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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 of this series, you will explore some aspect of Neuromancer or Neuromancer and cyberpunk. Your letter should provide some context, cite necessary passages, establish a question you would like to see answered, and offer some initial thoughts towards an answer to that question. Your goal is not to provide the answer or even an answer but to begin exploring possible answers and even additional questions that might need to be considered as you work towards an answer. Some helpful links include:
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 4" link. Once you are inside the Letter Series 3 forum, click on the "Compose Discussion Message" link, which will open a new window for you to paste your letter. Your letter's subject line should be stated as a question. Your letter should be posted by 6:00 PM, Thursday, April 15. Read four or five letters that have fewer than two responses, select two and respond to them. As in stage 1, these letters should be between one-half and one page single spaced, should refer directly to our texts, and should strive to engage others in a 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 are all highly encouraged. The two letters you write ought to deal with different issues. No letter should have more than two responses. The two letters of stage 2 should be posted by 5:00 pm, Monday, April 19. Read the responses to your letter and draft responses to each. As in stage 1 and 2, these letters should be between one-half and one page single spaced, should refer directly to our texts, and should strive to engage others in a 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 are all highly encouraged, as is incorporating the reading from Science Fiction, ch. 5. The two letters you write ought to deal with different issues. The two letters of stage 3 should be posted by 5:00 PM, Friday, April 23. At this point in the letter series, you have a few options. You may either continue with the discussions you're involved in or you can join another discussion. Either way, you should post two additional letters. As the prior stages, these letters should be between one-half and one page single spaced, should refer directly to our texts, and should strive to engage others in a 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 are all highly encouraged. The two letters you write ought to deal with different issues. The two letters of stage 4 should be posted by 5:00 PM, Friday, April 30. Read the responses to your letters. Last Modified: 8 April 2004 Syllabus | Policies | Work | Schedule | Assignments | Handouts | Links |