For Professor Anthony

You will read “Artificial Corridors” and “Railroad Time” from William Cronon’s Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West in your course reader.1 Your assignment is to write a 2.25 page min/3 page max paper (double-spaced, 1 in. margins, 12 pt. font, not including references). Your paper will:

(1) Discuss/analyze the role of transportation technology and infrastructure in the development of Chicago and you must include explicit connections to urban metabolism/MFA. There are some interesting connections to what we’ve learned about institutions for managing common pool resources, which might also include – but make sure that your paper flows and that you address the required content on linking transportation and urban metabolism/MFA.

a. The most important part of this assignment is that you show (a) you understood the reading, and (b) you synthesize class concepts and concepts from the reading to form your own well-reasoned thesis. You can bolster your argument through examples or other sources of information to support your thesis – this is a good thing to do, and be sure to cite where appropriate and to use reliable sources (Wikipedia is great, but NOT considered a reliable source).

b. Do NOT write in the first person (no “I,” “me,” or “we”), but still try to avoid passive voice sentence constructions where possible

c. You MUST cite properly – failure to do so will constitute a large deduction from your grade or will constitute plagiarism (and failure of the assignment and a report to Student Judicial Affairs). We suggest using APA format for your citations: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/.

Grading Scheme

General Merit

Ideas 40% - Accuracy of concepts, demonstrates clear understanding of course and reading material. Uses both analysis and summary to make conceptual connections.

Organization 35% - Clear main idea, logical order of presentation/argument development, uses evidence appropriately to support argument/thesis, including proper citation.

Style 10% - Smooth transitions between ideas and paragraphs, clear and direct language, active voice constructions

Mechanics

Grammar 10%

Spelling / Punctuation 5%

1 Cronon, William (1991) “Artificial Corridors” and “Railroad Time” in Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. W.W. Norton and Co., pp 63-81.