HW for 4/11

1. Bring in Essay 4 rough draft: at least four paragraphs, at least with intro-body-conclusion. Attach an outline to the back. Printed copies, please.

• There is no handout for this essay, because our dates for working on it are fluid. We will be doing another draft of Essay 3, too, next week. So, you will be working on at least two essays at once.

2. Also, bring in CLEAN COPIES OF ESSAY 1 and 2 and Rules for Writers.

Essay 4: Being a Critic

I. Intro:

• A hook: what's the cultural theme? (hook and context)
• A brief description of the culture (context)
• Two or three subtopic*s:
• something good (successful) about the food/music/movie
• another good thing...
• a problem with the food/music/movie

* the good or the bad must, in some way, refer to the food/music/movie's connection to the culture it is representing...

• Thesis: What is your overall position on the food/music/movie?

II. Body

A. Topic Sentence 1:

• Reason:
• Example:

B. Topic Sentence 2:

• Reason:
• Example:

C.  Topic Sentence 3:

• Reason:
• Example:

III. Conclusion

A. Topic Sentence:  What is the cultural relevance of the text?

Cultural Critiques in Movies: Zootropolis as Example

Here is one on Zootropolis, from British periodical Independence.

• Look at some of the sentences that operate like essay topic sentences that fit our prompt:

• "The genius of the film lies in its combination of traditional Disney characters and situations with a very subversive storytelling style."

• "In their own subtle way, the film-makers are dealing with sexism, racism and political correctness. "

• "Intolerance and corruption turn out to be rife in Zootopia."

Example Music Review

Green Day's American Idiot Album Review in Pitchfork.

Food Review Models

Models for Essay 3: The New York Times food reviews

Tertulia

1. What does title for the review of Tertulia tell you about the subject? ...How does this help you create your own essay title? 
2. What are some of the opening details, and again, what impact do these details have on the reader?
3. What were some details or descriptions where you felt you could have had a bit more explained to you, and why? 
• Why does this writer get away with things we can't? 
4. How did the author use adjectives and adverbs to paint a picture of the food experience? What types of adjectives and adverbs were used--and how might those be different from less effective modifiers?
5. What point does the author, Sam Sifton, make about service, and how does he support that claim?
6. How does he use paragraphs to organize what he has to say about the food? Let's look at a few paragraphs to see how Sifton can inspire us! 
• How 'long' does he take to describe one aspect of the food at the place?
7. What is lacking about the conclusion, and what would/could you write if this were your review? How might you incorporate the rating (two stars) that comes after the last paragraph? What ideas most pointed to that rating?

Per Se

1. Again, what does the title indicate to the reader about the subject?
2. How does the title connect to the hook?
3. What background information is given to support the claim's opening stance?
4. How does Sifton transition from the introduction to the current review of the restaurant? What are some of the key phrases and ideas?
5. How does Sifton create or develop the theme of "high-class culture" in this piece?
6. How and what does Sifton say about who should eat at Per Se? 
7. In this review, Sifton organizes his critique to discuss the service last. What are some reasons that he may have chosen to organize his points about service here instead of earlier? 

Developing A Point Synonymously

A good strategy for organizing your essay once you have a thesis statement and subtopics is to lay out in Word your points in the order you want them to be organized in your essay (outline of just sentences).

Then, erase the outline and work on revising the sentences so that they sound new (sounds simple, but take notes as we go through an example).

• Use the thesaurus on Word to help
• Use a print dictionary/thesaurus
• Re-order the sentence's structure (add or delete clauses, modifiers, etc.)
• Add more specific details and/or contextual information in the body versions.

***We will attempt to write our own thesis statement and subtopics on food, service and atmosphere on Tertulia so that we can illustrate the strategy and go over the rhetorical issues that come with trying out this strategy...

I. Intro

• Thesis:  ______ (of course, the more clear and developed the thesis, the easier it is to work on the rest)
• Subtopic 1:
• Subtopic 2:
• Subtopic 3: if applicable
• ...

II. Body

        A. Subtopic 1: paste the sentence/clause from introduction you are repeating, then work on revising it.

        B. Subtopic 2: paste the sentence/clause from the introduction you are repeating, then work on revising it.

        C. Subtopic 3: ditto, here, if you have a third point. 

III. Conclusion

• thesis statement: paste your thesis statement, then work on revising it! Use a transitional introductory phrase that indicates this is your conclusion topic sentence...

• "In conclusion...." is a standard, easy phrase, so try to come up with a variance to show you know there are many ways to indicate in words that this paragraph is a conclusion!
• "After considering ______, ..."
• "Based upon the _____ ______ and ______..."

HW for 4/6: Read through this post, including the links (especially the review examples)

For your last out of class essay, Essay 4, you need to pretend that you are a critic. You get to pretend you are writing a review for a a newspaper or magazine, which means you have to write to a general audience (think solid description and details for context).

Furthermore, I want your essays to demonstrate a sense of deeper critical thinking with topic sentence claims, so you must choose:

• an ethnic restaurant/one with a particular cultural focus 

• a foreign film/ movie that deals with an obvious cultural theme

• a music album that critiques culture -- the album must have songs that comment on culture in an evident way

This is to be an organized review in which you provide as thesis, your overall "opinion"/critique/review (however you view it!) of the restaurant/movie/or album and a few reasons why you have this outlook.


To review what it means to be descriptive, review what Purdue's OWL says about descriptive essays.   Your essay is to be descriptive, but to also have a clear position on the subject text.

Food Reviews

• The New York Times has a section of reviews in which they may vary from our purpose in overall organization/structure (because we use the 5-paragraph essay) and content, but not in writing style or in descriptive value. Therefore, it will be important to review what it means to be descriptive and to study the types of content that can appear in a restaurant review.

• Below are a few example restaurant reviews:

1. Tertulia 
2. Per Se

• Do what what one smart student did and google "descriptive food language" for a list of great terms to use in your own reviews.  Here is one site that helped that student out: Descriptive words for menus. 

• Here is one that is related to what we are doing: Food Critic Terms.

Developing Vocabulary: Word Banks for Written Essays

1.  Go through your own clean drafts and circle the key words (subject matter, particularly nouns, I'm guessing) the essay is based upon.

2. In your book club, you are going to read...each other's essays to help each other come up with word banks.  The author will want to use these words banks for revising his or her essays this months, with the portfolio coming up.

• Use a dictionary (get a free app on your phone!)