Essay #2: The Science Fiction Genre

Instructions

NOTHING IS DUE FOR THIS ESSAY IN WEEK 4. YOU ARE ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR READING THESE INSTRUCTIONS IN WEEK 4.

Purpose:

This assignment is intended for you to practice the building blocks of effective analytical writing: making claims and providing evidence in response to one of your class reading assignments. In writing this essay, you should demonstrate awareness and understanding of a given text’s relationship to the conventions (elements) of its genre, and demonstrate an ability to analyze the text based on that understanding.

Text: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams

Assignment Requirements:

Minimum length: 3 pages, typed and double-spaced, presented in MLA format. The writing should be error-free and the language should be in the tone of formal academic discourse. Use 3^rd-person point of view. Follow all of the guidelines in the Analytical Writing Instructions.

A minimum of 3 non-fiction sources in addition to The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect are required, so that means you must use four sources total. Make a Works Cited page for this essay using the Little, Brown Brief section on MLA.

Use the library databases to find relevant non-fiction sources to support the claims of your essay, such as information about science fiction novels, and specific style elements that illustrate your claims (e.g. character, language use, plot, themes, etc.).

In the library databases, look for non-fiction, academic articles about science fiction using these kinds of search words: science fiction, the conventions of science fiction, elements of science fiction, the elements of fiction, the development of character in science fiction, language use in science fiction, the significance of science fiction, etc. They will be secondary sources that you will use to analyze your primary source text, the MPI.

Writing TIP #1: Do not use other novels as sources. This is a mistake that students sometimes make. Find non-fiction source articles that discuss the science fiction genre. If you go into the library, the librarians are very happy to help.

Writing TIP #2: Use the analytical writing assignments on The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect for drafting your essay. In other words, the assignments that you have already written on this novel (and will continue to write) will help you to write this essay. Gather those paragraphs together into one file and build an essay out of them. You will mostly use them for section II of the essay.

Address the following FOUR elements in your essay. Use this as an outline:

I. Identify and define the genre and genre conventions (rules/elements) that are applicable to this text: define the science fiction genre and its major features. Use sources that tell you about the science fiction genre in this section.

II. Explain the relationship of this text to its genre—provide specific examples from the text of The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect to explain how MPI is a science fiction novel. Use the Science Fiction Genre Elements document as a list of the elements of science fiction to help you with this section. Use The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect as the source in this section. Use the analytical writing assignments that you have already written as a first draft for this section.

III. Use some specific style elements to demonstrate how this is a science fiction novel—use specific passages from the novel to show how Williams used character, plot, language usage, tone, etc. to create a science fiction novel. Use The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect as a source. Refer to the StyleAnalysisGuide.pdf and to Science Fiction Genre Elements for this section. You do not need to write about every kind of style element. Just choose a few, which as character, plot, and tone.

IV. Discuss the wider significance of the science fiction genre and the wider significance of this text in particular. Use the text of The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect along with outside sources about the importance and significance of science fiction. Also, look for information here Artificial Intelligence Scholarly Journal Links.

DO NOT CHANGE THESE SECTIONS OR THE ORDER OF THESE SECTIONS.

You must follow the above outline exactly.

Writing TIP #3: These sections do not represent paragraphs. This essay can be more than 4 paragraphs and more than 3 pages long.

Writing TIP #4: Use the Essay #2 Rubric as a checklist to help you write Essay #2. And look at the Essay #2 Example. These are located in the Week 4 Module.

Using sources: You must cite page numbers of the sources that you use in this essay. Every time that you use a direct quote, paraphrase or summarize information from sources, or simply refer to a source, you must cite it. This is an extremely important skill that you are learning in this course. A simple rule to follow is to put at least one direct quote in every paragraph (including the introduction and conclusion), AND refer to a source at least two other times without using a direct quote. See the LBB, section 56d, for an example of an MLA essay. To make it simpler for yourself, plan to have at least three citations in every paragraph of your essay.