Term Essay Assignment
Write an essay, of seven to eight pages, that constitutes a critical analysis of one or more of our course texts. The following are restrictions to your choice of text.
- If you write on one text, it must be one of: Asimov’s I, Robot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Neuromancer, and Final Jeopardy. It must also not be the same text on which you wrote your short essay.
- You may write on two movies, so long as you have not written on either of them for your short essay.
- Otherwise, if you write on two or more texts, at least one of them must not be a movie. You may include the same text on which you wrote your short essay, but must devote a substantial amount of your essay to at least one other text.
If you wish to break one of these three rules, you must first submit a written proposal for your essay explaining why you need to break the rule. For instance, if you wish to write on Blade Runner and A. I. and you wrote your short essay on Blade Runner, you must submit a proposal, outlining your topic and giving a strong justification as to why you need to include Blade Runner and how your thinking on the movie has progressed since you wrote your first essay. The written proposal needs to be printed out and submitted to the instructor, giving the instructor at least two days to look it over. The proposal should be at least one page in length and no more than two pages.
The topic and the approach are open; however, your essay should be an argumentative essay. As with most English Studies essays, value will be awarded based on the depth of the analysis, the complexity of the discussion, the solidity of the writing, and the thoroughness of the support to the thesis.
As with the short essay assignment, your essay must focus on how the artificial intelligence(s) in the text are portrayed and/or their role within the text. You may analyse the human characters, but you should focus on their relationship(s) with the artificial intelligence(s).
Some possible topics include:
- embodiment and disembodiment with artificial intelligence
- metal or skin: the differences between two types of robots
- artificial intelligence as a deity replacement
- gender constructions and artificial intelligence (with representations or interactions)
- robots and the labouring class (and revolutions)
- intellectualism and anti-intellectualism
- art / artistic creation and artificial intelligence
You may use any reference or critical source you wish for this essay, but you should try to use authoritative and academic sources. Ultimately, it is your own analysis that is important: I do not want to grade someone else’s ideas other than your own. As always, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Document all sources (of ideas and of quotations), including all web sources (whether an author is identifiable or not).
Essays should conform to MLA guidelines. Essays should have double-spaced lineation. Printed essays should use a 12-point, serif font and should not have a justified right margin. Please use one-inch margins on all sides. Please do not submit the essay in a binder or folder. I am not fond of title pages.
Essays shorter than six full pages or longer than ten pages may be returned unread. See Information for the lateness penalties.