Purpose
This exercise reinforces your overall academic writing ability, in particular your ability to state theses, marshal evidence, organize arguments, and build conclusions.
Background
Hugh Whitemore’s play Breaking the Code presents a much more rounded picture of Alan Turing than the popular “the man who broke Enigma at Bletchley Park” stereotype. I therefore hope that in reading the play you have started to think beyond the one-dimensional popular image of Alan Turing, to wonder who he really was. This essay asks you to pursue that curiosity.
I expect that you will need to use external sources for this essay. Be sure to form a research question early, so you have time to locate relevant sources and get them through IDS if you need to. There are now several good print biographies of Turing available, as well as many online sources. Your sources may be either scholarly or popular, but must be authoritative, i.e., sources whose authors, publishers, and content suggest that they are accurate.
Activity
Who really was Alan Turing, beyond (or perhaps instead of) the legendary code-breaker of Bletchley Park? Write an essay of 1200 to 1800 words (four to six pages) in which you develop and defend a thesis stemming from this question.
As with my other essay prompts, I intend this one to start your thinking, not to constrain it. For further ideas, consider the facets of Turing that Whitemore explores in Breaking the Code: his relationships with other people, his sexuality, his hopes and beliefs, his growth as a person, his professional achievements, etc. Consider how Whitemore’s portrayal of these things agrees or doesn’t with other biographies. Do some research. Form your own impression of some aspect of Alan Turing. The one thing you may not do in this essay is limit it solely to Turing’s work breaking Enigma during World War II.
Follow-Up
You will write this essay in two stages, each with its own deliverables and feedback (and grade).
- On November 27 you will share drafts of your essay with other students in this class, and exchange feedback with them. You must bring copies of the draft to class that day (either electronic or paper), and should share the draft with me or email me a copy before class.
- During the three days following these peer reviews, you must meet with me to exchange ideas about the draft with me. These meetings should be half an hour long.
- The final version of the essay, revised in response to feedback from your peers and me, should be shared with me or emailed to me by 11:59 PM on December 7.
Finally, recall that I grade things relative to what I expect you to be able to do on them. For this essay, I am expecting…
- A defensible thesis
- A convincing argument in support of that thesis, using appropriate evidence from external sources, with appropriate citations.
- A conclusion.
I expect to see these things clearly in the second draft, and signs that you are working towards them in the first.
In addition to the basic expectations above, I also expect that you will
- Turn in both a draft and final version of the essay; I generally reduce grades by four points (approximately two letter grades) if you fail to turn in one of these versions.
- Meet with me to discuss your draft; I typically reduce grades by two points (approximately one letter grade) if you fail to hold this meeting.
- Follow spelling, grammar, and similar mechanical conventions of Standard English closely enough not to distract a reader from your main ideas; I typically reduce grades by two points (approximately one letter grade) if writing mechanics interfere with understanding the essay.