What is a “Time Capsule”? A time capsule is a “sealed
container, buried at some location, that contains records of contemporary life
to be rediscovered in the distant future” (American Heritage Dictionary).
Here in English 102 our time capsule will be a written document that you want
others one-hundred years in the future to read in order to understand the
pandemic era we have been living through the past two years.
Assignment and Goals: The goal of this assignment is to blend narrative writing,
research, and literary analysis to create a document that uses both secondary
sources and your own experience to tell the story of the “pandemic era.” You
will want to focus on issues that were most important to you and that you think
will also be important to readers in the future. In order to effectively capture
the era for your future reader, your time capsule will contain your own
first-hand experiences, secondary research sources that share important,
accurate information about the issues you choose to write about, and examples
of literature and popular culture that help make sense of the pandemic era.
Parts of the Assignment:
Audience: Your
reader is someone who opens our time capsule in 2121. They aren’t going to be
worried about things like you are right now. Therefore, you need to think
about: what might a reader in 2121 need to know about this era? What will they
already know? How will the distance of time change the audience’s perspective
on my topic?
Purpose: Your
purpose is to inform your reader about what made the pandemic era so
significant and what you want to make sure people in the future remember about
your life, and the world, of today.
Organization: You will organize your project once again around main ideas and
evidence that supports and explains those main ideas. Think about how much
guidance your reader might need to move through your topic. For instance, if
today you came across an essay written in 1921, how confused might you be as a reader? Your organization should help
make sure your reader in 2121 is not confused by the end.
Secondary Sources: Your
project will need to use four or more secondary sources. These sources
can come from a range of news and information sources, as well as academic
journals, books, and others. You should consider how these sources provide
concrete information for your audience of the future. For example, COVID
vaccination statistics, excerpts from political campaigns or speeches,
narrative reporting on the experiences of others throughout the pandemic.
Literature/Popular Culture Sources: Your project will need to also include some engagement with at
least one piece of literature or popular culture that you think helps your audience
understand your topic. Feel free to use Severance or Angels in
America; you can even revisit some of what you wrote in project #1. You can
also choose another literary or cultural example that you have read or watched
on your own. But whatever source you use will need to include the kind of close
reading skills we practiced in project #1.
Works Cited Page: At the
end of the project, you will include a “Works Cited” page, which cites all of
the sources you used in the project. This page will need to be in MLA Format.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|