A research paper and presentation are part
of this course. The research paper is oriented at helping you
develop your capacity to interpret the history of our technology
in terms of the evolution of great principles. You will
locate key historical documents about a principle you choose
and build a story about that principle's inception. You will
document what changes have come after the principle's inception,
why those changes are permanent, and why the principle deserves
to be called great. You will show how the principle has
become permanently important. You want to communicate all this
to a technology-literate reader in a way that draws the reader
into your story and leaves the reader wanting to know more.
You can do this project either alone or on a two-person team
(both members of the class). Make this determination by 10/30/01
and tell me about it in your proposal.
The first step is to prepare a proposal, due 10/28/01. In the
proposal, say what is the principle and issue you want to
address, why you think it is important, why you have chosen it,
and what your initial approach to the research will be. Limit
this to 2 pages. Do some preliminary reading so that you can
give me enough meat that I can give you some
useful feeback.
The full paper will be due on 12/2/02, the last day of
classes. In that hour, I will give each paper team a time slot
of about 10 minutes to present its findings and results. This
will give you practice in making a presentation and you will be
graded on the quality and appeal of your presenation.