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ENGL 108C |
Accelerated First-Year Composition |
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Assignments - The Play - The Short Story - The Novel - The Research Paper Online Writing Lab (OWL) |
Review Essay For this writing project, you will need to see the dramatic production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest that is put on stage by Purdue Theatre. Reviews are written to comment on theatre productions, mostly to be published in newspapers or magazines, addressed to the readers who might want to see the production. So, one of your main purposes should be to be as informative about the play as possible (including where and when). However, giving information is not the only purpose of a review essay; you also need to present a personal evaluation of it. And since you have already read the text of the play, part of your evaluation will depend on how well you think the text is adapted to the stage. Grading Criteria Once again, since this is an essay, the most important part of grading will be based on your organization. You should have a clear organization in your essay that consists of an introduction which includes a basic thesis statement, a development section in which you present your judgments and explain your reasons for those, and finally a conclusion paragraph in which you draw a general conclusion for the reader who might want to consult your opinion before going to see the play. This requires a keen awareness of audience in composition and how audience affects writing choices. Secondly, part of your essay should evaluate how well, or how successfully, the text has been adapted for the stage, how loyal the performance is to the text, and whether additions or deletions (if there are any) contribute to or take away from the original text. Lastly, you will need to evaluate the performance independent of the text; you will pay attention to directing, staging, setting, acting, costumes, lights, etc. Don't forget to give credit to actors and other people who contributed to the play, by citing their names when you are talking about them. Of course, you also need to make sure that your revised review essay is free of grammatical and spelling errors. Format Since review writers always have a word limit to work with, I am also asking you to limit your review essay to 1000 words (+/- 50 words is ok). Your essay should be typed and double-spaced; you need to put your name on the first page, and all pages should be numbered and stapled together before submission. Due Dates: You need to see the play this weekend, Thursday through Sunday (September 21-24). I will not accept not being able to get tickets as an excuse. Finally, in contrast to the movie theatre, you won’t be let into the play once it starts, so be there at least 10 minutes before the scheduled beginning of the play. You will need to have an electronic copy of your draft on Monday, September 25, for in-class peer-review. The revised essay is due on Friday, September 29 in class.
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