Assignment # 1. Instructor: Manuel Betancourt Expos 101

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1 Reading: Assignment # 1 Due Dates: Tuesday September 11 th (Rough Draft) Tuesday September 18 th (Final Draft) In one of his most quotable moments, Nicholas Carr says that his mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words, he notes, Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski (68). This change from scuba diver to jet skier exemplifies a lot of what Carr believes is happening to our minds in this age of Google. Focusing on Carr s text as a whole, answer the following question: How is the process of reading changing according to Carr? - How does Carr define reading? Are there different types of reading and are these connected to different ways of thinking? - How does the Google philosophy square with Carr s ideas of deep reading? - Is Carr s argument ultimately a pessimistic or an optimistic view of how the Net is reprogramming us? - A thesis statement that answers the question. - A developed argument based around the thesis that uses textual evidence from the reading (ie. use quotations to support your thesis).

2 Reading: Assignment # 2 Due Dates: Tuesday September 25 th (Rough Draft) Tuesday October 2 nd (Final Draft)! Azar Nafisi Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir in Books ( ) Nafisi mentions that one of the criteria for the books [she] had chosen was their authors faith in the critical and almost magical power of literature (259). Keeping Carr s ideas about reading and the impact of the Net on our thinking, answer the following question: In what ways do Carr and Nafisi see reading as a fundamental skill for living in a modern world? -What purposes does reading fulfill for Carr and Nafisi? -Is the type of class Nafisi hosts unthinkable in a Google world? -Does Carr also believe in the critical and almost magical power of literature? - A thesis statement that answers the question and connects both readings. - A developed argument based around the thesis that uses textual evidence from both readings (ie. use - Discussion of both authors in each paragraph.

3 Assignment # 3 Due Dates: Tuesday October 23 rd (Rough Draft) Tuesday October 30 th (Final Draft)! Azar Nafisi Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir in Books ( ) Gladwell, in explaining the power of context, tells us that the convictions of your heart and the actual contents of your thoughts are less important, in the end, in guiding your actions than the immediate context of your behavior (164). Using what you wrote for your midterm as well as early class discussions on reading, answer the following question: How does our immediate context shape our reading habits?! - What is immediate context? How does Gladwell define it?! - What role does immediate context play in how and what we read? Look back at what you wrote for your Midterm; use as much as you want from it as you work on this assignment. - A strong thesis statement that answers the question and connects all three readings. - A developed argument based around the thesis that uses textual evidence from all three readings (ie. use - Discussion of at least two authors in each paragraph.

4 Assignment # 4 Due Dates: Tuesday November 13 th (Rough Draft) Tuesday November 20 th (Final Draft)! Beth Loffreda Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder ( ) In her text, Loffreda speaks at length about the aftermath of the Matt Shepard murder in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming. The state of Wyoming and the Laramie community in particular play important roles for Loffreda s analysis of what happened after Shepard was attacked. With Gladwell s theories of the power of context in mind, answer the following question: What role did context take in the way Shepard s murder was reported? Further Guiding Questions - Do Henderson and McKinney exemplify Gladwell s power of context theory? Are they examples of the ways criminals are products of their immediate context? - Look at the ways Loffreda analyzes the media s attention to the crime. How does the often repeated slogan Hate is not a Wyoming value (and its opposite, Hate; it s a common word in Wyoming ) embody an environmental argument for what happened in Laramie? Does Loffreda put forth a power of context argument when explaining what happened? - How does Loffreda s article try to frame the power of context in Shepard s murder in light of the way several media outlets reported it?

5 Assignment # 5 Due Dates: Tuesday November 27 th (Rough Draft) Tuesday December 4 th (Final Draft)! Beth Loffreda Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder ( )! Tim O Brien How To Tell A True War Story ( ) In How to Tell a True War Story O Brien complicates what it means when we say something is true or not. Connecting this to the way Loffreda handles the aftermath of Shepard s murder in Laramie and the arguments Gladwell presents about the power of context, answer the following question: How reliable were the media accounts Loffreda discusses in Losing Matt Shepard? - A thesis statement that answers the question and connects all three readings. - A developed argument based around the thesis that uses textual evidence from all three readings (ie. use - Discussion of at least two authors in each paragraph. Roman), remember to include your name and date in the upper left hand corner, a staple in the upper left hand corner, page numbers at the top right hand corner of every page, and an original title centered on the first page.