Advisory Note on sample papers from last fall
The five papers made available were all graded A or B, that is these are
all good examples. Keep in mind, however, that the Web is changing quickly.
It is quite possible that you will find links that don't work anymore.
They worked at the time the papers were submitted, and non-working links
will have a large impact on the grade. Also, contents changes rapidly.
What may have been an exciting site a year ago, may be pretty much standard
today. So, even if your topic is close to one in the sample papers, this
will not give you much of an advantage. The web landscape has changed quite
a bit over one year, so a new exploration is necessary and the old charts
don't do you much good any more.
I make these papers available so that you get a better understanding
for what this first paper should be about. Think of it as a guided fact-finding
tour on which you take the reader (allowing side trips at the reader's
own volition -- following the links provided in the paper). What you want
to demonstrate is how the Web has become a new medium for information
exchange and communication between people -- exemplified in a specific
substantive area (art, health, buying, etc.). This first paper should provide
the factual base for the farther ranging reflections on the social consequences
that we will address in the second part of the class (and that you will
write your second paper, the essay about).