SECOND
PAPER TOPIC
Requirements
1. Please write a five-page paper in response to ONE of the topics below. The text should be double-spaced. A hard copy version of the paper is due in my office (E51-179) by 5 PM on Wednesday, December 11. If I am not in the office, slip it under my door.
2. Your paper must be computer-processed. Please give your paper a title, and write your name on the back of the last page. Do not write your name elsewhere on the paper. All pages should be numbered.
3. Citations to texts read in this course should be made in parentheses in your paper. For example, if you refer to a passage on page 13 of Epstein's Book Business, indicate this in the following manner at the end of your sentence, after the period: (Epstein, 13). Full citations to any work not assigned in class should be made in footnote or endnote form. For more suggestions, see the guide to editing.
Topics1. In Book Business, Jason Epstein writes: "The convergence of the Internet with the instantaneous transmission and retrieval of digital text is an epochal event, comparable to the impact of movable type on European civilization half a millenium ago, but with worldwide implications." (p. 179) Write an essay in which you explain why you find this comparison apt, or inapt.
2. In Republic.com, Cass Sunstein argues that in its current configuration, the Internet could seriously degrade democracy in the United States. Write a response to Sunstein in which you argue that examples from the first several centuries of printing in the west either support or contradict his argument. [Note: make sure you briefly summarize Sunstein's argument at the outset of your paper.]