Instructions
This longer essay should draw on all the skills employed in previous essays. Your argument will be supported by personal reflection, descriptive narration, stylistic and/or formal innovation, close reading/analysis of a primary source, and integration of relevant secondary sources. In other words, I am asking you to combine the various writing modes that are usually associated with composition classes.
You should think of this essay as a global revision. You are required to do more than polish and correct paper three. Paper 4 will be significantly different even though it must be recognizable as a revision. As you add more source materials, you will need to rewrite sections for coherence. You may end up completely reorganizing all the material you keep.
Some options:
You may keep the original pop culture source but change the argument.
You may retain your social issue and/or your personal component but work with different
sources.
You may add additional primary sources that will also require a shift in your argument so that your reader is prepared for a larger argument from the outset. (I do not recommend tacking new material onto the end.)
All sources should be documented in MLA format.
This 6-7 pp. essay should allow me to assess your ability to combine close reading of a primary source, supporting evidence from personal experience as well as from at least two different kinds of secondary sources. You should have 4-5 sources overall.
Elaboration on content
You may choose your own topic so long as you cover all of the technical and formal elements listed above.
You may find additional inspiration in the assigned essays we will read over the next three weeks.
You will be allowed to use one of the assigned sources to serve as a primary or a secondary source.
Do not use more than one of the assigned texts because I do want to see you conducting research, finding what you need rather than simply using the materials that I’ve found for you. You are not required to use any of the assigned readings.
It is possible for someone who wrote on a television episode to choose a different episode from the same program for the new essay. Much may depend on your ability to find fresh angles in order to add more content to the longer essay. If you don’t think you can say anything new about your primary source, then, you may be shifting the focus to different episodes so long as you are still working with some of the previous content, which might be related to the social issue. Similarly, you might use different songs off the same album. Or you might use an adaptation of the same story. (For example, if a graphic novel was adapted for television, you might decide to compare/contrast specific issues with specific episodes.)
Elaboration on source-type and documentation
I want to see at least three different types of sources being documented on your Work Cited page. Note that you are required to use 4-5 overall.
One will be the required primary (probably the one you used in essay three), then, you will have two other secondary sources that require you to consult and follow MLA guidelines provided via Canvas links. I specify two here, because you need to demonstrate an ability to document two different types of secondary sources. (If you choose an assigned essay from the textbook, you could find another source via a library database. An essay in an anthology and an essay in a database require different information in the final citation.)
The fourth and possibly the fifth source can be either primary or secondary. The primary source is the one you are analyzing (performing the original close reading of). The secondaries will be about the primary, about similar primaries, possibly in the same genre, and/or about the social issue/controversy you are using to connect your essay.
You need to maintain control over the essay, despite the number of sources. I recommend that you use your personal (reflective, descriptive) component to help you to maintain your originality.
