EN101 Freshman Composition
Essay #2 (Television, Gender, and
Culture) Assignment Sheet
“All essays should be, not trials, but
celebrations.”
—Theodore Roethke
A Cultural Analysis Research Essay
When someone hears about a
research paper, they might roll their eyes and sigh with the thought of reading
or listening to a dry essay. However,
research essays can be interesting when they have information that goes beyond
the expected to a certain audience. They
are especially interesting when the writer is connected to the topic, and has a
personal story to how they are connected to what they are presenting as a
research paper.
For this assignment, you will
write an essay that examines facets of gender in a reality television show.
These points will incorporate at least essay we will read, a transcription you
will write, and at least one of the documentaries we will watch, along with at
least two sources from research. These points may either show negative
stereotypes of gender, show ways in which stereo types are challenged, and/or
even show how a television show reflects cultural mores as a whole.
Assignment
This assignment includes
several steps:
- Reading essays from Reading
Pop Culture around television, specifically reality TV
- Viewing documentaries about how women and men are portrayed in
media and pop culture.
- Reading and analyzing Kate Durbin’s E! Entertainment.
- Brainstorming and selecting possibilities for the essay, including
reality television shows.
- Researching and creating a “working” annotated bibliography.
- Transcribing via creative writing reality television shows,
different than merely what the closed captions are (see Kate Durbin’s E! Entertainment).
- Writing the essay without research, using your own words with a
personal story or connection to the thesis as part of the
introduction.
- Conducting additional research.
- Incorporating research into the essay as examples to support your
ideas, with elaboration to how the research connects back to each point
you are making.
Write an essay with an
informative thesis statement with tension. For an example, “Some might think The Bachelor is…; however, it confirms
how men on the show perform out negative behaviors and attitudes of masculinity
by ….”
Include how you are connected
to your topic in the introduction. You
may also want to include a personal story in the conclusion.
Each point should be a unique
point to how a person or people portray an aspect of gender. These points can
come from the research you conduct and use.
For this assignment, we will
define gender to include masculinity, femininity, and gender identity (LGBTQ).
Gender also includes traditional roles, like what a husband or wife “does.” It
can also include things like “the fairy tale wedding,” rites of passage, etc.
Write your essay with an
audience who has not seen the show. In
other words, examples and elaborations should be included.
Include several
well-developed examples to support each point, which supports the thesis. Use research to “back up” your examples. Include copies of all research in your manila
file folder, highlighting the quotes or sections you used. Xerox or screen print the pages used out of (e)books
and (e)magazines, and print out online journal articles and websites.
Integrate research effectively. You must have at least two research sources
incorporated. Also, you are free to use non-web page sources (books, research
articles, magazine articles, etc.) For
web pages, please check with me.
Important notes: These two research sources
must be from an electronic database, Google Scholar, or some other scholarly
source. If you cannot find one, please talk to me.
Your essay needs to be new,
so you can explore this method of doing a research paper. Please DO NOT use a
topic you have previously written about, as a fresh topic will allow you to
learn the steps we will go through for class.
Use a logical organization
that makes the paper easy to follow.
Use MLA format.
Include a Works Cited page
using the correct format.
The assignment should have at
least seven well-developed paragraphs.
LSH pages
covered: 68-92, 93-135 (MLA).
Topic Brainstorming
Use a television show you
already have seen. If you have not seen reality television, start online or
watch an episode from two or three different shows.
Page 34 in LSH might be handy, too.
Use clustering to brainstorm things
about the shows you have in mind.
Informative and Surprising Research
Steps
- Narrow topic
and formulate thesis
- Write and
explore research questions
- Explore
possible databases
- Find possible
sources and create “sketch bibliography”
- Determine
kinds and number of sources
- Take notes on
sources
- Read and
analyze sources rhetorically
- Evaluate
sources for credibility
- Integrate
sources into the essay
·
Decide what role
the source will play
·
Analyze model
essays to demonstrate how research sources are used
·
Decide on whether
to paraphrase, summarize, or use a direct quote
·
Attribute the
source to the author(s)
·
Use the correct
format citation (MLA)
·
Avoid plagiarism
- Make copies of
the sources and indicate where the information came from by highlighting
the used information
- Write
Annotated Bibliography
- Format into a Works
Cited page
- Incorporate
research effectively
Quoting and Plagiarism
Use signal phrases for direct
quotes, paraphrases, and summaries. With statistics and other facts, a signal
phrase may not be needed but should still have parenthetical citing to show where
the statistic or fact came from. Citing quotations, borrowed ideas, and
paraphrases are important to avoid plagiarism.
The Little Seagull Handbook’s writers Richard Bullock and Francine Weinberg define
plagiarism in the back of the book as: “The use of another person’s words,
ideas, or even sentence structures without appropriate credit and
documentation” (339). Diana Hacker
describes in Rules for Writers the
three different acts of plagiarism: “(1) failing to cite quotations and
borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks,
and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words" (458).
(Note how these quotes are correctly cited, attributing the writers and using page
numbers.)
The only time you do not have
to cite information is if it is common knowledge or general information that
could be found in a large number of different sources. For example, how solar
energy works or that an author lives in a certain town would not have to be
cited.
All borrowed language, aka
direct quotes, must be in quotation marks, even if you have cited the source.
When paraphrasing, be sure to use your
language to describe the original author’s meaning. Do not simply plug in
synonyms or mix the author’s well-chosen phrases into your paraphrase. See The Little Seagull Handbook for further
examples.
[
Possible outline for the essay
Introduction: With a summary
of the reality TV show
Point 1: In regards to the
show using something from Reading Pop
Culture
Point 2: In regards to your
transcriptions, themes behind
Point 3: In regards to gender
using research
Point 4: In regards to gender
using research
Point 5: In regards to gender
using research
Conclusion: Your overall
final words and analysis about the TV show and gender
Note: Your transcriptions of
the show could be used as examples, too.
[
Assignments leading up to the essay
These assignments are to help
reflect on, question, brainstorm, and take a position for Essay #2. Additional
requirements for each of these assignments may be discussed in class.
Responses to the essays from Reading Pop Culture around television, specifically reality TV
Include three quotes
alongside contextualized paraphrases, one paragraph per quote/paraphrase, where
you agree, disagree, question, and/or see two sides to what is discussed in the
essay. Include new “lines of thinking” for you. Show reflection on the page. No
need for an introduction and conclusion. Please single-space these. No more
than one side of a page.
Responses to the documentaries
Include three quotes
alongside contextualized paraphrases, one paragraph per quote/paraphrase, where
you agree, disagree, question, and/or see two sides to what is discussed in a
documentary. Include new “lines of thinking” for you. Show reflection on the
page. No need for an introduction and conclusion. Please single-space these. No
more than one side of a page.
Let me recommend: if you ever
watch anything in a class, please take notes!
Reading and analyzing Kate Durbin’s E! Entertainment
Please use Durbin’s
strategies for your own transcriptions. We will look for her commentaries on
her work—her artist statements. Think of how you will approach your show via
how she approached shows.
Annotated Bibliography
An annotation is a summary
and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary
and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Your annotations will include the
following:
- Summarize: Include a sentence or two which summarizes the article.
- Assess: Include a sentence or two of assessment. Is it a useful
source? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective?
What is the goal of this source?
- Reflect: Include a sentence or two. How can you use this source in
your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Everything double-spaced.
Use citing information from
database.
Page 135 (LSH) has an example
of how each entry should be formatted.
Canavan, Gerry. "Fighting a war
you've already lost: Zombies and zombis in Firefly/Serenity and Dollhouse."
Science Fiction Film & Television 4.2 (2011): 173-203.
This article makes several correlations between the zombi
culture of Haiti and the zombie culture portrayed in Joss Whedon’s work. In
particular, similarities of slave oppression in Haiti with the oppression of
governments and economical systems in Whedon’s work, creating a social
commentary of today. The article is reliable, as the writer is a well-informed
scholar. He uses both historical and the literary criticism of Foucault to
analyze the television shows. This
article can further help make connections between how actual slavery in Haiti
led to the mythology of zombis, with how many feel oppressed in America today
might lead to our current zombie culture.
Transcriptions with your artist statement
Bring in a transcription of a
scene. This might take an hour or two to transcribe as you watch the show
twice: once to choosing what to transcribe, to get the feel of the show, to
notice what elements of the show “speak” to you; then twice to write the
transcription paying attention and including those elements you identified.
Include your artist
statement, a paragraph about the aesthetic choices you make in your
transcription. What do you focus on besides the dialogue? How do you convey the
tone of the show and/or what subjective tone are you trying to convey? I
recommend brainstorm writing the first part of this paragraph during the first
viewing, then finishing after you write your transcription. (Please see my
example below.)
Writing the essay without research
This is the bare-bones of the
essay, using your own words. Include a personal story or connection to the
thesis as part of the introduction, something to come back to in the conclusion.
First, write without citing research.
Buffy the Vampire
Slayer’s title character, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller) portrays an
empowered female leader in the series.
Other television shows often have male leaders, or are composed of only
men. However, with Summers’ role as “The Slayer,” she is told by her mentor
Giles that she…
Second, decide on research questions to further
develop your paragraph with.
What are other television
shows that have male leaders?
Who played Giles?
In what episode did Giles
tell Buffy that she is “The Slayer?”
What other research and
articles are there that show Buffy as an empowered female leader?
Third, do additional research to back up what is said.
Suppose I come across this
article:
Why chicks dig vampires: sex
blood, and Buffy.(Buffy the Vampire Slayer)(girl-power in mass media)(Critical
Essay). Alice Rutkowski.
Iris: A Journal About Women (Fall
2002): p12(7).
However, I begin reading it
and it does not explicitly mention anything about the empowerment of women in
the series. However, it gives me another
surprising point:
According to Alice Rutlowski,
“Nowadays, powerful girls are everywhere on television and in the movies, even
in genres previously populated only by men, especially action, science-fiction,
and fantasy. Buffy Summers, the protagonist of television's Buffy the Vampire
Slayer (1997-present) (1), was one of the first in a long line of champions of
this new breed of girl power. For example, both Max, from the sci-fi
post-apocalyptic Dark Angel, and the good-witch sisters of Charmed probably owe
more than they'd like to admit to the power and influence of Buffy” (13).
I continue searching for the
original topic—women empowered as leaders—and find this brief article:
Brave new girls.(Brief
Article).
Women and Language 23.1 (Spring 2000):
p56.
By Debbie Stoller
“Recent television shows such
as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena Warrior Princess, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
and The Secret World of Alex Mack arrived on the cultural landscape just as
researchers reported that girls undergo a crisis of self-esteem in adolescence
from which they never recover. By puberty, a majority report they are unhappy
with the way they are and they become 'female impersonators' who start thinking
what they must do to please others. The media has been blamed for its share of
a girl-hostile culture. Presenting girls in larger-than-life roles has proved
popular. They are representatives of a new kind of pop-culture heroine that is
at once powerful and girl, two characteristics now presented as not being mutually
exclusive.”
Last, incorporate the research with additional
explanation.
I can use this as a source to
quote and back up my surprising point:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s title character, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle
Geller) portrays an empowered female leader in the series. Other television shows often have male
leaders, or are composed of only men, like the A-Team and The Unit. However, with Summers’ role as “The Slayer,”
she is reminded by her mentor Rupert Giles (Anthony Head) that she must continue
with her special duty in the first episode “Welcome to the Hellmouth”: “You are
the Slayer. Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a
Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires” (Whedon
1). Giles’ words remind the audience only a “girl” can be The Slayer—“a Chosen
One.” This special girl has both
“strength and skill,” something that television rarely shows. According to Debbie Stoller, the timing for
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, along with many recent television shows that portray
young women as leaders, could not have been better. Stoller explains how many girls develop “a
crisis of self-esteem in adolescence from which they never recover” (56). Stoller continues to describe the cultural
dilemma, and adds how Buffy the Vampire Slayer provides a positive role model:
By
puberty, a majority report they are unhappy with the way they are and they
become 'female impersonators' who start thinking what they must do to please
others. The media has been blamed for its share of a girl-hostile culture.
Presenting girls in larger than life roles has proved popular. They are
representatives of a new kind of pop-culture heroine that is at once powerful
and girl, two characteristics now presented as not being mutually exclusive.
(56)
Just as this generation of
girls and young women may look up to Buffy as being both “powerful” and “girl,”
as Buffy is the leader of the “Scooby Gang,” they may grow up to become leaders
themselves, identifying with Buffy as she both endures the hardships of growing
up as a girl in this “girl-hostile culture” (Stoller 56). Buffy represents an
empowered young woman who relies on her inner strength to be a leader while
facing the same personal trials many young women go through.
Annotated Bibliography / Works Cited
My first suggestion is to
copy and paste the entry at the end of the electronic database file if you are
using one. (Isn’t it nice that they provide one?) Also, visit the EasyBib
website: http://www.easybib.com. There are
several internet websites that help with the MLA format of a Works Cited page.
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