Outline Template for Essay #1

As I mentioned in my email, this is an outline template I provide for my INTD 100 students. I updated it for your Kindred essay. You are not required to use it for your Why Read papers, but you may find it helpful. 

PAPER OUTLINE TEMPLATE

*Examples below may take the form of quotations, summaries, or paraphrases. We will discuss when it is appropriate to use which, but a general rule is to only use direct quotations when the language itself is really spectacular and meaningful. Otherwise, a paraphrase/summary is best.

First Paragraph Block (Introduction):

*Potential title (your title should include the name of the novel and your thesis in a nutshell; here's a handy guide) 
*Necessary background info (introduce any relevant character & plot details; define key terms for Kindred; you will want to include things like who the characters are, their time periods, the fact that Dana is time traveling, the races of the characters, possibly Dana's ancestral link to the past) 
*Thesis statement (1-2 sentences)

Second Paragraph Block: 
*Topic Sentence (mini-thesis statement for the paragraph; should begin to answer the "why and how" of your paper)

*Supporting background information/contextual details from Kindred for your Topic

 *Example #1 from Kindred (set up/contextualize/integrate)

 *Analyze Example #1 

 *Example #2

 *Analyze Example #2 (set up/contextualize/integrate) 
 *Analyze how examples support your topic, and how they connect back to your overall thesis for the paper      
  *Example #3, from outside critical source, if needed…. 
  *Transition to next paragraph

Third Paragraph Block:
*Topic Sentence (mini-thesis statement for the paragraph)

*Supporting background information/contextual details from Kindred for your Topic

 *Example #1 from Kindred (set up/contextualize/integrate)

 *Analyze Example #1 

 *Example #2

 *Analyze Example #2 (set up/contextualize/integrate) 
 *Analyze how examples support your topic, and how they connect back to your overall thesis for the paper      
 *Example #3, from outside critical source, if needed…. 
 *Transition to next paragraph

Fourth, Fifth, Etc., Paragraph Blocks (Basically, All Body Paragraphs)
 *Same or similar to above. 

Final Paragraph Block

*Conclusion: Restate your thesis statement in different words. Summarize what has been accomplished in the essay. Close with a compelling hook. Remember not to bring in any new analysis, but to instead focus on reminding your reader of what has already been accomplished, in an interesting way. Remember, this is the last thing your reader will read. Do not rush the conclusion. Make sure it's at least five sentences, and make them strong.

Works Cited
Please remember that you will need a Works Cited page with your Essay. Please include a draft of this with your Outline. It should include all three or more sources (Kindred, your two scholarly library sources, and any other sources you may have used in your paper).

Remember, if you include a source on your Works Cited page, you must use it in your essay at least once! Do NOT include sources you will not incorporate into your essay.

Workshop Questions

DIRECTIONS: Please answer in complete sentences and take time and care in responding, as you will be graded on your answers. You do not need to write down the questions.

You should address all questions within a given section. Give the notes to the Paper Author when finished. They will hand it in to me next week at the beginning of class on the day your final paper is due, and you will both get credit for the assignment.

1) Is the essay's thesis clear? Point out any areas where it could be clearer. Is it arguable? Is it well-qualified (specific)? Even if the thesis seems to be specific enough, suggest a way for the writer to make it even more specific and narrow (i.e. do they list the topics they plan to discuss in the body paragraphs?). Also note any awkward grammar or unclear word choice. 

2) Does the writer incorporate research from scholarly sources into the essay? Do the sources seem to be a strong and relevant for the thesis at hand? Do not ask the writer to tell you about them, but judge them based solely on what is in the paper. Write what you know about the sources below and give any suggestions for what you need to know more about.

3) Does the writer incorporate plenty of quotes/paraphrases from Kindred and the outside sources examples in the essay? They should! Are those quotes strong enough to use? Which quote is the strongest and which is the weakest? Why? 

4) Does the writer provide convincing, sufficient analysis for each and every one of their quotations/paraphrases? Remember, analysis is as important than the quote itself. Make suggestions for improvement below, and be specific. The analysis should of course connect back to the thesis.

5) Is the paper organized? Do the main topics of the body paragraphs seem to build logically upon one another? Are the quotations logically organized? Give at least one suggestion for improvement.

6) What are some ways in which the author might expand their ideas further? Are there any logical connections they could be making that are missing from the essay? Is their critical thinking going deep enough, or are they staying at a surface level with their interpretations of the text? Give suggestions for at least two places in the essay where they can go deeper.

As a courtesy, I’ve decided to remind you about the expectations for the workshop next class session. Workshops are valuable days as they offer you a lot of insights into your writing process and how you can improve as a writer. Reading the work of others and critiquing it also offers insight into your own writing. Take this process seriously, and I promise you it will pay off.

Please not that only those students who have completed their rough drafts will be permitted to participate in the workshop and will receive attendance and participation credit for the day. 

Those who did not complete their rough draft, or have an incomplete rough draft, will not be permitted to participate. 

All of the following requirements should be followed for participation:

1)      Rough draft should be printed in two physical copies (make sure to staple them).

2)      Rough draft should be three full pages, at minimum, typed and double spaced. 

3)      Rough draft should include a Works Cited page with your two library sources (at minimum, you may use more if you like), and Kindred.

4)      It should go without saying, but include your research in the essay itself—don’t just list sources you “plan to use later” on the Works Cited page. Always research first, then write.

5)      Show up to class on time. I assign the pairs at the beginning of class, and won’t interrupt pairs for latecomers.

Thanks everyone! Let me know if you have questions. See you next class!

1) How does social media affect the relationship between the two romantic partners in the episode Be Right Back, before he dies?

2) How has the way we deal with grief changed due to social media? Consider for a moment Facebook's new "Legacy Contact" option, which allows users to select a friend or family member to keep their account alive (think of a "digital" gravestone) after their death, or to elect to have ones account deleted upon their death.

3) How is this Facebook Legacy Contact option similar to the robot technology in the episode Be Right Back? If the technology in the episode were really possible, do you think it would be ethical to bring back someone back in this manner after they die? What are the potential consequences of doing so (consider what happens to the woman in the episode)?

4) What are some of the existential questions that AI and androids raise, in this episode and more generally? What do they have to teach us about what it means to be human? *Existential means "having to do with existence," and existential questions refer to the 20th century philosophy of Existentialism, which questioned why we exist and the purpose of human life. 

5) What are some of the other ethical questions that AI and androids raise? Use examples from Super Toys as well as Be Right Back, and also think to other current robot technology such as drone warfare where wars are fought through robot technology so that soldiers do not have to kill directly, and often innocent civilians are killed. *Ethical has to do with morality, with what is right and what is wrong. 

6) Lastly, please construct an android, taking into consideration one of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's maxims in his "I, Robot" series that the first rule that should be programmed into a robot is that they cannot harm a human. Your goal is to create a robot that is ethical, a support to human life, and cannot cause harm to people. What will your robots job be? What will they look like? Why? What are the "rules" it must follow? Despite your positive intentions, what potential problems might your robot cause? Give it a name and draw a sketch of it.

Sci Fi Notes

Some basic notes on the genre:

*What is science fiction? The definition is actually somewhat up for debate! One that your professor likes is Serdar Yegulalp's: "A kind of fiction that could only result from a scientifically-influenced worldview."

*According to Octavia Butler, one of the first rules of science fiction was that if you use science, you have to use it accurately. Of course, scientific theory is always developing, which means science fiction from the past may no longer apply the further back you go. Old sci fi novels may seem prophetic in certain ways, and really, really off in others.

As science fiction has developed as a category--basically since the age of Reason and the development of modern science itself--it has become more "open" than being just about science. Generally this rule is now primarily applied to what is called "hard science fiction," which is science fiction that sticks really closely to science in its writing, often dealing with cutting edge physics, etc.

Science fiction is sometimes called "the literature of ideas," although what literature isn't about ideas? This basically means it uses imagination and doesn't take the world as we live in it today for a limitation.

*As I mentioned on the first day of class, we are using the term science fiction somewhat loosely in this class. Some of the novels you are reading deal directly with science fiction themes (like robots), and others would fall more into the broader category of speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is fiction that speculates upon what is real or possible in the world in some significant way. Speculative fiction asks "What if?" EX. What if the Nazis won World War 2? What if I could time travel and meet my ancestors? Kindred is speculative in that it posits the possibility of time travel, and yet Butler argues it is not actual science fiction because there's no science in it (since her time, though, the definition of sci fi has evolved so it would be much more likely to be considered sci fi today).

In a speculative novel, the laws of the universe are called into question in some major way. A science fiction novel where two astronauts get lost in space isn't speculative, because it could happen. A science fiction novel where they encounter alien life is, because this has not happened yet. (If it does happen, then this will no longer be considered a speculative novel!)

Speculative fiction also encompasses some other genres: some (but not all) horror, some (but not all) historical fiction (Kindred is also historical fiction), and (all) fantasy.

*Soft science fiction is science fiction that deals with the social sciences such as economics, psychology, political science, and anthropology. Dystopian/utopian narratives fall under this umbrella.

One note on hard vs soft: sometimes these lines are broken down in a way that makes critics (including your professor) uncomfortable. After all "soft" sounds weak and "hard" sounds much more serious and important; they even have gendered elements to them at times (almost all the "hard" science fiction writers are male. Just as the sciences have struggled to create a more gender inclusive environment, it's important to consider each work of science fiction and its relationship to science as a field on its own terms, looking at what it offers and why.

It's also worthy to note that just as many of the inventions and "prophecies" in hard sci fi have turned out to be bunk as they have in soft--and soft often gets to the heart of human nature in a very "real" way.

Time Travel Exercise

A lot of time travel narratives deal with what is called "The Grandfather Paradox."

From Wikipedia: "The grandfather paradox is a paradox of time travel in which inconsistencies emerge through changing the past. The name comes from the paradox's common description as a person who travels to the past and kills their own grandfather, preventing the existence of their father or mother and therefore their own existence. Any inconsistency in past events may be regarded as a grandfather paradox."

One of the things I asked you to think about with Kindred is how the past is already always alive in the present. One reason I asked you to think about this is because it necessarily points to how this novel is about a truth about past and present that goes deeper than The Grandfather Paradox, as the paradox is about linear time.

In order to start understanding these distinctions, I'd like you, along with the person I paired you with, to create the basic plot summary for a time travel narrative in which someone changes something in the past (whether small or large), and for you to articulate how that practically affects the present.

Your write up should be well thought through--give this a good page.

Discuss together all the various ways in which this situation could go wrong, all the variables that might be unknown.

Your character should start off from TODAY and go backward to some time of your choosing in human history. The significance of the time period matters, too. Why did you choose it?