media essay 5-6 pages due 12 hours

Papers must be submitted online: submit under “Assignments” tab

· When essay is submitted online, it will automatically be submitted to Turnitin.

· If you do not submit it online, you will receive a “0” on the paper.

Essay Format

· five to six pages

· Essays must be double-spaced.

· 12 pt. Times New Roman font.

· No extraneous spaces between paragraphs.

· Use citations.

· Citation format

· Cite reading if you are paraphrasing (summarizing in your own words) an idea or passage from the reading; and cite reading if you are using a quotation.

· Footnotes and endnotes are permissible; follow the same format as is used for the reference page

· In-text citation format: (Author Year: Page)

· Reference page format: MLA, Chicago, APA acceptable

Basic Essay Guidelines

· The purpose of this essay is to encourage students to use course readings to think critically about a chosen visual media.

· The essay should discuss at least two course readings.

· The readings do not have to be from the same week.

More Specific Essay Guidelines

· Have an introduction

· Provide a summary (brief) of the visual media that you have chosen.

· Influenced by the course readings, critically analyzes the chosen visual media and create a thesis.

· Use examples, theories, arguments, etc., from the readings as evidence that support your thesis.

· Be sure to be critical of the readings and scholarship that you have chosen (the author’s word is not gospel).

· Have a conclusion.

The most important aspect of the media essay is the thesis statement:

· Thesis statement: “In this paper I will argue that you should break-up with your boyfriend/girlfriend/ companion/partner/special friend.

· NOT a thesis statement: “In this paper I will discuss my latest break-up.”

· The extent to which the student follows instructions of the assignment (/10)

· Is there a well-developed and thoughtful thesis?

· Does the paper use proper paraphrasing technique? (changing 5 out of 15 words from a primary source is not proper paraphrasing)

· Does the paper discuss a specific visual media?

· Does the paper discuss two course readings?

· Intellectual creativity and rigor (/10)

· Is the analysis superficial?

· Does the paper generalize or make broad assumptions?

· Does the paper repeat arguments discussed in course readings or outside sources?

· Ability to integrate concepts and themes from across readings (/10)

· Are the readings discussed in conversation with each other?

· Are the concepts discussed in the paper defined?

· Are the most related concepts from the readings discussed in the paper?

· Depth of analysis (/10)

· Does the paper analyze the chosen media in a thoughtful manner?

· Does the paper provide in-depth analysis of the readings?

· Are the examples discussed in the paper demonstrate critical engagement with the readings and/or chosen media?

· Clarity and organization of writing; grammatical and editing issues (/10)

· Is there “flow” to the paper?

· Are there spelling errors and informal language used?

· Is there subject-verb agreement?

· Is there proper use of commas, semi-colons, and colons?

· Are there sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and awkward sentence structure?

· 50 points X 2 = 100%