Pop Culture Paper Assignment
• Watch at least 2 episodes of any television situation comedy. After watching the programs, identify any minority characters, and describe how any one of these minority characters was portrayed. Detail if the portrayal was accurate or stereotypical and whether the character’s minority status alone was used as a source of humor.
• The paper should be no more than 4 pages long with additional cover and reference pages.
• The paper must be submitted in Microsoft Word; Times New Roman font; 12 pt.
font size; margins 1” on all sides; double-spaced. The assignment should be written on a graduate level and references used should be cited within the discussion and documented in a reference list using APA styling.
• Post your paper, as a single document, to the grade book.
• Send your instructor an email when you are ready for your assignment to be graded.
CACREP Standards Addressed: 2F.2.a and 2F.2.d
Scoring Guidelines
Points available: 100.
|
Components |
Unacceptable |
Revisions Required (5 points) |
Target |
|
Introduction Establishes thesis that supports a line of 2F.2.a, 2F.2.d) |
Underdeveloped introduction; reason for unclear or missing; historical background is |
Coherent introduction that includes a reason for historical background is |
Engaging, well developed introduction that includes a detailed selection; historical background is accurate and |
|
Focus & Purpose Developed (CACREP 2F.2.a, 2F.2.d) |
Missing thesis; confusion misunderstanding of topic; no sense of purpose |
Simplistic and unfocused purpose |
Developed thesis; understanding of the |
|
Ideas, Development Supports |
No or limited are provided to support evidence is incomplete, |
Provides necessary importance/relevance of all pieces of |
Relies on compelling and evidence/experiences to support ideas and importance/relevance |
|
Components |
Unacceptable |
Revisions Required (5 points) |
Target |
|
evidence/experiences (CACREP 2F.2.a, 2F.2.d) |
or disconnected from the |
evidence/experiences is developed but does support the ideas and and is placed properly |
all pieces of evidence/experiences clearly stated; considers of evidence/experiences to intelligence |
|
Conclusion Establishes evidence/experiences (CACREP 2F.2.a, 2F.2.d) |
Missing or no connection of coherently |
Limited connection between summarizes and thoughts but repeats ideas to |
Engaging, strongly connects topics without repeating |
|
Structure Organization Text has |
No paragraph structure; or single, rambling |
Organization is confusing or disjointed; weak structure; transitions are |
Clear organizational |
|
Audience Audience appropriate and consistent tone |
No awareness of |
Lacks awareness of the assignment; tone is |
Effective and accurate tone is appropriate for audience |
|
Sentence Demonstrates varied sentence structures to enhance meaning |
Contains multiple and sentence structure: i.e. unable to write simple |
Formulaic sentence patterns simple sentences; errors |
Effective and varied present) due to lack of |
|
Mechanics The text |
Frequent capitalization; intrusive and/or |
Contains several errors in agreement, verb tense, capitalization, and |
Virtually free of errors |
|
Components |
Unacceptable |
Revisions Required (5 points) |
Target |
|
|
communication is hindered |
errors interfere with meaning |
not interfere with meaning |
|
Vocabulary Usage Uses extended and appropriate vocabulary |
Vocabulary is vocabulary or sophisticated vocabulary |
Proper, but simple specific vocabulary used infrequently |
Vocabulary is varied, |
|
APA Format/Citations Correctly uses APA style and formatting |
Reference page includes than 3); no attempt was supporting sources intext; |
Reference page in accurate free of errors (no more sources are cited in-text, but minor errors in APA |
Reference page in accurate errors; all supporting cited in-text; APA format |
APA Format Guides
The instructor has provided links to resources that provide assistance on APA format issues. Be sure to review these links and do not hesitate to ask for assistance if you are not sure about something. Ask yourself the questions below before you submit a paper. This list by no means addresses every possible mistake that could be made, but it will bring common mistakes to your attention.
• Is your paper double spaced?
• Are necessary abbreviations explained?
• Are references cited in-text present on your reference list? Remember that the website itself is a source.
• Did you include in-text citations for all the resources you used? Only references used to support your writing should be on your reference list.
• Numbers ten and below should be spelled out.
• Are quotes referenced correctly in-text? Quotes should be used sparingly. There should be no more than one quote in a three-page paper.
• Are your sources presented properly on your reference list? Pay close attention to indention rules and capitalization rules.
• Is your title page presented according to APA format?
• Is there a page break inserted for the reference page?
• Did you include an appropriate running heading for your paper?
• Did you proof your paper and have another person proof your paper before submitting the paper?
Writing assignments are taken quite seriously. Graduate students are expected to write clearly and concisely, and the order of your thoughts should be logical. Know that each paper is read with these things in mind. If your writing is wordy or if you use awkward phrasing it will impact the format, style and grammar portion of your grade.