four following elements: a topic sentence that previews the main point of the paragraph; textual evidence; analysis of the evidence and link back to thesis: explain to your readers why you chose that particular piece of evidence and how it proves your thesis.

*a conclusion that “sells” us on the essay. In other words, a paragraph that reminds us what the main topic of the paper is and explains how the argument in the paper contributes to the kind of knowledge that we are building in this class.

The discussion question you are expanding on is below. I have also attached my answer to expand on and the story that was used as my source:

This week we have been exploring the Pulp Era, when science fiction became a distinct popular genre with its own artists and rules. As I noted in lecture, stories from this era tend toward one of two forms: they are either action-adventure oriented “space operas” or intellectual and philosophical “thought experiments.” Pick any one story we examined for this week and explore whether the story in question tends toward space opera, thought experiment, or has elements of both.