[SOLVED] Nightmares of the American Dream
Assignment: For our final project this semester, we will create an extended argument incorporating appropriate source materials in a formal collegiate format. This type of writing is what will be expected of you in your writing assignments in most other undergraduate classes: not only are you expected to be able to understand facts found in outside source materials, but you are expected to discuss what those facts mean and use them to support your own claims: you create an argument with a thesis statement for any college-level research paper. You are to generate an essay that is both argumentative and expository in relation to a topic of your development and investigation in relation to a primary source. One key is to choose and develop a topic you are actually interested in writing about. In a nutshell, you must choose a text to analyze and write aboutjust as weve been doing all term, but this time you get to select a film and use secondary sources to develop and support your argument. Length: 5 pages minimum; no more than 7 full pages (Works Cited page not included) Sources: Minimum three (3) separate secondary sources: ? No internet sources allowed (I want you to learn to use an academic library; database sources are obviously are okay) ? At least three (3) sources procured through our collegiate library resources: databases, the library catalogue, and Mobius. ? Generally, sources should be academic and scholarly in nature. Examples of scholarly sources include: o –scholarly/academic journals articles o –books o –major daily newspapers (Washington Post, L.A. Times, etc.) Primary Source Options (Select one film from this list for this project. All are available on Swank. You MUST choose from this list.): Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017) Practicality is paramount: Can you find source material? My advice is to begin with a topic that you are interested in learning more about, but you must quickly determine if you can locate research materials on your chosen topic. You must use a total of at least THREE secondary sources: Be sure to meet the essay guidelines concerning the number and kind of sources required; papers incorporating information from fewer than three acceptable sources are not meeting minimum assignment requirements. Remember: Do not to write a summary of your subject; rather, you are creating a researched argument. In other words, this is not the essay in which you should simply list your research; this is not an essay that summarizes the film; this is not an essay that tells the story of the making of a film; this is not an evaluation or a review. You can assume that your reader is generally familiar with the film but has not yet thought of it analytically. Remember: we want to gain an insight; this insight will form the basis of your thesis. 1. Use what you have learned about argumentation since the beginning of 101: make an arguable observation about the text make a claim as to how the text reflects upon our world; organize topics that support the thesis rely on strong and detailed evidence 2. Remember, too, that whenever you borrow information from an outside sourcewhether it is directly or indirectly quoted, paraphrased, or summarizedif the information is not general knowledge, then you must cite it fully in proper MLA format. 3. Again, keep the structure of your argument in mind: introduce your topic, make your claim (thesis), then build on your points in the body paragraphs; your research materials are to be used as supporting evidence for the ideas YOU have developed. 4. Most of this paper (two-thirds) should be your own thoughts, with the outside information (one-third) used to support your ideas. Participation on Proposal Discussion Board (20 points) Submit an initial post that that answers the following questions in paragraph form (5 to 7 sentences): What do you want to write on, and why? What are you interested in here? That is, what do you think you might learn from this research? Or, what question(s) do you seek to answer? What sort of research sources have you found to this point? Specifically identify at least two secondary sources (by title, author, and location of source) that you found through our library resources (i.e. the library catalogue, the library databases, or Mobius). You should address these questions in sentence and paragraph form: you are trying to clearly explain to us why you want to do this particular project and why is might be interesting. Give us a sense that you know what you are doing and that you want to do it. After your initial post, comment, offering constructive feedback, on two of your classmates proposals within the next couple of days. Working Bibliography (20 points) Submit a bibliography that follows MLA format. 5 sources minimumyou will need to find more sources than you end up using. Include the primary source. See the sample Works Cited and the MLA Citation Format PowerPoint. Include all secondary and primary sources. Annotated Bibliography (40 points) First, READ YOUR SOURCES; learning about your topic is absolutely essential: get started. Following each full MLA citation entry, write a one paragraph summary, evaluation, and assessment of five sources, providing samples of quotations and other information you plan to use in your essay OR provide an explanation of why the source will not be useful. 2 to 3 pages and 3 to 5 source entries. Basically, the annotated bibliography is a normal bibliography with writing on each entry; we will better define this assignment when we do our Annotation Workshop. Half-Draft and Remaining Outline (40 points) After READING YOUR SOURCES, compose the first three to five paragraphs of your paper (2 to 3 pages). At the very least, you should complete a working introduction (including your clearly identifiable thesis statement) as well as the first body paragraphs. Follow these paragraphs with an informal outlinea planfor the remainder of the essay.