Write an essay about a performance based on reading Chapter 6 in Bloom’s Fact and Artifact
Write an essay about a performance based on reading Chapter 6 in Bloom’s Fact and Artifact on “Writing About Performance.”(in the file name CH 6 Bloom) Please read the entire chapter carefully. Using MLA formatting (12 pt. font, 1” margins, etc.)
RESEARCHING
This unit has one added element, and that is researching. In order to write convincingly and have any authority to judge a performance, you need to know something about it. Four sources are required. They should be CREDIBLE sources. This does not mean they must be academic sources; this means that whomever wrote your source of information must be a person who is an authority on the subject. For example, my best friend’s blog might actually be a credible source if I’m doing a movie review and my friend happens to have a PhD in film studies.
Find out as much as you can about the people, history, and place of the event, as well as past and present social and newsworthy conversations about the performance. For example, if you are going to do a restaurant review, first go to their website. Find the “about” page and read up on the restaurant. Find its history, its owners, what they claim to be known for, etc. If you’re going to a sporting event, you should know BOTH teams, their strengths and weaknesses, their players, their record, etc. Without this background work, you will not be credible as a writer.
This means that you should choose the performance you want to review with care. If you know nothing about baseball, don’t write a review of a baseball game unless you plan on writing it from the perspective of a newcomer to the game for some reason. If you know nothing about film, don’t review a movie. Reviewers write about performances they understand.
First Draft of Assignment Three
After reading Chapter 6 in Bloom and the readings from “Reading Packet D”(You have read before in my last question”250 wards discussion and 3 responses”, I also add it in the file name Packet D), write a review of a performance. You may write about any performance you wish, but it should be a performance you actually witness/attend/watch and take notes as you do. In other words, don’t review a ball game you saw last week; although you may feel you remember it well, if you did not go with this mindset that you were going to write about it, you will miss details, emotions, specifics, and nuances that you will catch if you are going as a writer. This will be your peer workshop draft.
Here is the news from the instructor. It should be needed for this essay.
I have two important points regarding the upcoming paper:
1. For this assignment (Unit 3) it is crucial that you know your audience and purpose. It will guide your research and your writing as well as your observation. Here is an example I just emailed one of your peers, who is writing about an MSU football game:
“Think about your audience and purpose for this essay. Who do you see this being written for, and what do you want them to know? So, for example, if your purpose is to encourage folks who love MSU football but never go to games to actually physically go, then you would not need much research on the team or school or anything about the team. Instead, you would want to look into the physical things like how much walking they would have to do, how cold it sometimes gets, what amenities there are there, and why going is such a great experience.
If, however, you are thinking of an audience that is not a fan of MSU and you want to convince this group to go watch them play, then you would have to include more info on the team itself and why they are worth watching live. Then some stats on the team and key players would also be important.”
In other words, your purpose for the review of the event will determine the criteria you develop for your evaluation, and then will, in turn, determine what you choose to talk about.
As before, when you write this essay, please indicate at the beginning of your piece your audience and purpose.
2. This unit requires that you carefully and properly cite all your sources and provide references. Not to do so is plagiarism, which, of course, is not good. Please be sure that you are consistently citing your sources. If you look up ANYTHING and use it in your papers, you MUST CITE IT. There are no exceptions.
For non-fiction writing, I recommend Chicago Style (CMS), and I have uploaded a Comparison Sheet that puts MLA, APA, and CMS side by side so you can see the differences. It’s a bit outdated, but still useful for getting the idea. Chicago is nice for nonfiction because it is so much less intrusive to your writing. But whatever style you choose, you absolutely much cite properly, which you should have learned in your English 201. If you still struggle with this, please ask for help, either from me or from the Writing Center. If you plagiarize, we can clean it up, but by the end of the semester, it must no longer be an issue. I will not pass a portfolio that contains plagiarism. So be sure you can do this!
And you should be making headway on your Unit 3 paper–do your research and go to your event whatever that may be. Please keep genre in mind for this: you essentially will be writing a review, an evaluation, of something that is meant to entertain in some way. Someone “performs” and you evaluate. And, as explained in Bloom and the handout, evaluations require specific criteria. Just as I evaluate your writing performance using a rubric with clear criteria that shows I have specific expectations, you also will need to develop criteria to evaluate your performance. That is what the research can help you do. It helps you become somewhat of an expert–or at least someone with at least a modicum of knowledge–on the event you evaluate.
Answer preview:
Word: 750