minimum 1,500 words | 15% of your course grade
due Monday, July 27 by noon | share a Google Doc file with me of the essay
For core assignment 1, you’ll take these notes and turn them into an essay style. Write an essay about this music video you chose. Look at your notes in detail. What claims could you make about the messaging of the music video? Remember, you are not trying to “solve what it’s about,” you are making claims about what’s going on, and showing us examples.
Think about all aspects of a rhetorical analysis, including its composition (what it is, what it shows, what it looks or sounds like) and its context.
Make sure to organize your claims into a clear structure. Concentrate on being specific and clear. Describe the video and song, talk about the details of it, and discuss one or more meanings you find in the music video. Support your claims with sufficient evidence.
Your essay should have a clear central focus and claim, established early in the paper, and unfold in a series of logically connected paragraphs that continuously develop your argument. It should have a clear introduction and conclusion. The introduction should hook your reader and orient them in the context of your whole argument. Your conclusion should wrap up your argument and leave the reader with something thought-provoking. Your body paragraphs should make ample use of vivid detail and description from your chosen music video as evidence for your argument. Body paragraphs should expand and enrich components of your argument but should not stray off topic altogether. You don’t have to do any research for this paper, but if you choose to do so and you want to use additional sources, you should use proper citation format (we can discuss this if you want to).
It is perfectly fine to choose a work you’ve already heard or seen. However, I strongly encourage you to choose a work you’ve encountered outside of the context of school, and I discourage you from using works you were assigned to consume and/or write about in high school. Canned, clichéd essays about standard high school reading material are not acceptable. The Blog 2 writing process will be our shared opportunity to make sure you’re not inadvertently heading in that direction.
Grading Criteria
I. You’ll earn 4 points (of 15) of your grade on this assignment based on process:
- On time. Submit all writing, including planning and draft deadlines, on time.
- In full. Meet minimum length requirements.
- On topic. Choose and analyze a specific music video.
- Part of a Process. Utilize your Blog 2 notes.
You will NOT be able to recover the above points with revision.
II. You’ll earn 5 points (of 15) of your grade based on quality of writing:
- Claim(s). Generate a clear and meaningful claim or central set of claims about the work.
- Evidence. Utilize clear and concrete details to support your analysis.
- Organization. Organize the essay effectively to suit your intents and to facilitate insight.
- Tone. Use an effective tone for your audience, which you should consider as not just me but a general public of people who might be interested in your conversation and willing to learn (but might not know anything about the song or video, particularly). Write in a manner that is generally clear, makes logical points, and is written in an appropriately professional tone (that does not mean inflated or intentionally boring—you can use your voice, but don’t be crude, rude, or dismissive of the ideas of others).
- Clarity: Present your material in a way that is clear and can be followed by a general public, including those who have not seen your chosen music video before. Remember that part of your job is to lead and teach your audience—what to pay attention to, and why.
You WILL be able to recover these points with revision.
III. You’ll earn 6 points (of 15) your grade based on portfolio revision:
After I read and grade your assignment, I will give you summarized feedback with three holistic revision tasks. You’ll earn the remainder of your grade on the assignment by attending to those tasks—and writing a cover letter that explains how you did. Revision tasks will be based on the essay meeting adequate standards of organization, purpose, support, voice and style, and mechanics.
You will not earn these points UNTIL you revise your work.
But first, Blog 2.…