Assignments

Resume & Cover Letter (10%)

Your last assignment is to writer a cover letter and resume specific to a real job or internship. First, select your job or internship (links provided below) based on your skills, experience, and objective. Be careful to look at the "qualifications" section of the posting to make sure you have the experience and skills necessary to write an effective cover letter for the position you are seeking. Then draft a cover letter and resume that specifically speaks to the job or internship you are applying for. You will be able to workshop you letter and resume in class, but the final drafts are due on the last day of class - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th, PRINTED.

Places you to consider conducting your job search:

Idealist.org
UH Manoa Career Center
Political Science Internships
Health & Law Internships
State Jobs/Internships
Internmatch
Government Jobs
UH Employment

Craigslist.org 

Argumentative Research Paper (20%)

Now that you've stretched your creative and critical thinking skills through your rhetorical analysis presentation, film response, and a literature review, you will work towards writing a compelling paper on a topic you are passionate about. Your "Letter for Change" assignment should have stirred you to think about an issue where you see a problem that you'd like to resolve. The objective of the open letter was to raise awareness about a particular problem, suggest change/resolution, and identify an audience. Now, using this same problem, you will take further steps to support that resolution through reliable and relevant evidence.

OBJECTIVES

(1.) Construct a clear argument / thesis statement that focuses on a PROBLEM you'd like to RESOLVE.

A GOOD thesis:

- tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.

- takes a position or develop a claim about a subject
- is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
- directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be "The removal of Art classes in K-12 schools due to lack of state funding"; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the removal of these classes.
- makes a claim that others might dispute.

(2.) Provide credible evidence for your claim AND acknowledge the credible evidence against your claim to build your own credibility

(3.) Organize your evidence clearly for your reader

(4.) Offer a solution in your conclusion

GUIDELINES

Your paper will be 6-8 pages (NOT including a Works Cited page), MLA format, Double-spaced, 12pt. font.

Your paper will have a Works Cited page with 6-8 sources, 2 of those being physical books.

ALL DRAFTS (for Workshop AND Final Drafts will be due in PAPER form - no electronic copies).

NO LATE WORK WILL BE TAKEN.

DEADLINES:

(1.) Select topic - November 7th

(2.) State Thesis - November 21st

(3.) Research Worksheet - November 26

(4.) Outline - November 26th

(5.) Works Cited  (Draft) - November 26th

(6.) Paper (Draft) - December 3rd

(7.) Final Report - December 12th

Open Letter (10%)

You will write a 1-2 page "Open Letter," which will be single spaced. 

Your letter will be in response to an issue raised in the article you selected for class. You must address someone or some thing (an event) specific. You must have an audience in mind. You must also include a Works Cited page with a MLA citation of the article you are responding to.

Your goal in writing this letter to "call for change," whether that be social, political, environmental, or cultural. 

DUE on Tuesday, Nov 12th.

No late work will be accepted.

Literature Review (15%)

Your literature review, will be a piece of analysis writing. We discussed many poems in class, identifying how certain literary devices--based on sound, meaning, and description--all contribute to how we understand the poem. It should be evident that there is no "one correct" reading of a poem. It's up to you to make meaning, based on what you see and hear. 

In this paper you will look at two poems of your choice, which we discussed in class. Identify what these poems do similarly, but, additionally, discuss how this also yield different results. For example, you could discuss how metaphor helps us understand how in Lorca's poem "The Guitar" and Joy Harjo's "The World Ends Here," inanimate objects capture a world of emotion. However, the emotions are different."The Guitar" uses an extended metaphor to describe ceaseless heartbreak, while "Perhaps the World Ends Here" includes many instances of metaphor to show the polarity of emotion. 

Your paper WILL include in-text citations, as you will need SPECIFIC examples from the texts in your paper. This also means you will need a Works Cited page. I will provide you with a list of places where the poems can be found electronically. You will, however, need to format the sources according to MLA guidelines. 

The paper should be 3-4 pages (not including your Works Cited page), in proper MLA format (double-spaced & 12pt font), and have a compelling title. You will be graded on your ability to follow directions (did you answer the prompt? Is it in MLA format? etc.), your maturity of thought, the paper's organization, and your ability to use poetic terms correctly. 

Papers will not be accepted late without a valid excuse well before the deadline. Late papers will receive points off, at my discretion. All papers should be printed.

FIRST DRAFT DUE ON MONDAY, Oct 29st.

FINAL PAPER Due on Monday, Nov 5th.

Extra Credit: Poem, Prose & Performance

For extra credit points you will write AND perform a poem!

Construct a poem of 10-30 lines, that uses both sound and figurative language to give life to an animate OR inanimate object. Look to Fredrico Garcia Lorca's poem "The Guitar" for an example of how a poem uses an inanimate object as a metaphor, or look to Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Fish" to see how  the Bishop gives the fish human qualities, this becoming a metaphor.

Your poem's subject can be anything - as long as it can be personified (the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to an inanimate object) or anthropomorphic (the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object). 

Accompanying your poem should be a 250-500 essay where you identify the various sound devices and figure language in the poem. Discuss why you made the choices you did and what the poem means to you.

DUE printed, on Thursday, Oct. 24th

Film Response (15%)

In a 2-3 page essay (not including your Works Cited), you will respond to one theme in film Boy (2010). You may select any of the themes discussed in class, such as city vs. country, fantasy vs. reality, heroism, parental neglect, Maori culture vs. western culture, family, etc. If you want to write about a theme not discussed in class, run it by me for approval. After selecting your theme, respond to how this theme contributes to your understanding of Boy. For example, you might examine how Alamein corrupts Boy’s “boyish” innocence by exposing him to unethical activities, such as stealing. This might help you (and your audience) understand how non-genetic traits can be passed down from father to son.

In addition to following the response format—Introduction [hook- short summary –thesis], Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion [Synthesis of ideas]—you will be using PRESNT TENSE in your essay. For example, instead of writing: “Boy was an interesting film that recognized the impact of parental neglect on the children in the film”, you will write, “Boy is an interesting film that recognizes parental neglect’s impact on children.”

You will be graded on maturity of thought, essay form (this also includes things like organization, ability to MLA guidelines, response format), grammar, and ability to follow directions.

DRAFT DUE TUESDAY, October 8tth

FINAL PAPER DUE, TUESDAY, October 15^th

Assignment: Rhetorical Analysis Presentation (5%)

Visual rhetoric is the use of images, sometimes coupled with sound or appeals to the other senses, to make an argument or persuade us to act as the image-maker would have us act. We are affected by visual rhetoric on a daily basis, as we have seen through our analysis of advertisements. Consider the billions of dollars we spend on clothes, hairstyles, cosmetics, diets, and exercise programs—all part of the rhetoric of making the right “visual statement” in a world that too often judges us solely by how we look. The photos we post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sights remind us that visual rhetoric is a powerful aspect of our culture.

For this assignment you will choose ONE of the following: an Instagram photo, an advertisement, or an album cover. Once you pick you’re your visual representation, you will give a 5 minute presentation that answers the following questions:

• What attracted your attention to this image?

• Whom do you think these images target? Why?

• What techniques, visual devices, and camera angles are used for the image?

• What props are on the image, and what meanings are attached to them?

• What are the characters like, what are they doing, and why are they wearing what they are wearing and posed the way they are posed?

• How would the picture be less effective if its key features were changed?

• How do the images appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos?

All presentations will be graded on completeness, maturity of thought, and skill of analysis.  You will be able to post your image on the course blog as an aid to your analysis. You may also choose to provide a handout instead.

Presentations will begin September 17^th (you will not know the order you go in, so be prepared!)