Posted: September 13th, 2017

Disciplinary Literacies Research) Essay & Revising Literacy Narrative Final Papers Due & Revising Literacies Paper also Due: April 29, 2015 Final “Disciplinary Literacy”: 8-10 pages, excluding list of Works Cited Revising Literacy: 3 pages

Disciplinary Literacies Research) Essay & Revising Literacy Narrative Final Papers Due & Revising Literacies Paper also Due: April 29, 2015 Final “Disciplinary Literacy”: 8-10 pages, excluding list of Works Cited Revising Literacy: 3 pages

NO Late Papers or Exceptions!
You are pretty much responsible for finding your own topic as it relates to Disney. Any of the themes or theoretical issues we’ve examined and discussed. It is open-topic so that you may choose a topic related to your own discipline, or a discipline you are interested in.
The paper must be research-oriented and analytical in nature. That is, you should (unless you switch topics and ok that with me) use the research you’ve found and annotated in your bibliography to support your thesis statement. You need not use all the sources you annotated on the bib as things change and I realize that; however, the objective of doing the bibliography first was to find research for the paper, after all.
•    Every Paper must analyze America and Disney in depth! You may analyze global aspects of Disney, but the bulk of your paper must center on America. You may analyze the Chinese poem that Mulan is based on, of the original Aladin story, but then that must be compared and/or contrasted to the America movie version. The American portion must constitute the bulk of your paper. ?
•    Every Paper should analyze, in part, issues related to audience and discourse. For example, if you want to analyze and compare how one group sees another — how do children see the ?movies v. adults in real-life interviews or in films and stories, that would be fine. What discourse, operates there? how do child psychologists v. parents, v. children, v. film critics see the movie? What language or terminology do they use to describe it? What are the concerns of business and marketing? In other words, any and all topics from historical ones critiquing race and its long range impact, to psychological or social ones involve at some level, how one group sees another and how they see themselves and how they are talked about — issues of audience and discourse. ?
•    Many students come to higher education with only a vague idea of what it means to become a participating member of an academic discipline. One of your purposes in this essay is to give students who are new to the academic discipline you have chosen to explore an introduction to the expectations for writers in that discipline. Ultimately, your paper should help your audience understand the ways that writing is used to create and communicate knowledge in ways that help them become better readers and writers within the discipline under discussion. Think about this as part of your analysis. What language do medical professionals, psychologists, businessmen use to define and talk about children and issues of films and their cultural impact? (from how parenting, to children and cross-cultural ?
communication are impacted by Disney, and/or the movies). Or children and violence in films — what do psychologists say? What language and terminology do critics use to convey their analysis?
Here are some suggestions: (you are not limited to these):
Analyze a films, or Disney television, that deal with the themes race/gender/disability/class/sexuality. Here, you should research and write about films you have not previously written about for the class, though you may reference Snow White, etc. What messages about the themes exist there? Why? For instance, if you are interested in “class status” as an issue, you might consider films such as the Aristocrats, Lady and the Tramp, Mary Poppins. What are the messages about class that exist there?
• If you do a film option, your research ought to include film criticism, etc., not simply some reviews of the film, but what do film critics, scholars, and film historians say?
Do a historical paper tracing a particular aspect of the American Freak Show era or the American Frontier or WWII and consider how that history is portrayed in Disney, such as comparing the American Freak Show with Dumbo or the American Frontier with Old Yeller or Davey Crockett, WWII and the “wartime” films. What seems particularly “American” in these depictions?
Take a particular concept like “Wickedness” and trace it’s evolution through characters in different films from over time.
Disney is often considered “family fare,” Yet, many movies produced by Disney have non-nuclear families (divorce/absent mothers and fathers, etc.) in them? Why is that and is there a “wholesome family message that Disney still puts forth? Why or Why not?
Critics have often maintained that Disney’s own values and bias show up in his films. Do some research on Disney’s life and then pick a film or films to “prove” how his own values are reinforced in the films you choose. For instance, Disney is often considered an environmentalist, or a forerunner to the movement to “go green.” How do his films such as Bambi, Wall-E reflect that?
Films from the Eisner era of Disney (see Davis’s chapter) are considered more “PC” than some of his older fare. Similar to the Pan-Neverland option of Essay 2, compare/contrast an older Disney film with a newer one, a Pixar film perhaps. What are the “new” messages being put forth, and why might this be so? Here, you might consider a text-to-film comparison as well.
Some critics have maintained that Disney “Americanizes” everything on a global scale (see The Disneyization of Society book) Look at Disney films concerning other cultures such as Pocahontas or Mulan, or Aladdin, and see if you can detect themes or ideas that seem particularly “Western” there? Why? For this, Brode might help as well.
Much business scholarship exists on bringing the principles of Disney into your business, or that look at the various Epcots around the world as a model of globalization. Can you find evidence of these Disney business practices reflected in the films, such as the song, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast? What messages about economics and business practices get reflected in the films?
Explore and make an argument about the tenuous relationship between beauty and monstrosity in Disney films. When does one bleed into the other? Here, I’m thinking about texts that take a Jekyll
and Hyde approach to things, like Snow White compared to the Witch or tales where people sell their souls for something, like Ariel in the Little Mermaid.
Papers should:
•    Be Analytical/Interpretive in nature, meaning you must support a particular view/interpretation of the text(s) you are analyzing. ?
•    Have a thesis: A thesis for me means stating not just what you intend to “prove,” but how you intend to prove your argument. This doesn’t mean every specific example/detail you are going to use in your analysis; rather your thesis should include key words/concepts which provide a kind of “road map” for how to follow your analysis. ?The paper should be 8-10 pages in length, excluding list of Works Cited. (10 or 12 pt. font w/1″ minimum margins with appropriate fonts — see syllabus). ?Have a Works Cited Page and Use Parenthetical Documentation for in-text?citations not Foot or Endnotes, for in-text citations. Periods go after the citation with short quotations (Hemingway 52). and before the citation with long quotes. ?
• Papers turned in with no Works Cited Page (meaning you did the research, but you just plain forgot to include one) will be lowered a full letter grade!
Sources:
You may use whatever sources you need to make your argument work. However, you should have
at least 6 sources *SECONDARY* “research-based” sources, not your primary movies, in your paper. No, they need not all be sources from your bibliography. You should have at least three print sources (this includes downloaded articles from MSU’s electronic databases). In other words, do not Google “Monsters, Disney” and write down the first six web-sites.
•    If you turn in a paper with less than six research-based critical sources, your paper grade will be lowered a full letter grade. ?
•    If you turn in a paper with no research at all, you will receive a failing paper grade and, as per syllabus policy, a failing course grade. ?
YOU MAY NOT USE WIKIPEDIA OR DICTIONARY.COM (Or other such derivations of dictionaries) AS SOURCES. I DON’T EVEN WANT TO SEE IT ON YOUR WORKS
CITED PAGE!
Follow MLA format. (These are not all up-to-date; use your Hacker; these are secondary).?We has some on-line reference guides to supplement your handbook. Using MLA Format can be found
here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html See the Essay One assignment for Formatting/Grammar tips.?A Reminder about Plagiarism:
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the representation of another’s works or ideas as one’s own: it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas. Papers with a Works Cited Page of sources, but without proper or missing in-text parenthetical documentation according to MLA Research Papers guidelines are also considered plagiarism and will be treated as such. All cases of suspected plagiarism, in accordance with university rules, will be reported to the dean of the student’s college and may result in dismissal from the university.
A Word on Interviews: Some classes require an in-person interview w/ someone in the field as part of the research for the paper. Given the breath of disciplines covered, some of you will find this more useful than others (and the Nursing school has worked w/ WRAC to develop a contact form in particular). I am making it optional, given your paper topic. If you do think interviewing a medical professional about male health issues in particular will be useful, please contact me early, so you can set things up and we can discuss potential interview questions.
Revising Literacy Paper 3 pages
Though I will collect these with your final papers, this is a separate assignment from the disciplinary literacy paper.
This assignment asks you to reread the papers and projects that you (and, perhaps, your peers) have created this semester to meet the following major goals:
•Use writing for purposes of reflection, action, and participation in academic inquiry?•Engage in reading for the purposes of reflection, critical analysis, decision-making, and inquiry •Read in ways that improve writing, especially by demonstrating an ability to analyze invention,
arrangement and revision strategies at work in a variety of texts?•Exercise a flexible repertoire of invention, arrangement, and revision strategies?•Demonstrate an understanding of research as epistemic and recursive processes that arise from and
respond back to various communities.
In short, reflect on the course in general. How have your views on writing changed. How have you changed as a writer? Do you look at writing differently now then at the beginning of the semester?
Some things to consider:

For example, you might consider how your writing, reading, and researching practice have changed this semester and how you will apply them and/or continue to develop them in the future. Or, you might decide to aim this paper at helping in-coming students understand the big picture of First- Year Writing to enhance their chances of success in the course. We have seen many writers use themes to explore their lives as literate or knowledgeable human beings. (Think American Rust or Man-Made) Alternatively, you might decide to use this paper opportunity to explore and explain how what you have learned this semester will be applied to some form of non-academic writing that you have become interested in (e.g., songwriting). The important thing to remember that the final product should help you both understand who you are as a writer and a more “literate“ human being by drawing on course materials and activities and by creating strong points of significance.