Critiques and Revisions
Essay 3: Critiques and Revisions (15 points)
Context: Our essays thus far have each involved analysis. In our first essay, you told a story and
then (very) briefly assessed its audience and meaning. The second essay involved more specific
identification, exemplification, and analysis for the sake of interpretation in film. For your final
essay, you will have to analyze once more and then use your analysis as a means to help make
one of your previous essays stronger.
Assignment: This project will involve your completing two things:
● First, you will write a critique of your weaker essay, specifically addressing its strengths
and weaknesses in how it 1) comes to terms with something, 2) forwards information,
and 3) extends the issue (8 points).
● Then, you will revise the essay you’ve critiqued to be more effective and meaningful. 1
Both works will be submitted to the Essay 3 Submissions link (7 points).
Requirements:
1. Choose only one of your previously written essays to critique and revise.
2. Be sure that your revised essay has a much stronger meaning than it did before.
3. Meet all original requirements for the assignment being revised
4. MLA page settings and citations
Tips:
● When writing the analysis, be sure to cite examples from the essay you are critiquing.
Refer to yourself as the author and cite the page number you are taking examples from.
○ e.g. In “The Hook,” I incorporate alliteration to scare readers. One example is
when I write “the sound of screeching and scraping nearly drowned out her
screams” (2). The detail is scary enough, but by repeating the “s” sound, the
words are more likely to get stuck in readers’ heads, so they perpetuate that
feeling and fear of the act that accompanies the sound.
● Be fair and honest about your strengths and weaknesses in the essay you are critiquing.
The goal is not to be overly positive or negative about your essay; instead, the goal is to
learn more about yourself, your positive writing choices, and what can be improved upon.
1 To “edit” means to make corrections. Editing is the last step in writing any paper. You will also
“edit” this final draft before submitting it. However, you will first revise.
To “revise” means to see ideas from a new perspective and to make significant changes to logic
by adding or cutting major points of conversation, adding different perspectives, shifting the
focus to a new issue, improving explanations, adding more detail, restructuring or reordering
paragraphs, etc.
Essay2: Rhetorical Analysis (15 points)
Context: The last assignment required you to write a story and then to examine its changes, their
purpose, and meaning. Similarly, this next paper requires you to consider further how rhetorical
choices affect the audience and their interpretation of a text.
Assignment: Write an essay in which you compare/contrast the rhetoric used to portray
werewolves or vampires in the films, Hotel Transylvania and Twilight. Then, determine how
rhetorical choices work to create a deeper social meaning.
Requirements:
● MLA Formatted page settings, in-text citations, and a Works Cited page
● Identify 3-4 specific rhetorical choices and use examples from each film
● Think deeply about how their methods say something about society today
Getting Started:
● Consider the intended audience for each film
● Select 3-4 rhetorical choices made by the film producers
● Collect examples of your choices from each film
● Consider the films’ goals, based on how your chosen monster is portrayed