Thoughts, Planning and Practice

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Some Thoughts on Technology…

The following short videos are not designed to be used as evidence in a context essay. However, they may provoke some thoughts regarding the way technology is used in our society: its benefits, its limitations and its drawbacks.

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Social media is not real

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Technology will never replace love

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Brazilian students learn English by making connections with senior citizens in Chicago

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The three year selfie

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Practice Context Essay Writing

 

Pick a prompt…

  1. Technology will not free us; it will control us.
  2. Our visions of the future reflect our worst fears.

 

…and plan a response! Start by breaking down the topic:

  1. Identify KEY TERMS
  2. Formulate a GUIDING QUESTION that uses these key terms
  3. Think of some ASSERTIONS (ideas/claims/arguments) that could be made in response to this question
  4. Find some EXAMPLES that can be used to explore/illustrate/back-up these assertions

 

You will need to select an approach:

  1. EXPOSITORY: make sure you provide an EXPLORATION of the different sides of the issue: at least three distinct, clear ideas, covering both positive and negative aspects of the topic, without coming down too strongly in support of either side. Be intelligent!
  2. PERSUASIVE: make sure you provide a clear CONTENTION and ARGUE a strong case. Include two arguments supporting your case and include one rebuttal argument. You must have conviction!
  3. CREATIVE: good luck!

 

Then you will then need to structure your response:

  1. Decide upon your best three ideas/arguments (depending on your approach). These should be very distinct and clear. These will be the topic sentence to your body paragraphs. There should be no mention of texts or examples at this point!
  2. Come up with at least two examples that can be used to illustrate/explore/back-up each idea/argument. At least one example for each idea/argument should come from a literary source.

 

Finish assembling your plan, then start writing the essay!

 

 

Some Older Resources

Here are some of the slides and quote sheets from earlier in the course in case you need to refer to them:

Handout: Dystopian Quotes and Definitions (PDF)

‘An Introduction to the Future’ Slides:


 

Student Summaries of Science Fiction Short Stories: