Essay Questions

The Term Test will consist of 5 content questions worth 5 marks, 5 short answer questions (no more than 1 page) worth 5 marks each, and 1 longer essay questions (2-4 pages), worth 20 marks.

Shorter Questions

Name five conventions of an SF story, and give an example of each one from the assigned readings.

Is "It's a Good Life" an SF story? Support your argument by referring to concrete examples from the story.

Names and the use of names are important in "The Cold Equations". What is the author trying to say?

Longer Questions

Is Anthony in "It's a Good Life" good or bad? Support your argument by referring to concrete examples from the story.

What views do each of the main characters in "Nightfall" represent?  Why are each of their views important to the understanding of the concept of the story?

Science fiction stories often have to deliver a lot of information to the reader, but don't want to deliver it in a tedious way (i.e. as a dry lecture). Describe and illustrate the techniques used to do this in four of the assigned readings.

Briefly describe the 

Ideas often take precedence over characterization in SF stories. Illustrate this using two of the assigned readings.