Posted: February 20th, 2015

Documentary Summary and Response

Documentary Summary and Response

Assignment
Food documentaries are full of rhetoric. While this rhetoric may be convincing for a time, is it lasting? Can it affect real change?  Is it reliable and credible? For

this assignment, you will watch a documentary about some topic pertaining to food (health, food culture, food related movements, agriculture, the economics of food,

etc.) I’ve compiled a list below, but feel free to run other titles that you are interested in by me. After viewing the documentary, you will write an essay in which

you first provide a brief summary of the documentary, and then provide your own analysis and response to the film. In this response, consider the following:
•    What argument is the film making and how does it use rhetoric to make this point?
•    Is the rhetoric convincing? How? What rhetorical strategies were used on you (the viewer)?
•    Is the rhetoric reliable? Is it credible?
•    Did the film change your mind about an issue? If so, how? If not, what kept you from being convinced?
Some possible choices

Food Fight
Food, Inc.
Farmageddon
Forks Over Knives
The Harvest
Ingredients: the Local Food Movement Takes Root
Food Beware
Hungry for Change
Veducated

Format
•    Typed in 12point, Times New Roman font
•    double-spaced
•    proper MLA format (refer to Lunsford text if necessary), including header in the top left-hand corner of the first page
•    page numbers
•    1 inch margins
•    4 pages
Due Dates:
2/23 – Rough Draft
2/27 – Final Draft

* Save all drafts to submit in your end-of-semester portfolio
Response with Summary Rubric:

Summary: The summary portion(s) of the essay explains the film in a way that is
•    comprehensive: encapsulates the major ideas of the text;
•    concise: is short and to the point;
•    accurate: portrays the text as it is written, does not make things up;
•    objective: does not include the writer’s opinion; and
•    independent: is comprehensible on its own, without need to refer to the source text.
The summary should appropriately identify the documentary’s argument.

20
Response:
The response portion(s) of the essay analyzes the film’s argument.

It identifies and analyzes various aspects of the rhetoric including: its reliability, credibility, usefulness, and the types of rhetorical strategies used.

It presents the author’s opinion on the film and addresses whether or not the film changed or altered any existing beliefs the author held prior to viewing.

40
Organization and Audience: The essay utilizes a clear and logical organizational scheme. The essay also considers the audience, UD administration familiar with the

text, when writing the introduction, summary, response, and conclusion.

10
Using Sources: The essay draws from specific information in the film, provides accurate quotes, and cites them correctly.

10
Clarity: The essay’s ideas are presented clearly and in a straightforward way. The words are chosen precisely and carefully.

10
Grammar: The essay’s grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and spelling are correct and meet the requirements for college-level writing.

10

Total

100

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