Critical Thinking About an Article–Paper #3
Due in draft form on Feb. 26. Final due on Mar. 2
Content: Using the tools we have learned so far, analyze one of the stories, articles, or even films we have read or discussed in class. Instead of doing research, the examples you use to critique the article should be from your own experience, from the experiences of people you know (and trust), from other articles or stories that we have encountered, and/or from films and television.
Texts for analysis: “Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” “The Algorithms for Love,” Second Sex, Being and Nothingness, “Story of Your Life,” Arrival, “Los Vendidos,” “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” “The Silence Breakers,” “The Algorithmic Spiral of Silence,” This Changes Everything, “The Making of Colin Kaepernick,” “The Worst Job in Tech,” “Love in the Age of Like,” “Empire of the Geeks,” and “To Fly to Fall, to Fly Again.”
Structure: (simply suggestions)
(a) Introduction (as short as a sentence or as long as a paragraph)
(b) Summary (precis, abstract) of the essay, which may include quotations and paraphrase and should be objective.
(c) Your thesis, stating your opinion about the article you have read. This may follow the thesis or may be in a separate short paragraph. The thesis should be complex, not “I agree” or “I disagree.”
(d) 4-7 body paragraphs, each of which is focused on a specific idea or element in the article.
(e) Conclusion
(f) Work(s) Cited page (separate)
Other possible formats:
· A letter to a person who cares about the topic in the text (or doesn’t care)
· A dialogue between two people with differing opinions about the text
· You may use journalistic (magazine or newspaper article) style, Rotten Tomatoes format, fake Wikipedia article, etc.
Form:
1200 words or more (4 or more pages) Double-spaced, typed or computer-printed with a 12 font. If two of you write as partners, minimum of 1800 words. Please have at least four quotations!
Possible issues to use for analyzing pieces of fiction: character development, plot logic, connections to theory, reader involvement, ways in which the fiction expands your mind, dialogue, vivid description, up-to-date or outdated, logic and logical fallacies, and truth values even though it is fiction.
Possible issues to use for analyzing non-fiction texts: logic, logical fallacies, ways in which it expands your mind, connections to facts you already know, ways in which it makes you want to read more about the problem, ways in which you can see the ideas embodied in other texts, up-to-date or outdated, writer’s ability to explain at a level you can understand, and truth.
Possible issues to use for analyzing a film version of a fictional text: all of the above, plus cinematography, acting, special effects, screenplay, action sequences, emotional effect, etc.
Grading criteria will not be used for all students.
Grading:
150 points. 10 points for bringing two computer-printed pages of your writing on draft day. 10 points for excellent title and opening. 30 points for accurate summary, paraphrase, and quotation of the article that you are analyzing. 20 points for your 4 required quotations, correctly done. 20 points for accurate use of the vocabulary of critical thinking. 20 points for really analyzing the article. 20 points for showing why you agree or disagree with points made in the article through personal or media examples. 20 points for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.