Assignment Question
Write a 8 page paper that puts “Body swapping” by Rémi Thériault, Jay A Olson, Sonia A Krol and Amir Raz and “The Proteus Effect” by Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson in conversation with each other along with two or more additional scholarly/peer-reviewed sources. A successful paper will find a few themes shared in common between the two texts and two sources and elaborate on how comparing these texts builds a better understanding of a particular theme or idea. An example of previous years papers themes with different texts were to write about machine learning algorithms and tools such as ChatGPT or MidJourney and how Zuboff’s Surveillance Capitalism & Safiya Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression helps us better understand the ways in which these algorithms fail in terms of representation, accuracy, etc. It would be a wise decision to provide a summary of the two readings and two sources you are synthesizing; but take care to leave enough room that the bulk of your paper is dedicated to analyzing the ways in which these texts converge and diverge from each other. Somewhere on your first page should contain the thesis of your paper—that is, by the time I finish page one, I should have some indication of what the point of your paper is. That is: what can we learn by putting these texts in conversation with each other? What insights can we gain? The Structure should be:
1. Introduction a. Identifies the 2x readings and sources from the syllabus you’ll be writing about b. Identifies the key themes discussed in each reading c. Thesis Statement: how does putting these two readings in conversation with each other help us better understand both?
2. Summary of Reading One: a. Identify object(s) of study b. Provide key takeaways/main points of article c. Include 2-3 quotations or cited summaries in your own words
3. Summary of Reading Two: a. Identify object(s) of study b. Provide key takeaways/main points of article c. Include 2-3 quotations or cited summaries in your own words
4. Summary of Source One: a. Identify object(s) of study b. Provide key takeaways/main points of article c. Include 2-3 quotations or cited summaries in your own words (Length: approx. ¼ total paper length
5. Summary of Source Two: a. Identify object(s) of study b. Provide key takeaways/main points of article c. Include 2-3 quotations or cited summaries in your own words
6. Synthesis a. Identify main points of convergence and divergence between your 2x selected readings b. Unpack how putting these 2x readings and sources in conversation with each other helps us better understand a specific phenomenon c. Identify potential sites of exploration/object(s) of study that you might pursue in your final project using this framework (Bulk of paper)
7. Conclusion a. Summarize main takeaways b. Gesture towards future work (how you might take what you explained in this paper and apply it towards better understanding a specific object of study
8. Works Cited MLA cited page that lists both readings covered in your paper and 2 sources. 12pt font (times new roman, double spaced), headers are not necessary, use either ALA or MLA format but indicate at the top of your Works Cited page which citation style you are using so that we may assess it properly.
