I would like to write my essay on how people attach themselves to their avatars online. I don’t have a specific thesis at this point, but I will definitely be using “A Rape in Cyberspace” for evidence of whatever I choose to be my thesis. I really fell in love with this text and the idea of people projecting themselves into digital spaces and it eventually having emotional consequences. I want to also bring in the idea of how people can act themselves in a virtual environment without physical restrictions on their personalities, yet they allow their avatars to affect themselves emotionally. I think a good movie to watch for the research of this essay is probably the Matrix Trilogy, partly because it deals with human consciousness over digital spaces, and a good book to reference will probably be Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Friday, March 12, 2010
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You're right in that you have no argument, and you need one and quick because this is incredibly broad.
What you have here sounds like a recapitulation of what we have already read in class, not an argument of your own. Not that you can't get to one with this subject, but I don't see where you're close to one with what you have written here. If blog post #9 is rich with details, then I will have the opportunity to help you with my comments at that time.
Watching three movies and reading an entire work of fiction to get what would likely be a very small part of your support for whatever argument isn't a good use of your time (unless you have a ton of it). If you wanted to look at specific things in those movies OR in that book, and make an argument outward from there, that might be a path of interest to you. But you have to have some sort of connection between what you're talking about and what you're using as examples, and part of that connection is a recognition of where those objects came from (contemporary culture and its influence) in the first place.
From the final project assignment sheet:
* The specific rule of most importance is that you must make an original argument with your work. You must have a thesis that includes with it the “so what” or “who cares” aspect of your argument, and that “so what” or “who cares” part of the analysis must be clear throughout your essay.
Your proposal should have included what you plan to do (including which general topics from the course that you are going to link together) — this means details and some depth — what you plan to argue (this could include the argument or the research question in advance of the argument, with an hypothesis of the argument you potentially foresee), and how you plan to support the argument (which theories do you see yourself using on either side of your argument, etc).
All of those elements should be present in blog #9, yet with even more depth than I expected for blog #8, since you will have annotated sources and know how you will be using them in your argument.
Seize one very specific thing, link it to something else, and argue for the validity of the observation you are making.
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