I am not entirely sure what is going on with the pre-writing for this. Hopefully sometime soon I see a formal prompt on the class blog. But for now here is how I wish to pre-write.
Topic:
Identity and SF + How it relates to life
- Specifically in Video Games
- The internet
Audience:
Those who are confused about the effects of technology on the way different people view their identity. The purpose of this paper is to inform people about how technology is affecting the way we view “Identity”
Boundaries:
This paper will remain solely focused on the way that SF novels (specifically Ready Player One) portrays Identity and how this can be seen in life through interactions on the internet and in games. I will stay away from people with social disorders and (depending on the amount of information that can be found) choose between racial identity vs gender identity.
The Tentative Position:
Ready Player One shows the reader how the internet and video games allow us to adopt new identities due to the anonymity of the mediums. I believe that this can create a better blended society as people become known for who they are rather than what they appear to be.
Main Points:
(I saved this post as a draft and came back to it. When I came back the bullet points feature was all screwed up. I am very sorry)
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- How the internet has affected LGBT feelings about themselves
- The youtube “It Gets Better” Project (research found)
- Anonymous Chat rooms
- How the internet has affected gender identities
- People who play second life as the opposite gender, and adopt entirely new personalities (the documentary on second life “Life 2.0”)How children use games
- Girls and how they view femininity (research found)
- Boys and how it affects their view of mascuinity (research found)
- People who play second life as the opposite gender, and adopt entirely new personalities (the documentary on second life “Life 2.0”)How children use games
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- How Ready Player One shows this
- The way in which Art3mis acts
- The reveal of Aechs real life identity
- Why Aech chooses this fake identity
- The way that Wade reacts to this reveal
- Aech uses fake names in all her/his files
- Wade being nervous thatArt3mis is not a girl
- Halliday could only talk to girls if he was in character.
Well there you have it. This is my pre-writing for the research paper. I will continue to compile more information and get started on my formal proposal so that everything will be nice and polished. Hope I formatted this properly. Sorry about the weird bullet point issues.(also anyone reading this should totally check out the section of my blog called “My Stories”. I personally find them to be pretty cool.)
Alex in Space 
This is a good start, Alex. As you start to formalize your ideas (in order to write the proposal), you’ll likely need to work a bit on the scope (or boundaries) of the tentative argument you’re making here. “The Internet and video games” is a very big topic, and you’ll want to be a bit more specific when you distill your final argument.
The main points are much more specific than your tentative argument. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it may be pointing you in the direction of your thesis. So, while your tentative position is a general one about being able to “become known for who [we] are” online and in video games thanks to the relative anonymity of these media, the proposed breakdown of the essay focuses entirely on gender and LGBTQ identity. You have a good set of ideas and examples for this topic, so your next step should be composing a thesis that reflects the argument you intend to make throughout.