ENGH 101 Fall 2014
Paper #1:  Edison's OR Tesla's Most Important Invention(s)

Your first paper will be on Edison's OR Tesla's most important invention or inventions.  Begin by describing the invention and how it worked as well as how Edison or Tesla developed it (i.e. their methods).  Then discuss the need(s) it met, the alternatives available at the time, and why Edison's or Tesla's was (or was not) the best solution to the problem.  Then make a detailed argument for why the invention you chose was (and remains?) important.  In your conclusion, I suggest discussing what enabled Edison or Tesla to achieve the results they did.  In your introduction, make sure to set up your argument about the invention's importance.  Note:  if you prefer, you can write about a related group of inventions or the process of invention rather than one particular device.  Also note that you should write about the importance of the invention at the time but you can also emphasize its more long-range importance.  Finally, in arguing for the importance of Edison or Tesla's invention, as you revise the paper you can bring in a comparison between their early and late work or a comparison between two inventors.  A 2 page draft (typed and double spaced) is due at the beginning of class on Sept 18th for peer review.  A 3-4 page revision is due at the beginning of class on Sept 25th.  You have the option of revising the paper again for Oct 7th.  By October 7th you are required to have seen one of the LLC tutors at least once.  You should cite several sources in your paper including Jonnes’ Empire of Light and the resources on the syllabus for Sept 2nd-16th (including Israel and Stross if you write on Edison and Carlson if you write about Tesla). 

As you are writing and revising the paper, keep in mind that this is a historical argument based on course reading and some research.  The audience is made up of educated non-specialists, although you can use technical terms and explanations as long as you explain your terms.  I will be meeting with you individually to talk about your drafts and plans.    On Sept 18th, you will exchange and comment on each others' drafts using an editing sheet I will provide.  As you Comment on each others' papers and revise your own work, remember that you need to write in a professionally credible way but explain all technical points so that non-professionals like myself can understand what you are talking about.  Coherence, thesis development, paragraph organization/transitions, and effective use of evidence are all key things I will be looking for in your finished essay.  To see how your paper should look, check the sample papers in your spiral bound writing handbook on pp. 159-162 (MLA) or 199-206 (APA).  The online version of Hacker's Research and Documentation Online is at http://dianahacker.com/resdoc/  You can use this site's drop-down menus to quickly find the proper format for citing various kinds of sources as well as to look at sample papers.  

If you write on Edison, think about how Edison solved problems.  Scholars like Paul Israel believe that Edison's capacity to see analogies and quickly visualize many possible solutions was a key element of his creativity.  Do you see evidence of that in Edison's work on the invention(s) you write about?  Also consider how Edison drew on the talents and skills of others and organized a fluid but disciplined workplace.  In American popular culture he is often seen as a folksy individualistic inventor, but as Paul Israel has argued, his success was closely tied to the fact that he developed the first corporate research lab in America.   During class the week of Sept 9th, I will discuss Israel's Edison: A Life of Invention pp. 119 and 167, Jill Jonnes' Empire of Light, p. 67, and Randall Stross, The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Edison Invented the Modern World pp. 288-290. Both Stross and Israel see Edison as a transitional figure. For Israel, Edison stands at a point of transition between the individual inventor working in the context of 19th century shop culture and the modern director of research and development in a corporate lab. Stross sees Edison as a celebrity, both in his time and ours, precisely because he was not an anonymous researcher but an individual. And he ties some of Edison's failures to the burden of modern celebrity and the unrealistic expectations it entailed. 

If you write about Tesla,  you may want to contrast an early and a later invention and compare different kinds of importance (marketability vs. open ended scientific inquiry, for example).  If so, read Nikola Tesla and the Business of Invention or watch Tesla in New York (You Tube 7:30 min-) before you write your draft.  Also see Bernard Carlson, Tesla Inventor of the Electric Age (Diane Rehm, NPR).  One way of tying these together in a coherent essay is to contrast inventions from early on (like the AC motor), where Peck and Brown and/or Westinghouse’s practicality made up for Tesla’s limitations,  and inventions/concepts/speculations from later in his career where Tesla suffered from the absence of a partner like Westinghouse and scattered his work and/or was too far ahead of his time.  Pages in Jonnes you should study carefully include 93-97 (AC motor), 106-107 (Tesla and DC), 110 (Tesla and Edison's different methods), 154-160 (Tesla's 1888 AIEE lecture), 162 (patent purchase), 180-182 (Westinghouse engineers and Tesla), and 354-367 (Tesla's later work).    NOTE To cite Carlson's lecture (Madrid), follow the model at http://dianahacker for lectures but add "Web" for the online source; for the On Point interview, follow the Hacker model for radio interview but also add "Web" for online access.  For Tesla Master of Lightning, follow the model for Radio or Television program but add DVD.