This week, we conclude Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and discuss the Research Essay. See the posts below for the Weekly Writing Assignment and an Announcement about emailing Prof. Ellis with your Research Essay topic.
Email Prof. Ellis with Your Research Topic
As discussed in the Week 4 Lecture, you should begin thinking about the work of Science Fiction that you want to write about for your Research Essay. While there is plenty of time for you to work on this before the end of the semester, I would like you to choose your topic sooner rather than later. Then, email me at jellis at citytech.cuny.edu with your topic, a short description of the question you want to investigate in your essay, and any questions you might have right now about the Research Essay. I will reply to everyone to give some feedback before you begin your research. This isn’t due this week, but you should email me as soon as you choose your topic so that you have as much time as possible to work on your Research Essay.
Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 4
This week, we completed our coverage of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Using your notes of this week’s lecture and your reading, write approximately 250 words summarizing and highlighting those points that stand out the most in your mind and in your notes.
After posting your response, take some time to read others’ responses. We can learn a lot from each other in this way.
If you have the time, comment or reply to those that correspond with your thinking or those you might disagree with. In all of our communications, remember to be professional, polite, and cordial. Also, be aware that communicating via writing can result in misunderstandings–always read your responses to yourself aloud before posting and think about what you write from other perspectives. These things will help you craft your responses to others online and avoid misunderstandings.
Lecture, Week 3
In the Week 3 Lecture, we continue discussing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and explore what elements make it Science Fiction.
After watching this week’s lecture and doing the assigned reading, you can respond to the Weekly Writing Assignment posted below. Remember to write your response somewhere it can be saved before copy-and-pasting your work into a comment added to the Weekly Writing Assignment post below.
If you get behind in the assignments, remember to email me when you get your work posted so that I can go back and give you credit for the work. It’s always better to submit something rather than nothing, too.
Finally, I have office hours on Wednesday from 3:00pm-5:00pm (see the top of the syllabus for the link) or you can contact me by email (jellis at citytech.cuny.edu) with questions or to make an appointment for another day/time.
Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 3
For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, add a comment to this post that summarizes some of the highlights from your reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and this week’s lecture (posted above).
Take time to read the comments of others in the class on this post and the previous posts–especially the first Weekly Writing Assignment post where everyone introduced themselves. Feel free to reply to other folks in the class if you share an interest in SF or discover a connection that you would like to share. Consider our OpenLab Course Site as the place where we can discuss and meet others studying the same topic. While our class might be asynchronous and online, it doesn’t have to be without community and connection.
Announcement: WAC Workshop on Plagiarism, Thurs., Feb. 18, 1-2pm
City Tech’s Writing Across the Curriculum program is offering a free workshop on what is plagiarism and how to avoid it. This is highly recommended but not required. Details are below:
Avoiding Plagiarism: A Workshop for Students Plagiarism can be less obvious than you think, especially in an online environment. This workshop will give you practical information and strategies to ensure your writing assignments are plagiarism-free. When: Thurs, Feb 18, 2021, 1-2 pm Where: Zoom Students register in advance for this workshop: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlcuisqDwiGdCAM6NjOX1bx7qOGExOV-wa After registering, a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting will be sent.
Lecture, Week 2
We are beginning the second week of Science Fiction!
Above, you’ll find this week’s lecture on precursors to Science Fiction and background on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Watch the whole lecture as your schedule permits and make handwritten notes on what you learn. Remember that your handwritten notebooks contribute to 40% of your final grade (20% midterm and 20% end of semester).
Also, remember to keep up with the reading this week of Frankenstein as described on the Syllabus (linked to the left in the navigation menu).
Watch for posts tagged as Announcements that have opportunities and events that are related to SF that I think might be interesting and beneficial to you.
My office hours are on Wednesday from 3:00pm-5:00pm. See the Syllabus (linked to the left in the navigation menu) for the link to Google Hangouts. I’m also available by appointment–just reach out with your availability by email to jellis at citytech.cuny.edu.
Finally, this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment is available below.
Be well and stay safe!
Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 2
For your Week 2 Weekly Writing Assignment, use your notes of this week’s lecture (posted above) and your reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to write at least 250-words summarizing what you identify as highlights or important points. This exercise contributes to your graded writing in the class and gives you an opportunity to return to the course material to think, choose, and report on what you have learned. These are graded on best effort, but they should primarily focus on the course material. However, you may make connections between course material and other SF that you’ve read, seen, etc. Type up your response someplace safe that you can save, and then copy-and-paste your response into a comment made to this blog post.
Lecture, Week 1
Each week, I will make posts relevant to that week’s work based on the schedule on the syllabus. As you can see here, I made one post for this week’s lecture and one post below for this week’s weekly writing assignment. In both cases, these are labeled as pertaining to “Week 1” to help you keep track of what needs to be done now before next week when I post the next lecture and assignments on our OpenLab Course Site.
You will want to have your notebook out and watch the lecture. I will talk about note taking strategies for our class. Your notes have to be handwritten notes for the reasons that I discuss in the lecture. These will be scanned and submitted as part of your grade at the midterm and at the end of the semester.
As discussed toward the end of the lecture, you should download and read over this document that I made for you of a variety of definitions of Science Fiction. We will refer to this document throughout the semester and it will be essential to your research paper later this semester.
After you’ve watched the lecture and made notes, you will want to begin reading Frankenstein (linked from the syllabus’ schedule) and respond to the Weekly Writing Assignment posted below.
I will have office hours on Wednesday 3:00-5:00 (see syllabus for link). Bring your questions then or email me at jellis at citytech.cuny.edu.
I’m looking forward to a fun and engaging semester focused on Science Fiction with you all!
Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 1
For your first 250-word (minimum) weekly writing assignment, please add a comment to this post (click on the title, “Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 1,” and then scroll down the page to find the comment box and the “post comment” button) that accomplishes two things: 1) introduce yourself to everyone in the class (your name–first name or pseudonym is fine, your major, hobbies, and favorite examples of Science Fiction–authors/books, films, video games, music, etc.), and 2) briefly summarize some of the main points or highlights from today’s lecture on what is SF and why should we study it?
Remember to write and save your response elsewhere (on your computer, in the cloud, etc.) and then copy-and-paste your response into a comment that you make to this post. This keeps your work safe so that nothing is lost.
