Where Do Ideas Come From? Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making: Spring Semester 2013

Essay #4 FINAL EXAM:

Prompt: This semester we have discussed at length many important problem solving methods outlined in Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko.  For this final exam essay, choose two (2) techniques and put them to the test.  In other words, identify an important, real world problem and solve it, using at least two (2) techniques in Thinkertoys. First, describe how you went about solving the problem by using two techniques, and then provide the best solutions.  Choose, discuss, and defend your best solutions.

Quality: Not all problems and solutions are equal in importance.  You must choose an important problem and give important and quality solutions to that problem.  You will be rated on the quality of your problem and solutions.  Dig deep.  Clarity is important.  Unpack your ideas.

Your essay should contain several well-developed and college-level paragraphs with topic sentences that support your thesis and reflect the description for this paper.

Format: In fairness to everyone, essays must be formatted in the exact same way.  Refer to the formatting procedures for “First page of MLA paper” in The Little, Brown Handbook.  If you do not format properly, your essay will be handed back to you and considered late until it has been correctly formatted.  Essays should be three (3) pages minimum, double-spaced, 12 Roman font, paginated, and stapled.

NOTE: Feel free to include charts, diagrams, mind-maps etc., but they will not be counted as pages–and should be on separate pages.

Thesis: Your essay must contain a strong, compelling, arguable and persuasive thesis.

Schedule:

5/23     Final Draft Essay #4 is due on May 23rd, uploaded to Turnitin.com by 3pm sharp.  No exceptions.

Since this is a final exam, your instructor is not available for questions.

 

Good Luck!

 

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Essay #3: Freedom to Create Whatever We Choose or Censorship?

Prompt: Visions of Tomorrow has given us a glimpse into the future. In many of the stories, there is some type of new invention, idea, or futuristic concept, many of which came true. One example would be comparing Sanji’s access to a Concierge to the new Google Glasses. How is this invention in the story similar to the new invention of Google Glasses, and in what way does the science fiction story idea reflect the ethical controversies we face today in our culture because we have this kind of new technology?

Quality: Choose at least 3 important ethical problems/issues to discuss about your invention.  Your essay should contain several well-developed and college-level paragraphs with topic sentences that support your thesis and reflect the description for this paper.

Format: In fairness to everyone, essays must be formatted in the exact same way.  Refer to the formatting procedures for “First page of MLA paper” in The Little, Brown Handbook.  If you do not format properly, your essay will be handed back to you and considered late until it has been correctly formatted.  Essays should be 4 pages minimum, double-spaced, 12 Roman font, paginated, and stapled.

Sources: Whenever you quote a piece of literature or quote any author, you must use citations.  Essays must contain properly formatted, in-sentence citations and a Works Cited page to receive credit.

Thesis: Your essay must contain a strong, compelling, arguable and persuasive thesis.

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Essay #2 Close reading & Compare and Contrast Essay: Science Fiction in Literature

Goal: What is a “close reading”? Compare and Contrast?

This kind of assignment, so often used in university courses, involves looking at several texts.  In a close reading, you as the writer seek out patterns within the work itself, and suggest why those patterns are significant ones.  In addition, you might show how these patterns are sometimes violated or varied.  You are searching for some meaning.  Your job is to show how your interpretation, your explanation of the work’s meaning, can be supported by details of the text itself.  In other words, after doing a careful reading of each story and collecting evidence, you demonstrates similarities or differences between two stories. You should strive not to come up with a meaning that everyone will see immediately (this would be so obvious and more like a review when you simply recapitulate what the author has said), but a meaning or an interpretation that you, having taken great care analyzing the work, have arrived at and need to convince your readers of.  A compelling thesis is absolutely necessary.

Prompt: Compare and contrast any two stories from Visions of Tomorrow. Demonstrate similarities or differences in both.  Refer to the compare and contrast worksheet. Did deep!  What is the relation between what is being said and “how” it is being said?

Quality: Your essay should contain several well-developed and college-level paragraphs with topic sentences that support your thesis and reflect the description for this paper.

Format: In fairness to everyone, essays must be formatted in the exact same way.  Refer to the formatting procedures for “First page of MLA paper” in The Little, Brown Handbook.  If you do not format properly, your essay will be handed back to you and considered late until it has been correctly formatted.  Essays should be 4 pages minimum, double-spaced, 12 Roman font, paginated, and stapled.

Sources: Whenever you quote a piece of literature, you must use citations.  Essays must contain properly formatted, in-sentence citations and a Works Cited page to receive credit.

Thesis: Your essay must contain a strong, compelling, arguable and persuasive thesis.

 

Schedule:

Thurs. 3/21         Essay #2 Rough Draft Due uploaded by 2 pm.

Thurs. 4/11         Essay #2 Final Draft Due uploaded by 2 pm.

 

 

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Essay #1: Science Fiction Writing & Creative Problem Solving

Prompt:  Choose one of the quotes below and write a justification for it and/or a way to defend it:  What could the science fiction author have meant by his or her comment?

“In science fiction, you can test your own realities” (Theodore Sturgeon).

“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not”(Isaac Asimov).

“Space or science has become a dialect for our time” (Doris Lessing).

Goal: To create a college-level essay that utilizes persuasive argumentation skills by building a strong, compelling argument. To make compelling arguments using ethos, logos and pathos. To create a persuasive argumentative essay that makes a claim or takes a position, and backs it up with compelling arguments. To learn how to avoid bias or weak arguments. To use claim, evidence, and result as a writing strategy throughout your essays. Writer should build a compelling, well-rounded argument.  To learn how to organize an argument so that it will persuade the reader.

Quality: Your essay should contain several well-developed and college-level paragraphs with topic sentences that support your thesis (persuasive argument) and reflect the description for this paper. Use at least three compelling ways/examples/etc. that support the quote.

Paragraph: Pay careful attention to paragraph development. A paragraph is a collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic. There should be a strong topic sentence in every paragraph.  Thesis paragraph should contain a road map for the reader.

Title: This semester we will work on developing well-crafted titles for your essays.  If you use a title page, you must not count that as a page.  Otherwise, titles must be formatted correctly.

Format: In fairness to everyone, essays must be formatted in the exact same way. Refer to the formatting procedures for “First page of MLA paper” in The Little, Brown Handbook. If you do not format properly, your essay will be handed back to you and considered late until it has been correctly formatted. Essays should be 2 1/2 pages minimum, double-spaced, 12 Times New Roman fonts, paginated, and stapled. Essay must be formatted with one inch margins all around. Essays that are not formatted correctly will be handed back and considered late.

Documenting Sources: You must document your sources.  You must create a Works Cited Page, which is the last and separate page of your essay.  Remember: Works Cited Page does not count as a page though.

Outside Sources: You may include statistics, expert opinions, and/or other evidences, but only if they make sense in the context of your essay and/or helps to support your argument.

Links: You can add links to your examples. In other words, movie photos, video game information, etc.

Note: Make sure you read the section on Plagiarism on our syllabus, and makes sure you read my policy on this issue.

Schedule:

Tues. 2/12           No Class: Lincoln’s Birthday/ Essay #1 Rough Draft Due uploaded to https://turnitin.com/ by 2 pm.

Thurs. 3/7            Essay #1 Final Draft Due uploaded by 2 pm.