Literature Film Essay
Beasts of No Nation Essay
Timeline: Week of April 10-13: Watch Beasts of No Nation during class periods.
Mon. April 17: First Draft of Film Paper Due
Week of April 17-20 : One-on-One conferences about the
paper.
Tues. April 25: Final Draft of Film Essay due in D2L dropbox.
Directions:
Choose ONE of the following questions and write a well-planned out, coherent essay that argues a point that you want to make about the movie.
How does the film address the question of what “family” means?
How does the film address the idea of putting one’s trust in God?
How does the film show how a young child can be recruited into the military?
How does the film treat the subject of resistance against an unjust military government?
Just a reminder of what a good essay consists of, the essay should contain:
A nice introductory paragraph that “leads in” to your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should not be the first sentence of the essay.
A clear and precise thesis statement that will alert the reader what the essay is going to be about.
A good, strong topic sentence in each paragraph, usually the first sentence of the paragraph.
Enough development in each paragraph to fully support the main point (aka topic sentence).
A conclusion that either summarizes the main points of the essay or emphasizes the very important point(s).
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND VISITING A WEBSITE LIKE WIKIPEDIA OR SPARKNOTES. I ESPECIALLY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THAT STUDENTS VISIT ANY WEBSITE WHERE THEY CAN PURCHASE PAPER WITH A CREDIT CARD. Students who visit these websites looking for ideas tend to accidentally plagiarize the sites in their papers. Accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism and will receive the same zero that plagiarizing on purpose gets.
WHAT I EXPECT FROM THIS ESSAY
I want this essay to be an analysis of The Hunger Games. I DO NOT WANT A PLOT SUMMARY. Notice that every sample question that I provided for you above required some sort of deep thinking and analysis. Your essay should show such analytical ability.
Your paper should be foregrounded in LOGOS, not ethos or pathos. You may use some ethos or pathos if it helps you to make your point, but the dominant mode of persuasion that you should be using in this paper is logos.
DO NOT USE PURE SPECULATION! Always back your assertions up with evidence from the movie.
Use specific details. Do not be vague.
RUBRIC
I will be scoring your essay based upon the following criteria:
Formatting (6 points)
Your essay should formatted in MLA format. Use the Formatting a Paper in MLA Format link in the MLA Formatting folder under Course Content to learn how to format a paper properly. One point will be counted off for each of these that are not done properly:
12 point font
Times New Roman font
Paper margins 1” around (this one should be easy since it’s the default on Word, therefore not requiring any changes
Double Spacing
No extra space between paragraphs (in other words, 0 pt before and after)
Correctly formatted header
Header should not appear on the first page.
Thesis Statement (12 points)
If your paper does not have a good, strong thesis statement, then it does not have a point. Your thesis statement should be:
Clear: What is your paper about?
Spoken with conviction: Do not use words like maybe or perhaps. Say what you have to say and mean it.
A thesis statement, not a thesis question. This is not Jeopardy. Thesis statements should never be in the form of a question.
It should usually appear at the end of the opening paragraph. That means that you’re going to have to lead into the thesis statement with a little buildup (like in a song). You shouldn’t have a thesis statement as your opening sentence.
Organization/Structure (12 points)
Your essay should not be a random collection of thoughts just thrown haphazardly on the page. An essay is organized with an introduction that leads into a thesis statement, main points (topic sentences of paragraphs) and supporting details to develop those points. When discussing one point, you need to discuss it thoroughly before moving on to the next main point. For example, if I’m talking about what I like about a movie, I will talk completely about one scene before moving on to the next one. I will not jump all around the movie and bring up scenes that you had though I was finished with again.
The best way to organize your essay is to write an outline before you write the essay. The outline (or the cluster, if you prefer to plan an essay that way) is a nice visual representation of what you’re going to write on the paper.
Main/Primary Points (20 points)
Most essays should have two to three Primary Points. These points are expressed in the topic sentence of each paragraph, which is usually the first sentence (there are exceptions, but for the purposes of this essay, I want them to be the first sentence). Just as the thesis statement previews what an entire essay is going to be about, the topic sentence needs to preview what the individual paragraph is going to be about.
For example, if I’m talking about why a baseball team might win the World Series, my primary points would be:
Strong pitching
Clutch hitting
Excellent fielding
Secondary/Supporting Details (20 points)
The supporting details are the most important part of any argument. The supporting details are the how and/or why a main point is valid.
Supporting points can be direct quotes from the story that you’re writing about. They can be summaries of what happened in a story. They can be real life situations that parallel what happens in a story. However you develop your points, you need to do so thoroughly.
Using my baseball example, here’s some secondary/supporting details that support my main points:
Strong Pitching
Starters have lowest ERA in the league
Middle Relief has a lot of powerful arms
Jim Fireball, the closer, has not blown a save all year
Clutch Hitting
Most RBI’s in the league with runner on third and two out
Casey Slugger lead the league in home runs and RBIs
The most comeback 9th inning wins in the league this year
Excellent Fielding
2nd in the league in fewest errors as a team
1st in the league in fewest errors among infielders
The most Web Gem highlights on ESPN’s Sportscenter of any team in the league
Notice also how organized my essay is. This is why outlining is so important in helping you to write a good, strong essay.
Surface Errors (30 points)
I will count the surface errors that I mark as I read the paper. If I reach thirty (30) errors, regardless of whether they are defined by the syllabus as major or minor errors, I will put an F on the paper and give it back to you for a rewrite. You will have one week from the day that I return your paper to correct the errors and resubmit. If you do make the corrections within a week, I’ll raise your grade according to the quality of the argument. If you do not return the paper within a week, then the F will stand for all of eternity.
Surface errors include the following mistakes:
Spelling errors
Sentence structure errors (run-ons, comma splices, and fragments)
Agreement Errors (subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent)
Punctuation (end marks, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, etc)
Clarity issues (is it clear what the antecedent to a pronoun is?)
Verb tense consistency (do you switch back and forth from past to present tense and back again, or do you keep the same verb tense throughout. For the record, you want to keep the same tense throughout
“You” errors. Never, ever, ever use a second person pronoun in an academic paper
THE MAJOR CHARACTERS
Agu: An African orphan who joins the rebel military and becomes an efficient killer.
Commandant: Military leader of a rebel army who spares Agu’s life and trains him to be a member of his army.
Various other child soldiers and military leaders
