Comparative Literature 146: Robots
Assignment Guidelines

Daily Discussion Questions
For this daily assignment, you are responsible for bringing one discussion question to class for each of the day's assigned reading. For the second day of class, for example, you should have three questions: one for Heidegger, one for Icarus, and one for Apollodorus. Your questions should be well formulated and should engage specifically and critically with each text under consideration. I will collect your questions at the end of each class. You will be graded both for your ideas and how well you articulate them. Questions should be typed and single spaced.

Weekly Forum Response
For this weekly assignment, you are responsible for contributing in some manner to the course forum. There are a number of ways to fufill this assignment. For example, you could contribute a nomination for the "Robot of the Week" and explain why your robot is of interest. You could also comment upon pre-existing Robots of the Week. Alternatively, you could respond to a question that we did not get to discuss in class--or you could elaborate further upon a discussion question that interested you. You are also welcome and encouraged to start your own topic, as long as it relates somehow to the class. Your responses should be well formulated and should engage critically with whatever it is you decide to discuss. You will be graded both for your ideas and how well you articulate them. Your weekly forum response is due any time during the week, starting the first week of classes.

Presentations
For this one-time assignment, you are responsible for reporting to the class about one outside "reading" that somehow relates to our course. Your reading can be of a film, a novel, a short story, a work of art, or an actual technological innovation, such as a "real" robot. More complete guidelines will follow. Whatever you choose, you are encouraged to tie this presentation into your final paper.

Mid-term Examination
This exam will cover readings, discussion, lecture, and any other supplemental material introduced in class.

Final Paper & Creative Component
For your final project, you are responsible for writing an 8-10 page paper that critically engages with one aspect of this class. You are additionally required to produce a "creative component" of this project, which might include a short story, a web site, a visualization, or a soundtrack, among other possibilities. You will be graded both for your ideas and how well you articulate them. More complete guidelines will follow soon, but in the meantime you are encouraged to start thinking about your topic immediately.

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