Globalization
English 272 Essay One Assignment Sheet
Unit Two: Globalization
Essay One – Four to Five pages – Twenty Points – Due: 10 04
We continue our examination of the role that media and technology play in our
contemporary culture by reading a novel by one of America’s most renowned living authors,
Don DeLillo. DeLillo’s career demonstrates a preoccupation with the social disruptions that
attend advances in technology as well as the invisible forces operating within society. In
Cosmopolis, DeLillo investigates the consequences of globalization – a force that touches
politics, economics, and cultures – by letting us into the world of a billionaire asset manager
who’s trying to get a haircut in a city beset by protest and confusion. Central to DeLillo’s
depiction of the ramifications of globalization is technology, an entity that we come to see is
ultimately inseparable from how economies are structured, which spills into political beliefs
related to economics, further developing our understanding of the Spirit of Ludditism.
For your first Essay, you will make an argument for how technology relates to
globalization in Cosmopolis. To this end, you will need to consider not only what you know
about technology and globalization, but also the context in which these forces are presented in
the text.
Points of consideration that will inform my grading:
– Thesis Statement: the thesis statement should be easily identifiable, require
argumentation, and catalyze the essay’s content.
– Length Requirement: the Essay should be four (4) to five (5) FULL pages.
– Format/Structure: make sure to meet relevant MLA formatting standards (12 pt., T.N.R.
font, double-spaced, one-inch margins, etc.), including an original title, proper heading,
page numbers, in-text citations, and Work(s) Cited page (note: the WC page does not
count toward the page requirement).
– Mechanics: be sure to check spelling, punctuation, and grammar, and divide the Reading
Response into logical/appropriate sentences and paragraphs.
– Timeliness: submit hard copy at the start of class on the due date.
