Objective Synthesize your work on your game of study. Final Paper

Final PaperGAM 206, Prof. Robin BurkeFall 2007Due: 11/18 (Final deadline, no extensions)Objective:Synthesize your work on your game of study.What to do:Write a five to seven page (1200-1800 word) research paper on the game that you have been studying. The paper must meet the following requirements:Your paper must have a title page. (This does not count as one of the pages or as the words in the word count.) The title page should include the following:1.The title of your paper,2.Your name,3.The name of the game you are studying,4.The nation or region you are studying,5.The historical era (a range of no more than 50 years, after 1800, a range of 20 years), and6.The word count for your paper (not including title page or references.)Your paper must have a thesis, a central claim that it argues with respect to your game and its historical context. You may find that your thesis only becomes clear as you write your paper, so be prepared to revise your thesis as you go along. The claim should be specific and it should be supportable by the evidence that your paper presents. Answering the following questions may help guide you towards a thesis.1) How was the game played? By whom? Where? In what circumstances?2) Why was the game fun, interesting, compelling, challenging, or otherwise engaging for its players?3) Why was the game culturally significant? What does the game and its popularity reveal about the society that produced and played it?Your paper must have an argument, a series of propositions supported by evidence and supporting the thesis. You are not limited in what argument you wish to make about your game, its historical context, and its players. You can argue that the game reflected certain aspects of its time or its players; you can claim that its popularity (or disappearance) was due to certain historical factors; you can describe what the game meant for a particular group of players in terms of establishing their identity, etc. What you claim is not nearly as important as the process of argumentation. I am not looking for a series of unconnected ramblings about the game. Make a specific claim and support it with specific evidence.Your paper must be adequately documented. All sources used in the paper must be documented. (See citation requirements below.) The paper will use APA style in which there are parenthetical citations and then a reference section at the end. Your references will be divided into separate sections for Primary and Secondary Sources. There must be at least three of each type. Only one secondary source can be on-line. Primary sources may be on-line. The References section is not to be included in the word count of the paper. Also, do not include any sources that are not specifically cited somewhere in your text.Your paper does not need to follow a specific outline. However, it should include the following elements: an analysis of the game itself using your personal experience of gameplay (based on the paper you wrote for Milestone #3), and an examination of each of your primary sources (based on the annotated bibliography). If your sources are artwork or other figures (and you have them in electronic form) including them in an appendix is a good idea.How to Submit:This assignment will not be submitted to Course On-Line. It will be submitted to , which will check it for plagiarism and proper documentation. If you have not used this service before, you will need to set up an account. Documentation at the following URL explains how to do this:/static/pdf/tii_student_qs.pdfYou will need a class ID and an enrollment password. For this class, they areClass ID: 2065690Password: isabellaOnce your account has been created, you will see this class "GAM 206" listed. Following this link will bring you to a page where you can select the "Final Project" assignment. The deadline (11/18) is final, meaning that the site (and I) will not accept papers after midnight on the due date. It is your responsibility to organize your work so that you have enough time to complete the paper.Evaluation:I will be using the following questions to evaluate your papers:Documentation: Are the references adequate and correctly formatted?Errors: well written with few to no errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, etc.?Style: good vocabulary, word choice, and uses metaphors effectively?Organization: focused and organized, appropriate in length?Thesis / Argument: has a clear thesis and a strong argument supporting it.?Understanding: does the paper reflect an understanding of the historical era and of games? Documentation: What, Why, When and How1What:A citation is a note, comment, and/or bibliographic citation that is labeled in the text and refers to an entry in the References section of the paper. A citation is sometimes also referred to as a reference. A citation is said to cite a source.Why:Citations are essential for two major reasons:1.By means of reference, the student acknowledges and identifies all the works of other people used toproduce an essay. All sources need to be identified. Such attribution is particularly important inquestions of copyright infringement and plagiarism.2.Second, referencing is essential because it provides the reader with an opportunity to assess and toverify the accuracy and the authority of any statements, assertions, ideas, or concepts that appear in an essay. In this sense, documentation serves as both proof and evidence. It also provides the reader witha convenient means of finding more information about your topic.When:You should reference any fact or opinion that you read in one of your sources, whether you first discovered the idea there or you have assimilated it so thoroughly that it seems to be your own. Some exceptions to the rule are facts that are common knowledge (for example, that computers use binary logic), facts that can be verified easily and do not differ from one source to another (for example, that Pokemon Blue was released in 1995), and well-known sayings or proverbs.1Adapted from Gary Shimek and David Tietyen, “Milwaukee School of Engineering Documentation and Style Guide” /gen_st/style/index.htm (accessed 25 April 2004).Acknowledgement of credit through documentation does not diminish the originality of your work. Your contribution consists of imposing your own order on your materials and drawing an original conclusion from them. Documentation allows your reader to see the materials you used to reach your conclusions, to check your interpretations of sources, to place your work in the tradition of inquiry, and to locate further information on your topic.A reference that identifies the source of material is required in four situations:direct quotations, even excerptsparaphrased or summarized presentation of original or unique ideas (indirect quotes)quantifiable data (facts and statistics)visual material, both content and designIn addition, you should reference:a fact that is not well known, even within a discipline.a fact that is contradictory to other facts or suppositions.a fact that is obscure or difficult for the reader to verify.verify specific pieces of information that bear directly upon important points or arguments.verify facts brought in from other disciplines.any opinions and ideas not your own.How:In this class, we will employ the Chicago style of citation as spelled out in the Chicago Manual of Style. Some specific examples follow. Additional advice can be found at the Washington College web site: /chicago.html and from the DePaul University Writing Center.Let’s say that yo u want to include a quote from a book:"The spatial features of a game have a strong impact on creating the narrative space of possibility.2" If you draw on your lecture notes, you also need to cite the source3 Likewise, if you take material from an article, you need to cite it, introducing the author or authors in your narrative as the source of the information you are including:As game scholar Gonzalo Frasca notes, "most games force players to simply walk or run to their objective. GTA3’s great achievement was to allow the player to do what most people with lousy jobs do: turn their dull activities into a game."4The reference for a primary source should always include the context in which you found it: The Alfonso Manuscript shows not only the game itself, but also the manufacture of the pieces and board.5Note how this reference includes the name of the image and itself creator, and also the name of the site where it was found ("reproduced in") and the date of access.The list of references will follow the paper itself and is not included in the page or word count. (See next page.) The references should be separated into primary and secondary sources and alphabetized in each section. The references should not be double-spaced.2 Katie Salen. and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), 390.3 Robin Burke. Lecture, DePaul University. 7 October 2006.4 Gonzalo Frasca. "Sim Sin City: some thoughts about Grand Theft Auto 3," Game Studies 3(2), 2003.5 Alfonso X, 1221-1284. "Manufacture of chess board and pieces." From Libros del ajedrez, dados y tablas, c. 1280, Folio 3R. Reproduced in Alphonso X Book of Games. /F03Rchessintro.html (26 September 2006)ReferencesPrimaryChess, ca. 1400. As described in Parlett, 1999.Alfonso X, 1221-1284. "Manufacture of chess board and pieces." From Libros del ajedrez, dados y tablas, c. 1280, Folio 3R. Reproduced in Alphonso X Book of Games./F03Rchessintro.html (26 September 2006)SecondaryBurke, R. Lecture, DePaul University. Presented October 7, 2006.Frasca, Gonzalo. "Sim Sin City: some thoughts about Grand Theft Auto 3," Game Studies 3(2), 2003. Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.。