For this assignment, you will choose an idea or passage from one of our readings to respond to critically. The available choices include all articles from the first two chapters of The CyberReader:

• Benjamin Woolley. "Cyberspace." pp. 3-16.
• Michael Heim. "VR101." pp. 18-43. 
• Richard Thieme. "Stalking the UFO Meme." pp. 44-53.
• Sherry Turkle. "Identity Crisis." pp. 57-73.
• Timothy Leary. "The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot." pp. 77-87.
• Timothy Leary. "Evolution of Countercultures." pp. 87-89.
• Howard Rheingold. "Smart Mobs: The Power of the Mobile Many." pp. 89-115.

Main Goal

The goal of the assignment is to engage in a thoughtful manner with controversial aspects of virtual reality and identity. This will involve responding both to what the text argues and to how it presents the idea.

Some questions to consider with regard to how the idea/passage is presented:

• What is the context of the idea/passage?
• How well does the idea/passage fit into the overall text?
• Who is the intended audience? What are their known values/beliefs?
• Would the same idea presented in a different manner or context produce different reactions from you? Why or why not?

Some questions to consider with regard to what the idea/passage conveys:

• What is your understanding of the idea/passage?
• How is the idea supported? Is the evidence relevant, logical, and sufficient?
• Where do you stand in relation to the idea/passage? Why?
• How would you substantiate your position with evidence?

Developing Your Narrative

This assignment will help you improve your skills of responding critically to ideas. At the same time, you will be writing a persuasive piece, so make sure your claims are stated explicitly and supported with evidence. The narrative you produce will ideally balance your detailed commentary on the text with a well-developed position in response to the main idea you have chosen to discuss.

Read the text several times. Read with different goals each time. Try to identify major sections of the text that relate to the idea/passage that you have chosen to respond to. Remember that the author may have had readers in mind who are not exactly like you.

Formal Requirements

FORMAT: Your paper should be 4-6 pages double-spaced. Please follow the formatting instructions presented in the course policy statement.

SOURCES: One obvious source for this assignment will be the text itself. In addition, you are expected to use at least three outside sources of support for your position. Please remember that sources can be useful not only for the claims expert make in various publications, but also for the examples that outside materials can provide. Be sure to use MLA style of documentation to give credit to all sources.

SUBMIT: To submit your paper, you will upload an electronic copy in my teacher folder. All papers have to be MS Word documents.

Grading Criteria

I will evaluate your paper according to these criteria:

• Focus/Purpose
• adherence to assignment guidelines;
• clear/explicit claims and a coherent overall opinion.
• Development
• detailed and insightful commentary on the idea/passage of choice;
• sufficient, relevant and varied support for your position.
• Organization
• logical arrangement of ideas;
• smooth transitions.
• Tone/Style
• appropriate, formal, scholarly language;
• friendly, but persuasive, tone.
• Editing
• correct usage of MLA documentation;
• lack of grammatical problems and mechanical errors.

My grades will follow the overall grading philosophy recommended by the DRW in Chapter 4 of the Student Guide.