Historical Essay II

Complete by: Friday 20 Mar., at class time.

Revision is an essential part of the writing process. Now that you have read more about the history of computing and reflected on your initial Historical Essay I, you will revise your essay into a more in-depth reflection on your chosen topic. Use the feedback you received from your peers and from me to expand your original piece of writing.

Now that you have spent time thinking carefully about your primary source, you should compare that primary source to the history we are reading in Ceruzzi’s Computing or in the other essays we have read. Your new essay should add at least one secondary source, which can be any of our course readings from the “Enabling Technologies” Unit. You should not simply add a new paragraph or section and call it a day. Your new essay should fully incorporate the secondary source(s) into your argument. This means you will need to (1) revise your thesis and (2) discuss your secondary source alongside your primary source in every body paragraph.

Your resulting essay should be at least 500 words longer than your original, but, again, this does not mean you should simply add a new page and leave the rest unchanged. Instead, revise the whole essay: consider reconfiguring the structure, rewriting individual sentences, adding new details, removing sections that aren’t working and replacing them, reinterpreting quotes or adding new ones, and expanding your analysis. We will discuss revision strategies in class and in our one-on-one conferences, but/and if you’re unsure about how to revise your essay you can always reach out to me.

Remember that you can continue to use the LibGuide for our class.

Requirements:

  • Submit your essay to the assignment on Sakai.
  • 4-6 paragraphs, 950-1400 words (at least 500 words longer than your previous version)
  • Include the wordcount in the header of your paper
  • One source chosen from our readings, and one library source you found on your own
  • Several integrated and correctly cited quotes from your sources
  • Double-spaced, readable font
  • MLA Format & Citations
  • PDF format (not a Word doc or other file type)

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