Textual Analysis Essay: The American Experience
(15% of total course grade)
The Assignment:
For this essay, you will be required to think deeply about how a “text” taken from American popular culture reflects, depicts, or conveys the American experience/identity to an audience. The primary “text” that you choose could be an example of one of the following genres: an advertisement (TV, print, or billboard ad); an episode of a television show; a comic book character; a dramatic film; a work of art (such as a painting, a sculpture, a multi-media piece, a poster); a music video; a piece of literature (poem, short story, etc.). Your job will involve interpreting the significance of your chosen primary text, its theme/message, and the implications of what and how your primary text depicts the American experience/identity.
For example, you may want to choose a car commercial that plays upon our desire to achieve the American Dream. Think about how the product, the car itself, represents a status symbol, the use of patriotic music, and key images. If you enjoy comics, you could examine Superman, who interestingly fights for American ideals despite the fact he comes from another planet and that his powers/identity keeps him separate from others. You may want to take a look at a quintessential American image from one of Ansel Adams’ photographs or one of Norman Rockwell’s paintings. In your analysis you should not rely simply on general observations of your primary text. Focus on specific examples and details from your primary text in order to fully develop and illustrate your analysis of the text. Due to the essay’s relatively short length, choose no more than one comic book character, one television episode, one advertisement, one work of art, one music video, one piece of literature, etc.
Purpose:
The purpose of this essay is to analyze, evaluate, and reflect on the possible meanings, intended or unintended, of your primary text. Ask yourself the following questions: Does the text rely on almost mythic ideas of what it means to be American? What symbols or motifs does it use? Does it utilize stereotypes (class, race, ethnicity, gender)? What messages—implicit or explicit, accurate or not so accurate—does this text produce or promote concerning American experience/identity? What language and/or visual images are incorporated into this text and for what effect? Who are the characters presented in the text, and who/what do they represent? Does the primary text celebrate being American and present a positive depiction? Is the text’s message jingoistic? Does the text convey a negative image and criticize what Americans stand for? Is such a criticism valid and what is its source? Overall, what does the text reveal about the American experience/identity (or its author’s understanding of it)?
Essay Structure:
Your essay should be clearly and logically organized and thoroughly developed.
Introduction: It is important that your opening paragraph introduce and briefly summarize/describe your primary text. It should also convey why your primary text is representative of the American experience/identity. The introduction should end with a thesis statement that controls the focus of your essay and makes a claim about what insights your primary text makes about the American experience/identity.
Body Paragraphs: The body of the essay should consist of your thorough analysis of the text. It should contain only enough summary for background and context. Here, you should focus on relevant, specific details from the text, providing direct quotes when needed to support/illustrate a point. Analysis consists not only of describing what something says but how it says it. Rule of thumb: There should always be more analysis/interpretation than summary. Assume that your reader is basically familiar with your chosen texts. Be sure to move smoothly from one idea to the next by drawing significant connections and utilizing transitional phrases and topic sentences.
Conclusion: Make sure to leave the reader with a satisfying conclusion. You may want to end your essay with your final thoughts on how texts taken from our popular culture convey or reflect or shape American experience/identity.
Research/Secondary Sources:
In addition to your primary text, you must research and include information taken from two (and only two) secondary sources that directly or indirectly address the text/topic. The secondary sources may not consist of book reviews or plot summaries. Please note that your research must come from credible sources such as books, scholarly journals, magazines, or research databases (such as those available through the Sinclair library). You must research and find secondary sources that are credible and that discuss your primary text (or topics related to the text) more deeply and more analytically than a basic review or plot summary can. Many of the online databases (such as Academic Search Complete, MLA International Bibliography, etc.) offer access to full-text articles from print sources, so I highly recommend you search one of those databases for reliable secondary sources.
Keep in mind that your secondary sources don’t necessarily have to directly discuss the primary text you’ve chosen (although it’s helpful when they do). For instance, your secondary sources could provide biographical information, historical information, cultural information, etc. As long as you can make useful and relevant connections between the information in your secondary sources and your topic, you’ll be fine.
Remember, the most important aspect of this essay is what you have to say about your primary text; your secondary sources should play a supporting role only. Here is a list of secondary sources that you cannot use:
• encyclopedias or dictionaries (including Wikipedia)
• Master Plots or Cliff’s Notes
• book reviews
• abstracts
What I’ll Look for in Your Essay:
• An interesting and informative title
• An introductory paragraph that identifies your primary text and establishes a thesis statement that makes a claim about your text’s message and its impact on our understanding of the American experience/identity
• An awareness of audience, purpose, and context
• An appropriate voice, tone, style, and level of formality
• An analysis of argumentative strategies and/or persuasive appeals present in your primary text
• Development and support of a compelling idea through relevant and thorough exploration of one primary text
• Development and support that incorporates ideas and evidence from two secondary sources
• An identifiable structure, including introduction, coherent paragraphs, and conclusion
• Appropriate mechanics and format
• Effective use of syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling
• Proper documentation of primary text and secondary sources
• At least two direct quotes from primary text (unless the primary text is a painting/sculpture or some other work that does not contain written text)
• At least one direct quote from each secondary source
• Appropriate textual conventions for incorporating ideas from sources, e.g., introducing and incorporating quotations; quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
Format/Length:
• Length: 4 pages minimum (not including Works Cited page)
• MLA format, typed, double-spaced, 12-pt. Times New Roman font
Due Dates:
• Rough Draft due Tuesday, Nov. 3. (Peer Review will take place in class on this date.)
• Final draft due Thursday, Nov. 5. (Hard copy due at the start of class).
Textual Analysis Essay Outline Form
I. Introduction: Below are some questions to get you started with your analysis of your chosen text. In your essay, your introductory paragraph should introduce the text, briefly describe it, and present an arguable claim about the text in the form of a thesis statement.
What text have you chosen to analyze? What is the title? Who is the author? In what context did the text appear?
How does the text seem to portray (or attempt to portray) the American experience/identity?
In what ways is that portrayal accurate? In what ways is it inaccurate? How would you rate the overall accuracy of the portrayal?
Source material related to this topic:
Thesis Statement: your thesis should be an arguable claim about your chosen text and its portrayal of the American experience/identity. You will support this claim with reasons and evidence.
Write your tentative thesis statement here:
II. Supporting paragraphs: Write a topic sentence in your outline that will show the supporting point to be explored and what you will use from your own ideas/analysis, from the text itself, and from source material to build that supporting point. You don’t have to use both sources in each supporting point.
A. Supporting paragraph #1 topic sentence that shows the aspect of your claim that you’ll be expanding on in your supporting point—write it here: (Don’t forget this step!)
Develop the idea in your topic sentence by giving examples from:
i. Your own ideas: (as many specific examples as you need)
a.
b.
ii. Source material:
a.
b.
B. Supporting paragraph #2 topic sentence that shows the aspect of your claim that you’ll be expanding on in your supporting point—write it here: (Don’t forget this step!)
Develop the idea in your topic sentence by giving examples from:
i. Your own ideas: (as many specific examples as you need)
a.
b.
ii. Source material:
a.
b.
C. Supporting paragraph #3 topic sentence that shows the aspect of your claim that you’ll be expanding on in your supporting point—write it here: (Don’t forget this step!)
Develop the idea in your topic sentence by giving examples from:
i. Your own ideas: (as many specific examples as you need)
a.
b.
ii. Source material:
a.
b.
D. Supporting paragraph #4 topic sentence that shows the aspect of your claim that you’ll be expanding on in your supporting point—write it here: (Don’t forget this step!)
Develop the idea in your topic sentence by giving examples from:
i. Your own ideas: (as many specific examples as you need)
a.
b.
ii. Source material:
a.
b.
E. Supporting paragraph #5 topic sentence that shows the aspect of your claim that you’ll be expanding on in your supporting point—write it here: (Don’t forget this step!)
Develop the idea in your topic sentence by giving examples from:
A. Your own ideas: (as many specific examples as you need)
a.
b.
B. Source material:
a.
b.
III. Counterargument: You are not required to include a counterargument in your essay, but it may help to strengthen your argument.
Describe the Opposing View:
Refute the Opposing View:
IV. Conclusion: Leave your reader with a lasting impression of your argument.