Format (20 points) 20

• 12-15 pages, double spaced

• 12 point, Times New Roman font
• 1 inch margins
• Neat and professional presentation (abstract, cover page, page numbers, ect.)
• Correct parenthetical citations in outline and attached bibliography

Introduction (40 points) 34

• Good hook –draws the reader into the paper
• Identification of the purpose of the study and justification for its rhetorical/media
• Studies significance
• Clearly articulated thesis and preview statement

Description of “text” (20 points) 18

• Description of “text”
• Relevance/justification of text selection

Context/lit review (20 points) 16

• Clearly identifies the relevant contexts of text
• Clearly draws on helpful rhetorical/media concepts/theories
• Situates text within scholarly conversation
Minimum: 4 from syllabus, 8 from outside research
• Maintains authorial voice/argument throughout lit review

Analysis of Text (100 points) 89

• Compelling analysis: reveals how the text functions
• Sufficient specific examples from the text to support claims
• Offers relevant scholarly sources to elaborate claims
• Critical thinking demonstrated throughout
• Substantiates/proves thesis statement

Contribution to Theory/Criticism (25 points) 21

• Implications of findings for Rhetorical/Communication theory in general
• Addresses the “so what” question

Writing (25 points) 22

• Writing should be concise and grammatically correct
• No more than 4 helping verbs per page
• Writing should be eloquent and rhetorically savvy
• Arguments are well structured
• Paper is well organized
Comments: Dear Kodie, thank you for your work on this essay! Please find my feedback below!
- You need to develop a stronger attention getter in the opening paragraph of your essay. The eight
billion results from Google is true, but there are also a lot of different searches that we could do that
would produce eight billion results. This alone fails to render the topic as significant.
- You state that your introduction leads to the question, “are written platforms the only places where we
are getting clues of what the good life might be?” Yet, I’m unclear as to how the previous introduction
has led to this question. What about the ambiguity of the good life in video media is any different the
ambiguity facing the concept of the good life in print media?
- Your discussion of the power of stories, while important to your argument, could’ve been much shorter.
Not many will argue that stories wield significant power within society to shape perceptions values and
perceptions of reality.
- Love the Carole Blair quote on page 7! Well done!
- My one issue here lies with your selection of a text (Little Women). Obviously, I have no problem with
you selecting this text; otherwise, I wouldn’t have approved it. Yet, you need to do more to explain why
you selected this text and why it warrants critical attention. I thought that your discussion on these
points on pages 8-9 failed to identify a distinctive reason for studying Little Women other than that its
old and likely still relevant to ttoday’s movie viewer. Go deeper than that.
- Be more clear on why you are quoting the scholars that you select when defining the good life. What
about them makes them the experts as opposed to all the other scholars who have theorized this
 concept. For instance, why no mention of Aristotle, a scholar who has shaped Western scholars’
understanding of the good life.?
- You provided some excellent details and content throughout the essay; yet, you often expressed the
thoughts in a very wordy manner. I would encourage you to be more concise in choosing how to express
certain thoughts. The reason for this encouragement is that it allows you express yourself more
precisely when you can limit the words you use in expression. At times, your comments lack
conciseness.
- While it could’ve been more concise, I thought your narration of the story was excellent. It’s almost like
you engage stories a lot on the stage or something like that
- AS you narrate the story, connect the particulars back to particular conceptions of the good life more.
It appears like there are multiple and even conflicting notions of the good life operating in the film,
depending on the POV.
- I would encourage you to push for deeper implications in the latter section of the paper. Many of your
implications were simply restatements of what others have or are currently saying in the scholarship.
What is the distinctive observation (culturally or theoretically) that we gain from your essay? For
instance, you might contend that period films disarm us because we see them as historical explorations
of a time gone by even while they shape our ideals in contemporary society. This type of statement
would be localize to your project and be a stronger claim/implication to make.

Total Points (250 possible): 223/250