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Fiction General Guidelines First and foremost, the purpose of these letters is for you to discuss with your classmates various issues relevant to this course, for you to engage in a dialogue of exploration and inquiry. Your letter can arise from your reading, your journal entries, or class discussion. In no way do your thoughts have to be complete, absolute, or fixed. The idea here is to explore your reactions and your ideas, share those with members of the class, and see what they have to say in return. Therefore, open-ended exploration is much better than trying to prove a particular point of view. However, do refer directly to the texts when possible. While the letters are informal, you do need to make yourself clear, so revise and proofread your letters. Letters will be posted into WebCT. You should write and save your letter in a word processor rather than directly into WebCT, and keep electronic files of your letters. Not only will this give you a record of your letters, it will protect you from loosing your WebCT connection as you compose and, thereby, loosing what you've written before it's posted. The average letter should be roughly one-half to one page single spaced. For your first letter, choose an aspect of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that you want to explore further: a question you have, a theme you're interested in, or an issue you wish we'd discussed more in class, and write a letter to your group members which seeks to start a discussion on that issue. Your letter should provide some context, cite necessary passages, and offer your thoughts. Your letter should be written in such a way as to engage your group members, to provide for them a place to respond. Think of these letters not as final opinions but as opening statements. Once you've drafted your letter, log on to the class WebCT course, click on the letter forums icon, and then click on the "Letter Series 1" link for your group. Once you are inside your group's section, click on the "Compose Discussion Message" link, which will open a new window for you to paste your letter. The groups are as follows:
Your letter should be posted by 8:00 PM, Thursday Jan. 29. Read the letters posted by your group members and respond to two of them. Like the letters in stage 1, these letters should be one-half to one page single spaced, refer directly to our texts, and strive to engage members of your group in discussion. While they should respond to the issue(s) raised by the earlier letter, you need not limit yourself to them. Associations, comparisons to other texts (either those we're reading in class or texts you've read on your own) or media (such as movies, graphic novels, t.v. shows, Web sites, etc.), class discussion, and references to other letters posted by members of the class (in and out of your group) are all highly encouraged. The two letters you write ought to deal with different issues. The two letters of stage 2 should be posted by 8:00 PM, Tuesday, Feb. 3. Read the letters posted by your group members for stage 2 and respond to two of them. You're free to respond to letters written in response to other group members' letters as well as those written in response to your own. Like the letters in stage 1 and stage 2, these letters should be one-half to one page single spaced, refer directly to our texts, and strive to engage members of your group in discussion. While they should respond to the issue(s) raised by the letter to which they are responding, you need not limit yourself to them. Associations, comparisons to other texts (either those we're reading in class or texts you've read on your own) or media (such as movies, graphic novels, t.v. shows, Web sites, etc.), class discussion, and references to other letters posted by members of the class (in and out of your group) are all highly encouraged. The two letters you write ought to deal with different issues. The two letters of stage 3 should be posted by 8:00 PM, Friday, Feb. 6. Read the stage 3 letters posted by your group. Last Modified: 26 January 2004 Syllabus | Policies | Work | Schedule | Assignments | Handouts | Links |