due_dates: January 2008 Archives

Your assignment is to read the term paper submissions of two classmates, and write an analysis (similar to what you did for Ex 4, where you evaluated an academic article).  Ex 8 should be about 3 pages long.

Remember that a peer critique is an act of frendship and solidarity. You can't boost your own grade by tearing down your classmate, and nobody is going to benefit if you flatter your classmate excessively. Constructive criticism notes both strengths and weaknesses, and the presentation of weaknesses should be phrased helpfully, without any gloating or pettiness. (I don't think this group will have that problem, but it's a standard reassurance that I offer.)

For each of your two chosen paper papers, respond to the following. (Note that these questions may also help you as you finalize your draft.)

1) What specific, non-obvious claim does this paper support? (That's another way of asking for the thesis... remember that "There are many interesting things to say about X" or a question like "Is X an instance of A?" or "People who kick puppies are bad" are not thesis statements that require academic argument.)

2) What opposing or alternative arguments does this paper address?

3) If this were your draft, what would you be the most proud of? (Be specific.)

4) If this were your draft, and you had more time to work on it, what do you feel would be the most beneficial change? (Again, be specific.)

5) Include me on the CC line in an e-mail in which you share your analysis with your classmate.

I've created the Turnitin.com slot and set it for 2pm. 

You are free to use this page to arrange to swap papers with 2 classmates, in preparation for Ex 8.

On your blog, post a comprehensive, detailed, richly-linked blog entry designed to generate discussion about a topic related to your term paper. I'd like you to think of the oral presentation as the more daring, hipper cousin of your buttoned-down and formal term paper. Try out an idea you don't fully understand yourself. If you're still trying to make up your mind about something, try to do that here.

To submit your work, post a link from this page to the URL of your entry.

The idea is to post an original essay on your site, full of links to good material online (such as interviews with game designers, newspaper stories or academic articles, screenshots, perhaps videos of people playing the game(s) you're focusing on), all coming together to teach the class an important concept. 

Don't spend time summarizing what you find elsewhere in the internet -- make your point as efficiently as possible, and link to where your reader can get the full article you're citing.

Ask questions, spark conversations, teach us something we don't know, demonstrate your ability to apply concepts taken from the course readings (and the maxims such as "all art is constrained" or the mirror/window/lens model).

We've already looked at Leslie's presentation on Lara Croft. That should give you a good idea of what to shoot for.

Compile a list of about 10 credible sources for your research paper. Summarize the content of the article in a short paragraph (with special attention to the author's thesis.)  Evaluate the article (with special attention to how it will help you create a strong research paper.) 

You may include texts on the syllabus, or texts that you have found on your own. I recognize there may be value in non-academic sources, such as interviews with designers or reviews in magazines or on personal weblogs, but when you are writing a scholarly paper, you should draw mostly from scholarly sources (such as journal articles, full-length books, or a single essay published as part of a collection).

Begin with a full MLA-style citation, as you would format it for a Works Cited list.  Unlike a WC list, however, I'm asking you to follow each entry with a short summary of the article (explaining what the author was trying to do), and following that with another short paragraph that explains how this specific item will help you explore the topic you are choosing for your term paper.

If you're doing a term paper on Sim City, I don't expect you to find ten peer-reviewed articles on Sim City. You will probably find a handful of great sources that at least mention Sim City in passing, but other articles might be even more useful if they discuss simulation games in general.  An article that doesn't even mention games at all, but instead discusses some aspect of city planning in the real world, may be extremely useful.

Here's an example of an annotated bibliography on interactive fiction. My evaluations are all based on how useful each item is for those who are interested in studying interactive fiction. (You don't have to assign a ranking to each item, but you should still evaluate it -- this means you need to move beyond summarizing what the item contains, and instead focus on explaining why a specific quoted passage will help you accomplish a certain intellectual task... thus, I asked you to read Jesper Juul's early essay not because it perfectly matched my own opinions, but rather because I wanted you to see how much Juul's opinion changed over time.)

You don't need to commit to using all 10 of these items in your term paper. You don't have to use ANY of them... my goal is not to force to you to lock yourself in this early, but rather to ensure that you're exposing yourselves to the kind of meaty arguments that will help you to come up with a thesis that engages with the ideas you find in the scholarly sources.

Asking you to do this bibliography research now is my attempt to prevent the horrible experience you will face if you write your paper first (based only on ideas from your own head), and then "look for quotes" to support the argument you have already made.  (It makes far more sense to find good quotes first, and then develop a thesis statement that you can actually support based on the evidence you've already found.)

As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

Ex 5 is advance work for your term paper. Your goal for the term paper is to use scholarly research (which includes a careful examination of primary texts -- in our case, a specific game or several games, as well as secondary texts -- in our case, academic articles and books) to defend a non-obvious claim about video game culture and theory.  Your thesis should be worth arguing about -- that is, you should present and account for (that is, refute) credible evidence that opposes the claim you want to make.

Ex 5 asks you to do some important advance work for your term paper.  You are free to change your thesis, your topic, and your whole approach after you complete this exercise, so don't feel that this exercise is supposed to lock you in.  It's simply supposed to ensure that you start the process of writing your research paper the right way -- by seeking out academic research first, and then coming up with an appropriate thesis that is supported by the available research. (Don't write your paper first and then "look for quotes" to support the opinion you had formed before you looked at any scholarly works... the arguments within the scholarly works are the building blocks you use in order to create your thesis.)

For Ex 5, supply the following information:

Post a new entry on your blog, and highlight the best work you have done since the last blogging portfolio was due. There will be fewer entries this time, so depth and interaction are important.

Choose any game that you know well; analyze and evaluate it, as Koster or Laurel might. 

You will need to develop a thesis statement that makes a claim (like the one I made in the lecture, in which I argued that Pac-Man is a representation of the core values of a hunter-gatherer society).  If you need a refresher, here is some background material on thesis statements. (All this should be familiar from your freshman comp classes.)

To "analyze" is to break down into its components in order to see how the parts work together. To "evaluate" you need to investigate and weigh not only the good and bad, but also examine what you mean by "good" or "bad," who gets to choose the words that carry value, and what those words mean.

Thus, I might say that a McDonalds advertisement is "good" because it is entertaining and sells burgers, but "bad" because it encourages unhealthy eating habits. Or I might say an educational video is "good" because it accurately conveys important information, but "bad" because it is poorly acted and shoddily produced. You and I might agree on all four of these statements, but disagree as to whether the "good" outweighs the "bad."  You and I might agree, but for different reasons.

An academic study should seek out and investigate differences in opinion, not try to explain them away or pretend they don't exist.

Feel free to post your ideas here before you write your full exercise. I'll be happy to give whatever feedback I can.

Revise your portfolio, according to the feedback I have offered. Tell me how you revised your portfolio, either by e-mailing me, leaving a comment on your portfolio page, or uploading a brief statement to the slot on Turnitin.com. 

A workbook for recent readings (Jerz, Crowther and Woods, Plotkin, Douglass) will be posted in the usual spot.

Complete a simple exercise on J-Web (SHU's course-management tool). Due by 9AM Friday (Jan 4).

You should first read the course syllabus.

The way J-Web is set up, an essay question will be marked as a zero until I have evaluated it. (I wish there were some way to change that.)  I don't promise to evaluate all essay questions overnight.   When I give you multiple-choice questions, the computer will be able to grade it immediately.

Don't think of the online exercises as tests or even quizzes. They are simply online exercises that are designed to help you keep from falling behind in the readings.

Since I won't be able to see whether you are smiling and nodding (indicating you like what we're talking about in class and want more), you're rolling your eyes and doodling (suggesting you're bored or I'm going too slowly), or frowning and muttering (suggesting I'm going too fast), I will need some way of quickly checking how the class is doing. The J-Web exercises give me that opportunity. All J-Web exercises are open notes, open book, and open Internet -- but my idea of "openness" does not include asking other people do to your work for you.

Due on Turintin.com by 4pm Friday. 1-2 pages.

1. Find a traditional review of one of the games analyzed in one of the 10 "unmissable" examples of "new games journalism" (but not the same game you chose for Ex 1a). (To find a traditional review, just go to Google and type the name of your game with the word "review" and you should have no trouble.) 
2. Write a brief reflection that analyzes the most important differences between the traditional review and the new games journalism piece. Quote passages from both the traditional review and the NGJ essay.
3. Include an MLA Works Cited page that includes both the NGJ essay and your chosen review. (Here are some handouts to help you format write an MLA-Style paper and the bibliography entries. Remember to alphabetize your entries by the author's last name.)

Write a short review of a computer game of your choice. 1-2 pages.  Upload to Turnitin.com by noon Friday. (For future reference, most exercises will be due at 9AM, so that I will have time to review your work before posting the day's discussion questions.)

Make this a traditional game review, addressing key topics such as how to play, where the particular challenges are, how this game differs from others in the same genre, why it received the ESRB rating that it got (if any), whether the game has replay value, etc.

(Please do not simply answer my list of questions in the order I presented them here; instead, look up a few online reviews, and use them as models. Gamespot.com is a consumer-friendly commercial site, and GameRevolution.com is a bit more irreverent and biting.)