PORTFOLIO TWO When is it due? Essay first draft due during Week 6 instructor conference appointment Portfolio 2 due in class on March 1, 2018 What needs to be in the portfolio folder?      A signed portfolio honor pledge sheet Essay (revised, proofed draft) Conference Draft (with my revision notes) Process Notebook (process notes and invention writing) Writing Center reflection letter (optional) How much is it worth? Portfolio 2 is worth 110 points toward your final grade. • • Essay (100 points) Process Notebook (10 points) Portfolio Guidelines Essay Length: Style: Genre: Text Chapter: Three (3) complete pages APA Format (See Additional Notes below) Evaluation Chapter 10 Introduction “Evaluating is the act of judging the value or worth of a given subject. We make informal judgments constantly throughout our daily lives. We decide that we like a particular car more than another, or that one song on the radio is better than another. Such evaluations…involve little analysis…We [also] take part in formal evaluation, a process that goes beyond an expression of likes and dislikes. (Composition of Everyday Life, 321) Choosing a topic To complete this essay you will watch and conduct a formal evaluation of a movie of your choice. When choosing a movie consider the following: • It is a feature-length (roughly 90 or more minutes long) • It is a narrative (fiction) film • It is readily available to watch (Online video service, video store, library, etc.) A formal evaluation requires you to go beyond the simple likes and dislikes. This assignment is not asking you to critique the movie. Rather, you will actively watch the movie (perhaps multiple times) and develop an argument either for or against the value or worth of the film. Active watching? Is that like active reading? Important! – Actively watch your movie at least once before the next class meeting. Actively watching your chosen movie is no different from actively reading an essay. You want to engage with it by asking questions, looking more deeply at the meaning of the story, the roles of the characters, the subtext of the dialogue. A big part of your active watching is to consider your expectations and how your movie meets those expectations. Your movie: its purpose and audience “We can only develop criteria and then evaluate a subject if we know the subject’s purpose and audience…What is your movie attempting to do? To succeed as a comedy for teens? To maintain high action for adults? To retell a classic fairy tale for children?...Evaluating something means understanding what that subject is attempting to do.” (Composition of Everyday Life, p. 339) A movie’s purpose and audience are directly tied to what the movie is attempting to do. Different types, or genres, of movies attempt to do different things. Comedies make us laugh. Horror movies scare us. These are defined as the conventions of movies in particular genres. Your evaluation: its criteria The criteria for an evaluation relies on a careful selection of the standards on which your judgments are based. In the case of movies, the criteria for an evaluation lie in the conventions (or common expectations) of a particular genre. Now that you know the movie’s genre, explore that genre’s common conventions by asking yourself: What are the common conventions (or expectations) of the different genres of movies? What are the common conventions (or expectations) of your movie’s genre? How that translates into a thesis statement While your evaluation essay makes a judgment about your movie, your thesis statement gives focus to that judgment. Remember that your thesis will be argument either for or against the value or worth of the film within its specific genre. If your movie fits into multiple genres, pick one to use as the focus. Beyond stating that your movie is or isn’t valuable/worthy, your thesis needs to explain why you feel that way. Supporting Your Thesis and Using Rhetorical Tools Here is where your conventions or expectations come into play. You will choose three (3) of the genre’s conventions or expectations to explore more deeply and validate your thesis statement. Use your new rhetorical tools to more deeply explore your three chosen conventions/expectations and make the connection for the reader. “Textual” Summary – Consider the larger ideas of the film. What does it mean? What is the point? If you were to retell the main idea in two or three sentences, what would you writer? Summary in an evaluation does not mean to retell the plot of the entire movie. Best guideline -- only give the reader what they need to understand the point you’re making. “Textual” Support – Focus more heavily on specific scenes and/or characters that tie in directly to your argument. Use specific information about the scenes/characters rather than general references to illustrate the value (or shortcoming) of the movie. Counterarugment – Evaluations include arguments. Arguments must acknowledge opposing views and disprove a claim. Be sure to include a counterargument in your paper. You are required to use all of these tools at least once in your paper. Look carefully at the tools listed in the text on pp. 346 - 348. To help you draft your essay, first create an outline for your essay which includes at least two examples of each of the rhetorical tools. Choose your best examples. Notes to remember about your first draft Remember that this is not a movie critique, therefore you are not simply writing about what you liked and didn’t like about the movie. This is an argumentative evaluation of how this movie has or doesn’t have some kind of value or worth. When it is time to revise… Ask yourself questions about the draft. Approach this revision through the reader’s eyes, not as the writer. If you didn’t know you at all, would you understand everything you’re reading? Would you understand the movie being evaluated? Or do you say, “I don’t get it.” If there are places that may sound confusing to you as reader (even if they don’t to you as writer) then these areas need to be addressed. Most importantly, you are looking to make sure you not only give the reader the what in your essay (the movie) but how the movie is or isn’t valuable or worthy. If there is no reference to the value or worth of the movie then your essay is not achieving its goal. Before turning in your draft, you should spend some time revising your essay, making sure that your draft is clear, concise, and is completely relative to your thesis statement. Give the completed first draft a day or two. Take some space from the work, then go back and reread it OUT LOUD. Listen to how the paper sounds. Use these guidelines as a way to workshop your own paper. Your References page Since you are working with a primary source to complete your evaluation, you’ll need to include a References page even if you’re not directly quoting the film in your essay. Here is the format for the citation. Just plug in the necessary information from your film. Be sure to follow the formatting guidelines, e.g., hanging indent, italics, and capitalization rules: Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio or distributor. Additional Notes All good essays have an original title so be sure to give it one. Formatting will follow APA rules: 1” margins, 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred), double spaced. Include a cover page, but no abstract is needed. A sample APA formatted paper is available in Canvas. All essays will be graded using the English 111 rubric. A copy of this rubric is also available in Canvas. NOTE: To be eligible for satisfactory completion of this assignment, your essay must… • • • • Display a significant attempt at revision from first draft to final draft Fulfill all the requirements of the assignment including appropriate use of assigned rhetorical tools and integrating the minimum number of outside sources (if required by assignment) Meet the minimum page requirement Follow all the above formatting guidelines Any essay not meeting these basic requirements is not eligible to receive a grade higher than a “D.”
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