WVU English
102 Assignments
There will be nine writing assignments
for this course:
Critiques:
You will write three critiques this semester. The subjects of your
critique will be your fellow class-members' essays. The critiques
should be two pages long and include positive, and negative aspects
of the essays. Be sure to illustrate your critique with quotes,
summaries, and parapharases from the text you're critiquing. Be
specific and give line and paragraph references. Always include
suggestions for improvement.
Ad Analysis:
A 500-600 word ad analysis will be due during the semester.
You will choose a newspaper or magazine advertisement (or more than
one) to analyze. You will submit a copy of this ad along with your
analysis of its persuasive appeals and logical fallacies. Address
a letter to a friend or family member or the CEO of the company
whose ad you use, as examples, and in the letter convince that person
why or why not they should buy the product or service. Also identify
the fallacies that are present in the ads and define those fallacies
for your reader. Be sure to use specific examples from your ad(s).
There's an excellent discussion of all the fallacies and errors
in logical reasoning on the Web. If you
need some ads to analyze I've listed a slew
of other great Apple ads on the web for
you to link to. Feel free to use any of these ads; just provide
the links in your essay, so I can see what you're writing about.
Click here to see a sample
ad analysis written by a former student,
Becky McClure.
Research
Paper:
You will write a five to eight page research paper for this course,
using both primary and secondary sources. Documentation and bibiliography
will follow the MLA format. You may write about a topic of your
own choosing. Two sample research papers that you can view by clicking
on the following links are one on domestic
partnership and another on the
ozone problem.
Song Analysis:
A 500-600 word song analysis will be due during the semester.
You will choose lyrics to analyze and submit an argument that defends
your interpretation of the song. Be sure to use paraphrases, summaries,
and direct quotations from the lyrics to support your interpretation
of the song's meanings. See also: the John
Cougar Mellencamp Home Page.
Check any of the web search engines for lyrics by name or artist.
For now, you may fare best by searching for author's home pages
with lyrics included (I found good lyrics listings for U-2 and Puff
Daddy, for example).
Satire:
A 500-600 word satire is due during the semester. You may choose
the topic, be it an individual, institution, or idea. A satire holds
up to ridicule its subject in order to remedy some social ill or
provide a solution to that problem. It has redeeming social value.
See also: Capitol
Steps, the Washington-based politically
satiric music group.
In-Class
Essays:
Two 350 word arguments will be written in-class during the course.
They will focus on a particular reading assigned for that evening
from the Rottenberg textbook or on an assigned topic. There will
be a choice of topics.
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