Textual Analysis
Purpose: To write an interpretive analysis of the film we watched. You want to persuade readers that your interpretation is valid even if they don’t agree with it.
Interpreting the Text: Stories, poems, films may have any number of meanings–either intended by the author or accidental. To make your own interpretation convincing,
offer evidence from the text and lead us through your lines of thought step-by-step.
Analysis: What does this text (film) mean to you? What is one of the main themes, message?
1. State a thesis that asserts your theory about how the text achieves its purpose and reaches its audience, and by what means (visual elements).
2. Find the visual elements (lighting, shot scale, shot angle, costume, setting, etc.) and/or literary elements (character, point of view, setting, etc.) the
author uses to convey that message.
3. Show how the message is conveyed throughout the text.
Audience: Consider your readers to be intelligent, well-educated people, who are familiar with the text; therefore, you don’t need lengthy plot summaries.
Length: 3-4 typed pages (1000-1200 words), not counting your Works Cited page. Three full pages is a minimum anything shorter will automatically be reduced by a full
letter grade.
Grading: To fulfill the assignment (to receive at least a “C”), your paper must include the following:
Structure:
• A definable introduction with thesis, a body and a conclusion
• Fully developed body paragraphs, each including a point, illustration, and explanation (PIE)
• Use 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. See RW for MLA format. Give time and thought your title (Essay 1 is not a title). (a cover page is
not necessary)
Content:
• A clear thesis that asserts your claim about the meaning or effect of the text
• Focus—on the elements of the text that support your claim, relevant textual evidence to support your thesis, cited using MLA style
• Explication of that support and clear connections between the evidence and the thesis
Style:
• Clear, readable prose and sentence structures with an academic tone
• Proper use of grammar, diction, and citation style
“B” papers will excel in content development, and “A” papers will excel in both content development and development of style.
General Essay Information
1. Write your papers on aspects of the text that most intrigue you; this usually results in a better, more interesting essay.
2. In constructing your thesis, try to discover something other readers missed either because they glossed over details or because your personal experiences have
given you a unique perspective. Avoid boring generalizations (“love is bad” or “communication is important”).
3. Think of yourself as a literary detective; offer proof for your points by making and analyzing inferences from the text. (Note: you don’t need to spend much
time summarizing the text; we’ve all read it).
4. The key to writing a successful paper lies in the depth of your analysis. Most body paragraphs should have PIE—Point, Illustration, Explanation. In general,
you should state your point in a sentence, the proof in a sentence or two, and then give your explanation in several sentences.
5. Use present tense: When Mrs. Mallard dies… The author of “Floating” creates…, etc.
6. Put quotations marks around the names of short stories. (Use underlining or italics for books or other long texts such as films.)
7. When using direct quotes, include the page number. Include the author and the page number if the author is unclear: “…..” (18) or “…..” (Tan 18).
8. Compose your essay in Standard Written English. Writing that has many errors is annoying to the reader and discredits you as a writer; it is your
responsibility to learn the rules to correct your errors and failure to do so will result in a lower grade. Take the time to edit carefully, giving special attention
to the items we reviewed in class.
9. Submit drafts that show significant changes you made while drafting your essay. Merely revising the spelling and punctuation of your paper is not sufficient
revision to result in a better final grade for your essay.
10. No matter which text you choose to write about, your essay will need to have:
• A clear thesis that asserts your claim about the meaning or effect of the text.
• Focus—on the elements of the text that support your claim.
• Support—quotes and paraphrases from the text.
• Explication of that support—why and how a quote means what you say it does, or has the effect you say it does.
16GDP and The State of the USA? and ?Price Check on Aisle 2?
Unit Assignments-Case Studies
The unit Case Studies are to be completed for Units II. In completing these assignments the university requires that you follow APA guidelines in preparing citations
and references.
Unit II Case Study: GDP and The State of the USA and Price Check on Aisle. Answer the questions at the end of each case study.
Your responses should be at least 150 words in length. You are required to use at least your textbook as source material for your responses. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
TRACKING THE U.S. ECONOMY
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Case Study 6.1: GDP and The State of the USA
GDP estimates have been refined for decades and are arguably the most complex data aggregation effort in the
world. But they have their limits, as discussed already, and they have their critics. One criticism is that GDP leaves
out much of what’s going on in the nation-with health care, the environment, the family, energy use, and so on.
One challenge to GDP as the primary indicator of national progress is coming from a nonprofit group that has
developed a Web site to bring together hundreds of indicators. The idea is to help Americans assess the progress of
the United States by using quality data selected by experts.
First, a little background. In 2003, a team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, was looking for
alternatives to GDP to assess national progress. The team became an independent nonprofit agency in 2007 and took the name “The State
of the USA.” With startup funding from the Gates, Hewlett, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations, the group set out to identity data that
would amount to a report card on how the country is doing in specific areas-such as health care, education, the environment, safety, energy,
transportation, the economy, the family, and so forth. The goal is to help citizens and leaders assess what progress has been made and where
we need to improve.
The effort got a big boost from a small provision in the massive 2010 health care bill that requires Congress to help finance and oversee
a “key national indicator system.” State of the USA will become that system, overseen by the National Academy of Sciences, a group of pre-
eminent scholars established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art”
whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government (half the 20 economists in the National Academy are Nobel laureates).
Along with the federal authorization came federal funding totaling $70 million between 2010 and 2018.
The objective is not so much to replace GDP as the primary measure of economic performance, but to broaden the conversation and the
debate by including many more data series. Instead of just having one gauge on the dashboard, GDP, there would be many gauges. The State
of the USA Web site went live in 2010, and is accessible for free. Eventually, The State of the USA plans to offer about 300 indicators. Rather
than develop original data, the site compiles and displays data gathered by others. Despite the number of data series, the group says the site
will be selective, not encyclopedic. For example, in health care alone the government collects about 1,000 different measures. The State of
the USA offers what they claim are the 20 most crucial health care measures. The group says its objective is not to interpret the data but to
disseminate it in a strictly nonpartisan manner.
The idea is to offer data in a form that can be easily shared to promote as wide a distribution as possible. Data will be available on the
national level, state level, and as far down the jurisdictional chain as possible. For example, one of the 20 health care measures reports smok-
ing rates by state ANest Virginia is the highest and Utah is the lowest). The State of the USA will also offer a variety of interactive features to
encourage exploration, such as motion charts with audio tutorials focusing on health costs and outcomes for the developed world. Check out
the site and see what you think.
SOURCES: Jon Gertner, “The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P.” New York Times, 10 May 2010; and The State of the USA site at http://www.stateoftheusa.org/.
QUESTION
1. Is The State of the USA designed to replace GDP as the primary measure of economic performance?
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