Writer______

English 99: Writing Assignment Two

Reading for Assignment Two:

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows. New York: Norton, 2011. Print.

In The Shallows Nicholas Carr presents anelaborately argued counter-view to the perspective we encountered in Jamais Cascio’s “Get Smart.” While Carr acknowledges that the internet affords its users some genuine benefits and very appealing features, he raises profound concerns about how internet use—or at least internet overuse—affects some of our most important cognitive abilities. Drawing from the fields of history, anthropology, linguistics, cybernetics, and, especially, neuroscience and psychology, he argues that heavy exposure to the net seriously diminishes our capability for deep, focused, sustainedthought and thus, very likely, leads to“a slow erosion of our humanness and our humanity” (220).

Scary stuff, perhaps. But before we decide whether to heed Carr’s alarm, we should be sure we’re clear on the basic elements of his argument. The two essay options below should help us get a sharper fix on some of those elements. Choose one of these two options to pursue for your essay. And of course remember that, whichever option you choose, you should take care to focus your essay on a single sharply defined controlling idea (thesis) and to develop each body paragraph’s ideas with lots of clear explanation and much specificevidence (including textual evidence, properly documented, of course).

Now, your options:

I.Cost/Benefit Analysis: While it’s pretty clear that Carr has serious worries about the effects of our fixation on the internet, he regularly makes a couple moves that all careful thinkers and writers practice: he takes the time to consider views other than his own, even counter to his own, and to qualify his claims so that he doesn’t frame his argument in completely black and white/all or nothing terms. As he does so, he admits that the net provides real benefits (for example, extreme ease of research regarding most any topic, generally increased efficiency and productivity, and an unparalleled ability to communicate our ideas and touch base with others anywhere in the world) and in fact allows us to make gains in some cognitive and neuro-muscular abilities (pattern recognition, for instance, and hand-eye coordination). Of course Carr views whatever advantages our current digital technologies afford as being far outweighed by the serious damage heavy-duty interaction with the net can cause—an inability to stay focused for long during any particular act of reading or thinking, a loss of the “capacity for open-ended reflection” (168), and eventually an erosion in our ability “to experience the subtlest, most distinctively human forms of empathy, compassion, and other emotions” (221). But are the losses Carr identifies really more significant than the gains he acknowledges the net provides? Your job in this essay is, first, to explain clearly and accurately both what Carr says we most importantly gain by centering our lives on the net and what we most significantly lose by doing so, and, second, to evaluate these gains and loses and offer your own judgment about whether the benefits are worth the costs.

The structure for this sort of essay is likely to shake out something like the following: after a relatively brief intro paragraph, a richly developed body paragraph that explains the central benefits Carr identifies as stemming from the internet, another rich body paragraph or twothat details the most significant kinds of damage Carr says the net causes (with some attention to the most importantevidence he offers for his concerns), and then, prior to your concluding paragraph,at least one morerich body paragraph where you explain in some detail why you agree or disagree withCarr’s assessment. Of course, for this final section—the one where you make your own judgments—you can develop your ideas purely in terms of your own reasoning with reference only to your or others’ general experience; however, depending on your argument in this evaluative portion, you might want to use Cascio or perhaps even some other credible source to help support your claims. Secondary sources like this aren’t at all a requirement here, but if you do go this route, be sure to cite in-text each source you utilize and to include the secondary source/sources on your works cited page.

II. The Smartest Ways to Be Smart: It’s blindingly obvious that Carr and Cascio are on opposite sides regarding the question of whether, overall, full-on commitment to the internet heightens or diminishes our intelligence and mental capabilities—our ability to be “smart.” Why, internet fan Cascio actually titles his article “Get Smart,” and the title of Carr’s original Atlantic Monthly article that lead to The Shallows is “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” At first glance, then, we’d probably assume that when these two authors discuss human intelligence and the ways the web weakens or strengthens it, they’re talking about pretty much the same general qualities of mind. However, is that really the case? In fact, if we look closely at the two writers’ arguments, we might decide that these two are definingthe most crucial kinds of human intelligence much differently. Doesn’t Cascio highlight our abilities to recognize patterns, make predictions, and adapt to the particulars of a given situation as the most important elements of intelligence? Conversely, doesn’t Carr posit our capacities for deep, sustained concentration, careful, detailed reflection, and genuine empathy as central to his definition of intelligence? If your answer to these questions is yes, you might want to compose an essay in which you, first, explain clearly and thoroughly what both Cascio and Carr see as the most important and valuable features of human intelligence, and, second, make a judgment about whether Cascio’s or Carr’s version of “intelligence” is in fact more central and important.

Structurally, an essay like this will probably include, sandwiched between introductory and concluding paragraphs, at least one richly developed body paragraphdetailingCascio’ssense of what’s most important about human intelligence, at least one body paragraphthoroughly explaining the “what” and “why” of Carr’s ideas about crucial human intelligence, and at least one more body paragraph that offers a rich argument for why onewriter’s definition of intelligence is somehow more important or valuable than the other’s. In this essay, of course, you’ll include both Carr’s book and Cascio’s essay on your works cited page.

As you proceed with your writing process,once again assume your reader isn’t necessarily familiar with Carr’s book (or Cascio’s article). Also, as you move through the process be sure to touch base with me at each step listed below and to turn this assignment sheet in with your would-be final draft. Likewise, be sure to include at least one peer conference in your writing process and to turn in a Peer Conference Record Sheet—completed in full—along with your would-be final. And recall that Tuesday, 7 March is the absolute deadline for submitting a would-be final draft of this essay, but also recall that the earlier you complete your work on this one, the better.

Plan and Annotations:

Draft/Drafts:

Assessment: + OK Further revision, please