Assignment 1
Academic writing favors complexity. Often, rather than attempting to reduce a topic to a simple idea, academic writing tries to complicate it, to see multiple perspectives, potential contradictions, to move beyond the obvious. We can see this in the excerpt we read from bell hooks’s book Reel to Real. She describes the act of viewing movies as involving a series of tensions. While movies may seem real, she writes, “giving audiences what is real is precisely what movies do not do” (1). We go to movies to be entertained, but hooks notes that we also “learn stuff” from movies, and “Often what we learn is life-transforming in some way” (2). She argues that films themselves contain what she calls “multiple standpoints,” and they may mix “revolutionary” and “conservative” standpoints in ways that make it “hard for audiences to critically ‘read’ the overall filmic narrative” (3). Nonetheless, hooks insists, we viewers of film are “usually seduced, at [least] for a time, by the images we see on the screen. They have power over us . . .” (4). That is, despite—or perhaps because of—the complexity of film, it is important to “to understand and ‘read’ . . . what the film tries to do to us” (4) precisely because it can have such power over the way we think and feel.
Write an es.say in which you test out hooks’s ideas by analyzing a specific film through her lens. Think about a film you have watched that, as hooks describes, has “power” over you, that seems to have affected you in some way—even if you are not sure what exactly the film might have taught you. Can you see signs of the “multiple standpoints” that hooks identifies? What might the film be trying to say, and to whom? As a way of setting up your analysis and explaining the significance of your pa.per, you will want to quote from and/or summarize elements of hooks’s es.say. Then you will want to test out your ideas by looking closely at specific elements of the film—particular scenes, dialogue, images, plot developments, and so on. Finally, you should try to explain, as best you can, what this particular “film tries to do to us” and how you reached that conclusion.
FINISH THE FEEDBACK PLAN
WRITE ACCORDING TO THE RUBRIC
Assignment 1
Academic writing favors complexity. Often, rather than attempting to reduce a topic to a simple idea, academic writing tries to complicate it, to see multiple perspectives, potential contradictions, to move beyond the obvious. We can see this in the excerpt we read from bell hooks’s book
Reel to Real. She describes the act of viewing movies as involving a series of tensions. While movies may seem real, she writes, “giving audiences what is real is precisely what movies do not do” (1). We go to movies to be entertained, but hooks notes that we also “learn stuff” from movies, and “Often what we learn is life-transforming in some way” (2). She argues that films themselves contain what she calls “multiple standpoints,” and they may mix “revolutionary” and “conservative” standpoints in ways that make it “hard for audiences to critically ‘read’ the overall filmic narrative” (3). Nonetheless, hooks insists, we viewers of film are “usually seduced, at [least] for a time, by the images we see on the screen. They have power over us . . .” (4). That is, despite—or perhaps because of—the complexity of film, it is important to “to understand and ‘read’ . . . what the film tries to do to us” (4) precisely because it can have such power over the way we think and feel.
Write an essay in which you test out hooks’s ideas by analyzing a specific film through her lens. Think about a film you have watched that, as hooks describes, has “power” over you, that seems to have affected you in some way—even if you are not sure what exactly the film might have taught you. Can you see signs of the “multiple standpoints” that hooks identifies? What might the film be trying to say, and to whom? As a way of setting up your analysis and explaining the significance of your paper, you will want to quote from and/or summarize elements of hooks’s essay. Then you will want to test out your ideas by looking closely at specific elements of the film—particular scenes, dialogue, images, plot developments, and so on. Finally, you should try to explain, as best you can, what this particular “film tries to do to us” and how you reached that conclusion.
Grading Rubric, Assignment 1, English 110
Student Name:
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Concerns |
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Criteria |
Advanced Evidence of Exceeding Standards |
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Achieves the Purposes of the Assignment ☐ Explains ideas from the excerpt from hooks’s ☐ Working within the frame of hooks’s ideas, provides an interesting and complex analysis of what that film “tries to do to us” as viewers. (25 points for fully met) |
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Works Well with Texts ☐ Represents source text(s) accurately and fairly. ☐ Explains and elaborates on source texts, when needed. ☐ Integrates source text(s) smoothly into the writing. ☐ Cites source text(s) appropriately. (17 points for fully met) |
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Works Well with Your Own Ideas ☐ Writer’s ideas, commentary, and examples are focused and clear. ☐ Writer’s ideas, commentary, and examples are well-developed. ☐ Writer’s ideas, commentary, and examples are well-explained. ☐ Relationships between source text(s) and writer’s ideas are clear. (17 points for fully met) |
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Concerns Areas that Need Work |
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Provides Good Reader Guidance ☐ The essay is well-framed by an introduction and conclusion. ☐ The essay uses moves to engage and orient the reader. ☐ The essay follows a reasonable organizational structure. ☐ The essay has clear transitions and connections among parts. (17 points for fully met) |
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Uses Language Appropriately ☐ Grammar, spelling, and usage are appropriate for college-level English. ☐ Style and tone are appropriate for the assignment. (8 points for fully met) |
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Points |
Notes for the future: |
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| Purposes of the Assignment |
/30 |
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Working with Texts |
/20 |
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Working with Your Own Ideas |
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| Reader Guidance | |||
| Language |
/10 |
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TOTAL |
/100 |
Feedback plan
Instructions: along with your first draft you will submit a “feedback plan,” where you tell me the main 3 things you want me to focus on as I give you feedback on your draft. These things may be narrow, or they may be broad, but either way they should be focused and specific enough that I can provide meaningful thoughts in response.
Examples: Asking “is this paper good?” won’t work because that question doesn’t lead to specific answers; same with “how’s the grammar?”
Better versions of these questions are “I feel like I don’t make myself clear throughout the paper. Do you know what my argument is? Is my summary fair to the reading?” In this version, I can see that you are concerned about the clarity of your thoughts,
and you offer me two specific questions I can respond to.
Instead of asking “how’s my grammar?” you could ask something like “I feel like my language is sloppy in this essay. Do you notice any parts that are worded poorly or have a lot of misspellings and bad sentence structure?” Just like in the example above, this gives me a sense of where your concern is coming from (you feel “sloppy”) and also gives me something specific to respond to.
I will also offer you feedback on things you don’t ask for, since as an outside reader I’ll notice things that you can’t see.
Structure: submit your feedback plan in the same document ( x or ) as your draft, on
its own page before
your draft. You can think of it as a title page. You need to list three things in total. Follow the form on the following page.
Feedback Plan Form
Fill out this form and turn it in with your draft as the first page of your draft
Name:
Assignment:
What is the first concern you have about your draft that you would like me to give you feedback on?
What is the second concern you have?
What is the third concern you have?
Finally, is there any feedback you are “afraid” of getting from me? Anything you definitely don’t want to hear?
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Formatting
Title Page
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