Essay #2: Analyzing Monsters In The Media

Background:

Now that we have been discussing Monsters both real and fantastical developing criteria around what is a monster, and looking for logical fallacies in ethics and rhetoric, it is time for you to begin thinking about some of the major ideas surrounding Monsters

Assignment Options:

Option 1: Monsters of Science and Nature in Fantasy

Step 1: Analyze a primary media source(TV Show Episode, Movie, Song, etc.) of your choice that engages with the theme of monsters of science and/or monsters of nature

The source should be a mainstream popular text—a film, television episode, or video game.

Step 2: Write a paper in which you describe the text you have chosen and argue for how it connects to the longer history we have studied of monsters of science and nature via our Monsters readings.

Step 3: Then, analyze your text as an image of monstrosity, employing one or more of the monster theories we’ve discussed in Monsters: A Bedford Reader. No additional outside academic research is required. However, you MUST integrate material from “How Signs Work”, at least two of the scholarly articles we read in Monsters: A Bedford Reader, and your primary Source.

Option 2: Analyzing a real-life monster in history/News Coverage/Media Coverage

Step 1: Analyze a Pick a “real life” person that was considered a monster by society e.g. OJ Simpson, Hitler, etc.

Step 2: Write a paper in which you describe the source you have chosen, articulate whether the coverage of this person has been fair or biased, and argue for how it connects to the long history we’ve studied in the Monsters readings.

Option 3:

Step 1: Read: “How Signs Work” & at least two articles from Monsters

Step 2: Pick a popular song, movie, or TV show and identify a symbolic Monster within the text

Step 3: Write a 1000+ word analysis of what the symbolic monster(s) signifies to the text

Criteria for Evaluation

I will use the following criteria to evaluate your position paper:

1. Have you engaged the readers’ interest at the beginning and throughout the paper?
2. Have you chosen an arguable position and defined it carefully (e.g. placing the issue in its historical or cultural context, citing specific instances to make the issue seem less abstract, or establishing or redefining the terms of the debate)?
3. Have you organized your paper into an introduction, body (containing several paragraphs), and conclusion?
4. Have you included at the end of the introduction a thesis statement that asserts a clear, unequivocal position on the issue you have chosen and, possibly, forecasts the stages of the argument, identifying the main reason or reasons that you will develop and support in the essay?
5. Have you given reasons why readers should take your position seriously?
6. Have you organized your reasons into a logical order (e.g. placing the strongest reason last and the second-strongest reason first, with the other reasons in the middle)?
7. Have you supported each reason with examples, facts, analogies, statistics, anecdotes, or quotes from authorities? Remember: you need 5 quotes from the readings.
8. Have you anticipated readers’ questions and their positions on an issue, counterarguing as needed?
9. Have you signaled explicitly the move from one topic to the next using forecasting statements, transitions, topic sentences, rhetorical questions, and/or summaries?
10. Have you cited at least 5 quotes in your essay, using MLA in-text (parenthetical) citation strategies correctly?
11. Have you integrated the sources into your essay, using signal phrases to introduce long quotations or incorporating shorter quotations into the sentences smoothly?
12. Have you included an MLA Works Cited at the end of your essay?
13. Are the sentences clear and correct?
14. You stayed in 3rd Person for the Essay
15. Is the essay between 1000-1500 words (please do not exceed 1800 words)?

A Successful Essay Will Have

Introduction:

* A title specific to the topic

* An attention getter

* Background on the topic (please make it clear which prompt you are answering)

* End with your thesis

* A clearly stated thesis (your opinion – your 1-2 sentence response to the essay prompt) which speaks to the “so what” of the issue and is not merely a list plan of development.

Body:

* Topic sentence that is related to the thesis

* Supporting evidence

* Quotes from the text (Remember to cite the quotes)

* Consideration of and rebuttal against the other side of the topic

Conclusion:

* DO NOT bring up a new topic

* A suggestion of the consequences of your position for society, readers, individuals, what you want to happen in the future, or how the author might feel about your position, etc.

Works Cited Page

• That cites all sources using current MLA guidelines.