GENERAL RULES FOR ANSWERING ESSAY EXAM QUESTIONS

Read the question carefully. Be sure you know what it is asking, then answer that question specifically. In the essay exams I write, I always italicize the verbs:  those are the specific directions you must follow in order to fulfill the question’s expectations (e.g., analyze and identify are different things).

Immediately begin to answer the question.  If this is your question - COMPARE THE EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR OF ROBOTS AND CYBORGS -  start your essay with something like this: “The debate over whether artificial intelligence (AI) can experience emotions is addressed in “Robbie”, “The Electric Ant”, and “The Hammer of God”.  All three feature characters who were built by technicians rather than conceived by two parents. All three AI’s have moments where we can identify emotional behavior, either by their actions, their dialogue, or their representation by the author.”

Next:  demonstrate how their actions, dialogue, and authorial representation prove your claim that they show emotion, speak emotionally, and are represented by the author as emotional beings. You do this by a) using a specific plot element or a quotation (either by identifying the plot point or quoting or paraphrasing the text)  b) explaining what you think this point of the plot or quotation means and c) explaining why you think what you think.

Example: HOW TO USE QUOTATIONS FROM THE STORY TO PROVE YOUR POINT WITHOUT SUMMARIZING THE PLOT

This is an example of what you should NOT do:

“Robbie is a robot put in charge of a little girl named Gloria. Her father thinks everything is fine, but Gloria’s mother is afraid that the robot might break down and hurt little Gloria. She is also aware that other children and mothers are snubbing her and her daughter because they don’t trust the whole idea of robot nannies.” 

All this does is prove you have read the story. Internalize this message:                   We already know the story!

Think about the way you talk about a favorite movie with a friend. You don’t need to retell the entire plot of Star Wars to talk about how cool light sabers are and how you wonder whether Lucas was thinking more about Medieval Knights or Samurai’s when he came up with his Jedi warriors.

Here’s an example of engagement and analysis:

“We discover that Robbie has a favorite fairy tale, and what’s more, it’s "Cinderella", rather than the more obvious choice of "Pinnochio". We may interpret the fact that he sulks when refused another telling of the story in two ways: either he has been programmed to behave in this way for a child’s amusement, or he really does have preferences (for a story about a hard-working and unrecognized servant who deserves better) and desires (because he wants to hear the story ‘now’ rather than do anything else). This second interpretation is more believable when we consider how Asimov ends the story. Gloria isn’t just rescued by Robbie, he runs to her “metal legs eating up the space between himself . . . he charged down” (164)  knocking the air out of her lungs, but knowing that her rescue is more important than a minor discomfort. Just in case we still aren’t convinced of Robbie’s emotions, the story concludes with Mrs. Weston watching Robbie, as his arms “wound about the little girl gently and lovingly, and his eyes glowed a deep, deep red” (165). While red in machinery is frequently associated with danger (red button pushed only in emergency, the red telephone that sets the missiles flying, red signal lights meaning STOP) red is also—in North American culture at least—the color of love."

DO NOT MAKE GENERALIZATIONS!

This is what you should not do:

“Judith Merril wrote “That Only a Mother” in response to the increased infanticide happening after WWII.”   This makes it sound as if people all over the world were murdering their babies. 

This is what you should do:

“Judith Merril became aware that a frightening number of post WWII Japanese fathers were committing infanticide. They hadn’t gone crazy, but so many children were born with birth defects (from the atomic bombs’ lingering radiation) that thousands of fathers preferred killing their deformed babies to raising them. This awful situation inspired Merril to write a story that looked at the tragic and ironic results of war (because-  after all - men fight wars to protect ‘hearth and home’) that resulted in children being in danger from their own fathers.”

I wrote this entire document - and believe me - I spent a few hours on it, and I'm a professional! So give yourself the appropriate amount of time to think, compose, revise and edit when you get a take home essay. If your exam is an in-class essay, the most important thing to do is make sure you are actually answering the specific question! You'd be amazed at how many students go off on tangents or simply decide to paraphrase the story. That's getting you straight into D territory: engage with the question and pay attention to those verbs!