MACS 110 Critical Writing Assignment/Final Essay
Critical Writing Assignment: 20%
Selecting from the weekly readings, write an 800 word analysis of that theory (Note,
do not exceed 800 words. – The 800 words include bibliography, endnotes, etc).
Your submission needs to be written in standard essay form (for example, do not use
bullet points. Still, if you have any questions about what that standard essay form
means please contact me by email). You cannot write on a concept or theory you
have already written on or discussed in another major term assignment (which
are the Reflective Writing assignment and the Presentation assignment). Use
examples from your own media interests/experience to illustrate the theory/concept.
Accordingly, choose something in particular which interests you. This could be media
content (ie., a storyline of a movie, a tv show, a social media meme you like, or
perhaps, how a news story is reported on) or a particular medium (ie., TV, radio, the
phonograph, typewriter, cinema). From there you need to figure out: how does a
specific theory or concept that was studied in 110 help to explain the significance of
the instance or form of media you’ve selected? – Thus, for your analysis you need to
apply a theory for analyzing the media you have chosen. In this respect, you might use
Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model, or, an analysis of the main traits of
propaganda, or any other relevant theory examined in the 110 course textbook.
THE Final ESSAY
● Your essay must sustain a critical assessment of the theory you write on. As
it goes, you may argue with a particular theoretical formulation of things, or
perhaps, upon providing a critical examination of a theorist’s concept or
theory, challenge the validity of their examples for supporting their theory.
Further, you need to incorporate additional and only peer-reviewed
scholarly materials (ie, articles from the school’s library sourced
academic journals, NOT wikipedia) that you have researched in
advancing your specific argument and or form of analysis. Ask yourself:
how are these additional texts instrumental for the argument or analysis I
am developing throughout my final paper?
● You will be graded on your depth of understanding of concepts,
precision of description of concepts, clarity and cohesiveness of
writing, and the poignancy or cogency of argument appropriate to the
specific arguments/analysis found in the core course article you respond to.
By precision of description, clarity and cohesiveness, along with
meaning, I am referring to the need for proper syntax and
grammatical form in the construction of each sentence that you write.
See rubric below.
Submission Terms:
When labeling your documents, along with your name and the assignment
(presentation), you need to include your specific course section number for 110.
Also, please affix that section number, along with your name and the
assignment , to the documents that you send to me through the “Critical
Writing Assignment” receptacle in our course’s Learning Management
System.
REQUIREMENTS
– All citations are in MLA style (please see the library website for information
on MLA style).
– 800 Words total (including BIBLIOGRAPHY).
– typed in Times Roman font
– double-spaced
– page numbered
-submit as Word document only (No PDFs!!)
Cover page:
– your name
– your section of 110
– date
– INCLUDE STUDENT NUMBER IN THIS DOCUMENT
– Title of your Essay
Grading Rubric Elements for the Final Essay:
Identifies purpose and significance of the theory or concepts you will
analyze and your own argument/position against that theory
Uses citation properly (names with dates, and if relevant page numbers
for specific elements)
Effectively execute the essay form (i.e., introductions, forecasting,
conclusions).
Sufficiently references evidence of/for your argument and that you
generate a logical compelling argument.
Writing: clear, specific, succinct/concise, structured/organized,
appropriate length