Assignments

1. Arts Review: Drawing on your expertise as a consumer of popular culture — the way Lisa Schwarzbaum does in her Entertainment Weekly review of The Hunger Games —review a movie, book, television series, musical piece, artist, or work of art for a publication that you specify. It might be the equivalent of Entertainment Weekly or you might aim your work at a local or student publication. Consider, too, writing a substantive piece for an online site that takes reviews — such as Amazon.com or IMDb. Write a review strong enough to change someone’s mind.
2. Social Satire: Using the techniques of social satire modeled in “A Word from My Anti-Phone Soapbox”, assess a public policy, social movement, or cultural trend you believe deserves serious and detailed criticism. But don’t write a paper simply describing your target as dangerous, pathetic, or unsuccessful. Instead, make people laugh at your target while also offering a plausible alternative.
3. Product Review: Choose an item that you own, buy, or use regularly, anything from a Coleman lantern to Dunkin’ Donuts coffee to a Web site, app, or social network you couldn’t live without. Then write a fully developed review, making sure to name your criteria of evaluation as clearly as Ashley Hennigan does in Eric Hoover’s essay on the Monsters University site. Be attentive to your specific audience and generous with the supporting details. Use graphics if appropriate.
4. Visual Comparison or Review: Construct an evaluation in which a visual comparison or some other media evidence plays a major role. You might use photographs the way the West Virginia Surf Report does. Or perhaps you can work in another medium to show, for example, how good or bad the instructions in a technical manual are, how much the brownies you baked differ from the ones pictured on the box, or how images on your school’s or an employer’s Web site stereotype the people who attend or work there. Be creative.
5. Your Choice: Evaluate a program or facility in some institution you know well (school, business, church, recreation center) that you believe works efficiently or poorly. Prepare a presentation in the medium of your choice and imagine that your audience is an administrator with the power to reward or shut down the operation.