Read Deborah Tannen’s “Sex, Lies, and Conversation,” and “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr. (These can be found in the Reading section, in the folder “Argument Writing.”) Though you will choose only one of these articles for your essay, you must read both (yes, there will be a quiz).
If you wish to respond to Ms. Tannen’s article, you need to consider the differences in the way men and women communicate, both verbally and non-verbally. Then take one significant point from her essay about the way men and women communicate and illustrate it (or the opposite) with specific examples from your own observations and experiences.
If you wish to response to Mr. Carr’s article, you need to answer the following question: In what ways, if any, does technology change the way (not amount) people read? You must illustrate your point with specific examples from your own observations and experiences.
It is not necessary to agree with or like anyone else’s point of view, but your job here is to address the idea as best as you understand it using the material in the article and book along with information from your own experience and observations. You must make significant use of the reading you choose with at least two references from the article, quoted or paraphrased. See “An Introduction to Documentation” (below).
