ENG 100 - Freshman Composition - Professor Walker: Your Assignment

Understanding Your Assignment

Before you begin looking for information you should make sure you understand your assignment. Some good questions are:

• How many pages?
• How many sources?
• What kinds of sources?
  
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Websites
    
• What format?

Your professor is your best resource to answer these questions.

The proposal will be a 250 word, one-paragraph MLA document that elaborates an idea of what you are proposing your paper will discuss. It will identify the main text chosen, the ideas you are looking to explore, and a working thesis. You must have these three elements in your proposal.  

Think of your proposal as a very rough draft of an introduction paragraph.  Your proposal will guide your essay. What key information do you need to tell the audience about your essay? Keep in mind that during the process, there can and will be changes.   The proposal is a starting point.  As you research, select your articles and think about your paper, you might uncover something you did not think of earlier.  The proposal is not binding. It is where you are starting your research project.  

Over the past several weeks, we have practiced identifying and analyzing themes and symbolic representation across texts including our text, poetry, and the television show, Galavant.  

For your final essay, you will need to analyze movie of your choice incorporating four academic outside sources that support your analysis with MLA in text citing and a works cited page. One source can be our course text, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. You will need to use  a minimum of three other academic sources from your Annotated Bibliography.

In this paper, you will need to summarize your chosen movie. From your summary, you will need to analyze a character, plot, location, or physical characteristic similar to the example in chapter 27, A Test Case. You will need to identify and describe what you are analyzing and support your analysis with outside sources. Your essay should answer the questions:

• What does it signify?

• How does it signify?

A successful paper will include:

• A clear thesis statement

• A clear, short summary of the movie or a specific scene of that movie

• A minimum of four academic sources

• In-text citations using quotes and paraphrasing

• Rhetorical analysis

•  Approximately 2000 words approximately 8-pages

• A works cited page 

You will need to find four academic sources that you think you will use in your final essay. You will create an entry for each source. Your entry will include:

• The MLA Citation
• One strong paragraph summarizing the article
• One strong paragraph on how this article will support your Themes and Analysis essay

See the Annotated Bibliography Example under files in the folder labeled Student Examples

Entries should be a minimum of 1 page or 250 words , be in alphabetical order, and each citation should start at the top of a page. You will need need a cover page.  

Breaking Down The Research Process  

The following outline gives a simple and effective strategy for finding information for a research paper and documenting the sources you find. Depending on your topic and your familiarity with the library, you may need to rearrange or recycle these steps. Adapt this outline to your needs. We are ready to help you at every step in your research.

1. Choose a topic - or have one assigned
2. Understand your topic
   • Background reading
     
   • Consider a main focus
   • Refine your topic
   • Make a list of your keywords and concepts
     
3. Search Sources
   • Find Books
   • Find Articles
   • Find Websites
4. Write your paper - Informative, Analytical, Argumentative, Critical
5. Cite your sources

Monica's Contact Info:

mmlopez@cerritos.edu  

To chat with me, use the chat box below. If I'm offline, another librarian will help you if it's during our open hours.