ENGLISH 1100 – COMPOSITION
I, UNIT 1
UNIT 2 Portfolio and Writing Project 2
Writing with Textual Support: An
Analysis and Evaluation with Textual Evidence
Topic: In
Unit 2, you will be building on your use of the writing process and knowledge
of rhetorical situations (purpose, audience, stance, genre, and media/design). This project will be more formal than the
first project and will be for an audience of consumers who buy products and
services from companies. That basically
includes most adults! Writing Project 2 will be presented in the form of a
traditional MLA-formatted essay with MLA documentation for all source
information.
In addition to the methods of development you used in Unit
1 – description and narration – you will add to your methods of development using
three other methods: classifying and dividing information, comparing and
contrasting, and defining to support your overall claim in an organized
way. Ultimately,
you will be making evaluations based upon your analysis of two media examples
of your choice. Media options
may include print ads, TV ads, radio ads, product packaging, internet ads, and
others with approval from instructor. This
project is a combination of analyzing texts and evaluating them using specific
criteria to support a focused claim.
You will read/view a variety of informational texts about
media and how media are used to sway consumers.
Use of greenwashing, manipulative images, race in TV advertising, and manufactured
demand within product marketing are explored within these articles and videos.
Key Definitions
·
Analysis: a detailed examination of the
elements or structure of something to determine its essential features;
analysis includes asking critical questions such as WHY and HOW.
·
Evaluation: judging the quality,
importance, or value of something based on specific criteria.
·
Methods of
Development: the ways writers build and share support in their communications.
o
Classifying and Dividing: ways of organizing
information. You may choose to classify
your supporting information in categories based on similarities, and you may
choose to divide a single topic or category into parts. For
example, in this project you will be using multiple
criteria to evaluate your media examples, so your categories could be each
criteria. Then, within each criteria,
you might further divide it by separating your discussion of the two media
examples or separating the discussion by similarities and differences.
o
Comparing and Contrasting: looking at similarities
(comparing) and differences (contrasting).
Providing similarities and differences within topics is a good way to
inform your readers about the topic. For example, you might
compare (and contrast) how your media examples use images and color to impact
consumer opinions.
o
Defining: providing information about what
something is and what something isn’t. You
might provide formal dictionary definitions or more detailed definitions that
fully explain your personal definition of something. For
example, you might define what “greenwashing” is using a cited
definition, but you could further define “greenwashing” by explaining your
extended, more personal, definition of it.
·
Criterion/Criteria: standard(s) by which
something may be judged or evaluated. Examples
of criteria for evaluating advertisements might include creativity,
persuasiveness, profitability, targeting, honesty, relevance, complexity/simplicity,
lawfulness, or other observable or measurable characteristics.
· Environmental Sustainability: meeting the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs (in other words, will the supposed benefits last?).
Structure of Your Support:
Introduction:
Present an introduction to get reader interest and present your thesis
statement. Your thesis/claim may be about media, advertising, environmental
sustainability, consumerism, American values, or any other related topic that
can be supported through the description, analysis, and evaluation of your two
media examples. A thesis statement usually appears at or near the end of
the introduction for easy identification.
Essay Body:
Organize your body of support into multiple paragraphs that are each
focused on one specific subpoint. Use
transitions to connect your paragraphs together logically and to clearly relate
to your essay’s thesis statement. Divide
long paragraphs and consider using subtitles to help identify the structure of
your essay.
·
Part 1: Summaries
and descriptions of your two chosen media examples.
o Using critical observation, share a
detailed summary of each media example, including the context in which the media
was observed. As you did in WP1, you
will use the method of describing to relate specific details that can be
observed about your media examples.
Avoid making judgments in this section, and do not include research or
source information other than the media examples as primary sources.
o While your words should convey your
message clearly, you should supplement this with images, links, or electronic
files of your chosen media examples so your audience is able to access them.
·
Part 2: Clearly
defined criteria for evaluation.
o You will select three or more criteria
by which to evaluate your two media examples.
One of the criteria must be related to
environmental sustainability in
some way.
o Identify and define each criterion. Find sources
to help you define your criteria and document the information per
MLA guidelines using in-text citations and works cited entries. (Part 2,
defining criteria, should be done before presenting your evaluations of the
media in Part 3.)
·
Part 3: Evaluation
or judgment based on careful examination of each media example.
o Using your critical observations and
some evidence from supplemental sources (see below), you will discuss each of
the criterion and the evaluations (judgments) you have made about each of
them. Classifying and dividing your discussion
of criteria and evaluations will help to organize this section clearly for readers
and comparing and contrasting (one of the required methods of development) will
provide a vivid method of development for your discussion of both media
examples.
o Use at least one of the
assigned readings in Unit 2
to provide additional supporting information to supplement your
evaluation. Document the sources
per MLA guidelines using in-text citations and matching works cited entries.
o Use the CSCC library
databases to find one credible source to provide additional
supporting information to supplement your evaluation. Document the source
per MLA guidelines using in-text citations and a matching works cited entry.
o You may use one additional
source of your choice for Part 3 of this project, but do not rely on that
source too heavily.
Conclusion:
Present a separate conclusion that maintains reader interest and
reflects on the central idea.
Format: Type and
double-space your essay with one-inch margins and save
it as a Word file. Include
your name, the course, the assignment name, the word count, and the date at the
top left of the first page. Center a
unique title for your project above the first paragraph. Page numbers should be in MLA format in the
upper right corner of the page (last name and page number). See p. 608 in your Norton
Field Guide for a sample essay in MLA format.
Getting
Started with Prewriting and Outline
Prewriting
– Complete the prewriting worksheet/table provided for this project.
Outline
– Using your prewriting, create a
detailed, typed plan including your tentative thesis statement and identification
of how you will structure your three parts of the essay body as noted
above. Identify your two media
examples, identify your tentative criteria for evaluation, and identify
your initial ideas about the initial judgments you can make about the
media.
For example, I could select two television
commercials – one for Dove soap and one for Loreal hair color. I would watch and take notes on the two media
examples, complete the prewriting worksheet, and
add some additional prewriting notes about my critical observations.
The more detailed my observation notes are, the more material I can use for my
Part 1 summaries/descriptions and Part 3 evaluations of the media examples.
Next, I would develop a tentative claim
(thesis statement) that I think I could support using a set of three or
more criteria of evaluation. For example,
I could use targeting of an intended audience, use of sounds/spoken words in
the commercials, creativity, and environmental sustainability (required) to
base my evaluation discussion on. This
thesis should be part of your outline.
Sample thesis: Consumers
are encouraged by marketing to think that youth is good and being older is bad.
Next, I would identify and define each
of those criteria for my audience, using some credible sources, as needed,
to help me define each criterion effectively.
These criteria should be included in your outline.
Next, I would present an organized
evaluation (using classifying and dividing as well as comparing
and contrasting) that supports my thesis statement. I would organize this section of my essay
into multiple paragraphs, with at least one for each of my criteria of
evaluation. Within each paragraph, I
would share related critical observations I have made about each media example,
comparing and contrasting the two. I
would also supplement evidence from my observations with some evidence from
sources, using the two required sources for
this project (one class text and one article from the CSCC
databases).
Unit 2 Process Work: As
we work through Unit 2 of this course, you will be completing a variety of
assignments focused on helping you complete Writing Project 2
successfully. These include:
·
Prewriting
and Outline – a prewriting
worksheet will be provided; outline will be typed in MLA format
· Draft – a traditional, typed essay in MLA format with MLA
documentation of source information presented.
Drafts should be at least 1200 words out of the required 1400 minimum
word count for this project.
·
Peer
Review – worksheets
will be provided; will be done with peers in the class.
·
Self-Review – worksheets will be provided; will be
done prior to final revisions.
·
Discussion
Boards – assigned
readings and videos will be discussed in writing and in group discussions.
WP2 Word Count: 1400 words minimum and 1700 words maximum
Grade
Weight: This major writing project, along with
the unit’s corresponding draft, peer review, self-review, and writer’s
reflection letter is worth 25% of
your total grade.
Portfolio Scoring:
·
You may receive a maximum score of 85% for
your portfolio.
·
Up
to 15% will be added to your score if a revision is
submitted that addresses instructor feedback. *** Revisions must be submitted with a
paragraph that thoroughly explains what specific actions were taken to improve
your project.
·
Writing
projects that don’t meet the word-count range or that are incomplete or submitted
late will receive a lower score. 5%
will be deducted from the score for each item missing from the unit portfolio
and for late portfolios. Deductions for
word counts below/beyond the range will vary but may be significant,
especially if below the minimum.
·
Portfolios
may be submitted up to one week late.
·
Portfolios
MUST include a final writing project to receive any points.
·
Peer
reviews must include
thorough responses to each item including specific suggestions and comments
when requested.
·
Self-reviews must describe specific actions needed
to improve the project before final revision.
Address feedback from peer reviews, if any.
·
The
final revision should show improvements with edits in content, format, and
style. Final projects that are identical or nearly
identical to the draft will result in point deductions. Using a writing process that includes
revision of drafts is a requirement in this course.
·
A
writer’s reflection letter
is submitted with the portfolio and shares in three paragraphs your reflections
on the rhetorical choices you made with the assignment, your writing processes,
and your learning.
