FINAL PAPER
Engl 101-MT7/A
Fall 2008
A number of you have asked what form your final paper should take. I found electronic versions of the exchange between Edison and Westinghouse that Jill Jonnes discusses in Empires of Light (200-203). Use the URLs at the bottom of each citation below to locate and read the exchange. You will now be able to study what Edison and Westinghouse wrote after the electrocution of the Western Union lineman John Feeks (Jonnes 198) before you choose sides and write a letter supporting either Westinghouse or Edison. Or, if you wish, you can pretend to be either Westinghouse or Edison and write a follow up piece for The North American Review or supporting letter to another paper or journal. One final option is to imagine that you are an "objective" observer or regulator trying to sort through both Edison and Westinghouse's positions and come up with a judgment on the case. In each case, you can use the exchange as a model. Remember that you are writing for a general audience, not just other engineers, and so will need to explain the technical issues you cover. You should discuss the advantages and dangers of Alternating and Direct Current as well as the events that provoked the exchange and draw on your previous study of the War of the Currents, transformers, Edison and Westinghouse. You may decide to be more informal, personal or contemporary in your writing than either Westinghouse or Edison but whatever style you use, take a position on the specific issues that came up in the debate. Use the MLA citation format and try and integrate quotes and paraphrases from the material from Jonnes and The North American Review into the style of your letter.
You should post an initial draft of your letter to the blog before Thanksgiving and revise it on Dec 1st including detailed evidence pulled from Jonnes and the North American Review exchange. In class on these days, you will critique at least two of your fellow student's postings, using the comment feature of Wordpress. You will then have time to revise your blog posting, taking into account comments and responses left by your fellow students. The final, typed version of the piece is due in my box (Enterprise 345) anytime between Dec 10th and 15th at 5pm. I am also requiring that you send me an electronic copy of the final letter by Dec 15th. The citations and URL for the two pieces are as follows:
Thomas Edison, The Dangers of Electric Lighting
North American Review Volume 149, Issue 396
November 1889 pp. 625-635
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0149-75
George Westinghouse, Jr., A Reply to Mr. Edison
North American Review Volume 149, Issue 397
December 1889 pp. 653-665
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0149-80
Please let me know if you have any questions.