ENGL 101.009/.011
-- Paper # 3 Assignment --
Contents (click to jump to the following sections)
Paper 1 Assignment (read all the way through -- there are helpful tips throughout):
»» Cultural analysis: Using Jenny Lyn Bader's "Larger Than
Life" (SoL pp.720-731), Gary Engel's "What Makes Superman So Darned American?" (Sol 677-685), Andy Medhurst's "Batman, Deviance, and Camp" (SoL 686-687), and Gary Cross' "Barbie, G.I. Joe, and Play in the 1960s" (SoL 710-716) as models,
write an essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words where you research the history of an American
figure of pop-cultural importance (not from sports, medicine, or the military) and argue 1) that your figure is culturally important, and 2) why that figure is culturally
important. What does that figure represent? How did that figure come to represent that? To whom is this figure important?
The figure you choose can be
a film or t.v. icon (such as Marilyn Monroe, William Shatner as Captain Kirk on Star Trek, etc.)
a film or t.v. character (Ripley from Alien, Shaft, Scully from The X-Files, etc.)
a music hero (such as Ella Fitzgerald, Kurt Cobain, Woody Guthrie, etc.)
a comic book/graphic novel character (Maus, The Crow, etc.)
a folk legend (la Llorona, Johnny Appleseed, etc.)
You can refer to the essays we read in Signs of Life for inspiration
or good quotations, but pick your own cultural figure. Give at least
three well-researched and well-thought reasons why this figure has become
important in American culture.
WARNING: given this topic, I will be
very alert for any possible plagiarism, especially for
material pulled from the internet. We will discuss paraphrasing and
quotation in class to emphasize this point. I will also require you to
submit an electronic copy of your paper to Turnitin.com, both to archive the
paper and to triple-check against plagiarism.
(back to Contents)
Caveats/cautions:
-- This paper is worth 20% of your grade, so pay close attention to requirements and detail!
-- Separate elements of this paper will receive separate grades, to be averaged together and formulate the remaining 20% of your grade.
-- If discussing a real person, do not give me
that person's entire life history; if discussing literary, film, or television
figures, do not give me pages of plot summary.
-- Use examples from the essays we've read in SoL only as inspiration or starting points: come up with your own examples.
Thesis note: Be sure that your thesis is an argument. Remember that you're explicitly arguing why your figur is culturally important. (You're also implicitly arguing that your chosen figure is important at all.)
Need a little help with
your thesis? Before you start writing, have a look at "timesaver #3
(a)," "timesaver #3(b)" and "timesaver #4" on the writing tips site --
these items will help you AND save you oodles of time!!!
(back to Contents)
»» What I'll look for in this paper:
As per new SU English Department Guidelines, I will require you to submit a copy of your paper electronically to Turnitin.com to be archived. We will discuss this website in class.
Content-wise (Use the following items as a checklist for your paper):
- a paper title that adequately reflects your topic -- no one-name or "cultural-analysis assignment" titles -- on the cover sheet
- a clear, strong thesis statement
- a developed introduction
- a thesis statement expressed as an argument
- a clear topic sentence for each ¶
- each ¶ discusses only one example, or one aspect of an example if the example spans more than one ¶ (for this paper, each probably will)
- helpful transition words within ¶s to help readers get from sentence to sentence
- helpful transition sentences to get readers from ¶ to ¶
(remember: ¶s are like hangers: the transition or "hook" goes at the
top/beginning)
- quotations and citations in MLA format (we'll discuss this in class)
- if you refer to outside sources, use of writers' full names, qualifications, and source
titles the first time you mention them in the body of your
paper; use of last names and signal phrases when/where appropriate
for each use thereafter
Writing mechanics & technical guidelines:
- any writing problems that I marked in your previous paper, or that
we discussed in conference, should not occur again in this paper, either at the
rough or final draft stages -- review these before
writing either draft of Paper #3, and revise for them before submitting either
the rough or final drafts of paper #3
- pay attention to spelling,
punctuation, grammar, word usage, basic proofreading and editing (see appropriate
Holt Handbook pages)
- no more than ten weak or passive verbs ("to be," "to
have")
- type or computer print anything written outside the classroom to turn in to me
- maintain margins at 1" all around
- type/print on only one side of each page
- use black ink only, and make sure print is dark and legible
- FONT: use only Times, Times New Roman, or Palatino fonts; maintain font size 12
- double-space all type
- use a separate cover sheet for all drafts of your paper, including the following information, centred on the page:
your paper title,
which draft (first, final)
your name
course and section #
(for Dr. Melczarek)
date submitted
- begin page 1 at the top margin
- no header/number for page 1; every page after page 1 should carry a header including your last name and the page #, starting with page 2
- all pages and cover sheet should be stapled, in correct order, BEFORE you come to class; papers submitted with pages in the wrong order will be read in that order and graded accordingly; papers not stapled will be returned unread
- the final draft must be submitted in a folder accompanied by any draft/version that I have seen and commented on; final drafts without this material will not be accepted
(back to Contents)
»» DUE DATES AND ACTIVITY DATES: (see updated course schedules)
- Wednesday 11/17: type out and bring to class at least 3 copies of a tentative thesis
statement, and any ideas or evidence (from the SoL readings or
elsewhere) that you want to use in your paper; help each other in your groups to
evaluate your proposed evidence, and possibly suggest changes
- Monday 11/29:
-- annotated bibliography: bring to class a list of at least five
sources you have consulted as research on your cultural figure for Paper #3. Only
one can be a website; the rest must be journals, magazines, and/or
books. For each entry, include the following information, in this order:
author and publication information in MLA style for a Works Cited
entry (see notes from class and the Holt Handbook)
a one-paragraph
summary of that sources' information, or of the information you used
Only one copy, to turn in to me.
- Wednesday 12/01: rough draft of Paper #3 due
- Thursday 12/02, Friday 12/03, and Monday 12/06: CONFERENCES
- Monday 12/06: introductions due: using the Holt Handbook section on introductions, bring in three different versions of an introduction for Paper #3. Make sure that each version uses a different strategy.
- Wednesday 12/08: conclusions due: using the Holt Handbook section on conclusions, bring in three different versions of a conclusion for Paper #3. Make sure that each version uses a different strategy.
- Friday 12/10: FINAL DRAFT of Paper #1 due (must also have submitted an electronic copy to turnitin.com or no credit)
(back to Contents)
»» Troubleshooting & therapy: If you have
questions about the assignment or your paper that we don't address in class or
during conference times,
- reread the assignment first to see if the
answer's there already
- see the syllabus and course policies to see if the
answer's there already
- ask others in the class for peer help
- then
and only then e-mail me or ask for an appointment to see me.
(back to Contents)