Author a 1,300 to 2,200-word critical interpretation of a cultural artifact—movie, book, TV series, album, work of art, comedy act, monument, historical site—that is relevant to one or more of the major themes discussed in our course: the value of the humanities (including the arts), thinking philosophically, the meaning of life, the good life (happiness, pleasure), philosophy of education, love, and the power of the arts.
All papers must identify a research question to answer
Examples of the kinds of questions you might take on include:
- What vision of a meaningful life does Slipknot’s 3: The Subliminal Verses convey to listeners and how does it relate to existentialism?
- How does Twenty One Pilot’s“Stressed Out” question conventional notions of human happiness, and how does it relate to the ideas of Epicurus (or Seneca, etc.)?
- How does Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat)(2014) relate to the idea that human beings have a fixed destiny and Sartre’s contention that human beings are condemned to freedom?
- Why do I agree/disagree with the vision of a meaningful life projected by the film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World?
General questions to consider in formulating your research question include:
- What meanings are presented? Are multiple meanings offered? Which ones do I agree with and why?
- What does this cultural artifact say about the meaning of life, truth, education, and/or God’s existence?
- Does this historical site or monument present an honest portrayal of the past? Does it feature some bias?
- In what way does this work of art affirm what is best in humanity? Does this work of art have anything to teach us about the difference between the ends and means of life?
- In what way does this cultural artifact exemplify or communicate thinker from our course’s philosophy?
All papers must put the given cultural work into conversation with key authors of our course
- Draw on the ideas of key thinkers throughout the course to interrogate or examine the cultural work in question
- Ask yourself how it relates to the ideas of Seneca, Epicurus, Aristotle, Plato, Martha Nussbaum, Adrienne Rich, Paul Goodman, Bok, etc. What would they say in response to the work? What would they say in response to your perspective?
- For example: What would Seneca have to say about the vision of purposeful existence suggested in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World? How does the movie relate to Epicurus’ ideas?
All papers must also be comprised of these components:
- Introduction
- Introduce the subject of your analysis, the question(s) you intend to answer, and your thesis: what you will be arguing.
- Background/Summary of cultural work
- Provide your reader with key information they may not already have about the work in question. When was it made, how many copies sold (how popular is it), how did critics respond to it? What is the short thumbnail sketch of the work—the “trailer” if you will.
- Analysis (featuring consideration of opposing or contrasting perspectives)
- Your analysis must feature
- interpretation and/or evaluation of the work (see below)
- engagement with and/or application of ideas from course materials
- consideration of opposing or contrasting perspectives
- Interpretation: Explain your interpretation of the work’s relevance to your research question
- What does the work say to the audience about the meaning of life, God, truth, happiness, the good life, the importance of the arts or philosophy? Justify your claim: What is the basis of this interpretation?
- What does the work suggest is a good life? What does it teach us about the meaning or importance of truth? What vision of life does it promote? Justify your claim: What is the basis of this interpretation?
- Example of interpretative claim: Seeking a Friend for the End of the Worldsuggests the most purposeful life is to be found in romantic love. You would then give reasons why you believe this to be an accurate representation of the movie’s aim. To do so you might discuss the way the film highlights Dodge and Penny’s lives, and how each finds a way pass suicide, returning to the family, survivalism, or nihilism. You would provide key details: discuss scenes, dialogue, visual representation, plot, etc.
- Evaluation: Explain your evaluation of the work
- How does the message of the cultural artifact compare, contrast with views of authors from our course?
- Do you agree: why or why not? Who do you think gets it right, wrong? Why?
- Opposing or contrasting perspectives:
- How might someone else interpret or evaluate this differently than I am? Why would such an interpretation or evaluation be mistaken?
- Conclusion
- Briefly reflect on your analysis and its conclusions.
- Identify the significance of your argument.
| Term Paper Rubric | ||
| Area of Evaluation | Criteria | Value |
| Content: Critical Analysis (64%) | ü Meaningfully and fairly acknowledges, articulates, and engages key, relevant course concepts and thinkers
ü Provides original analysis (does not simply summarize lectures and readings, but engages them, opening new lines of inquiry or contributing new ideas to the discourse) ü Justifies claims: provides reasoned support for claims ü Clearly explains the relationship between claims and supporting premises or reasons; clearly explains how premise A and premise B produce conclusion C. ü Avoids dogmatic thinking; recognizes that one’s views are not inherently or obviously true and that others’ ideas are not inherently or obviously false ü Avoids egocentric thinking; recognizes that one’s views or perspectives are not necessarily obvious or the same as others; Acknowledges, explains and engages alternative, contrasting, and/or opposing perspectives ü Avoids informal fallacies including unfounded appeals to cultural tradition, popular opinion, and power; avoids personal attacks, stereotyping, and hasty generalizations in analysis ü Showcases appropriate empathy and respect for others (This does not mean that you must agree with a viewpoint of an individual or group of people! Rather it simply means that you are expected to recognize and honor the dignity of others, including those you disagree with.) |
8%
8%
8% 8%
8%
8%
8%
8% |
| Form/ Organization (26%) | ü Implements analytical writing: author does not simply tell a story or list facts but offers a critical analysis (though some narrative prose is acceptable the paper must emphasize analysis)
ü Deploys appropriately formal tone; avoids inappropriately casual language, turns-of-phrase and the like (when appropriate the use of pronouns such as “I” is acceptable, but abbreviations and slang should not be included unless justifiable) ü Features introduction, body paragraphs developing one’s ideas, and a conclusion ü Formatted according to MLA, Chicago, Harvard or other designated scholarly guidelines ü Provides original title ü Enticing introduction (engaging the reader, inspiring them to read on) ü Includes specific thesis statement indicating not only the topic or subject matter but the central claim being advanced in the paper ü Logically structured paragraphs that support the stated thesis: purposeful paragraphs feature clear topic sentences, indicating the main idea of the paragraph and developing the thesis presented in the introduction, and development ü Provides all appropriate in-text citations indicating source of others’ ideas ü Provides works-cited page ü Minimal direct quotes; summarizes others’ ideas in one’s own words rather than excessively relying on quoting |
3%
2%
3% 1% 1% 1%
4%
5% 1% 2% |
| Grammar/ Mechanics (10%) | Very few if any grammatical errors
ü Correct spelling ü Correct punctuation ü Correct word-choice ü Complete sentences; no sentence fragments (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. ü No run-on sentences (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. |
2% 2% 2% 2% 2% Total: 100% |
| Word-count penalty | ü Papers falling under 95% of the required word-count will be receive a penalty commensurate with the missing word-count percentage.
ü For example, if the word-count requirement is 1,500 and the submitted paper is 1,000 words it will receive an automatic deduction of 33%, making a 67% the highest possible score. A 750 paper would receive an automatic deduction of 50% because 750 words is half of the required word-count. |
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| Late penalty | ü Assignments will receive a deduction of 5% for each day the assignment is late
ü An assignment that is 5 days late will receive an automatic deduction of 25% ü An assignment that is 20 days late will receive an automatic deduction of 100%, meaning that the paper will receive an automatic zero ü When a student has a reasonable excuse for submitting a late assignment they should consult with the professor, and after doing so, leave a comment with their submitted work |
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| Fails to follow instructions penalty | ü Papers failing to address the assigned term paper prompt will receive an automatic zero.
ü Papers failing to engage the concepts, thinkers, and material the term paper is purposed to evaluate will receive an automatic zero. ü Be sure to follow the assignment instructions |
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