Tameika Carter                     Minutes for 3-3-04

            We started the class talking about the assignment that Dr. Reimer gave us on Monday about the four essays that needed to be evaluated. Then he put us in four groups, with each group evaluating one essay. Before we talked about the essays as a class discussion, Dr. Reimer gave us some tips about a great essay. He gave the class an example, which was essay #2. He said that the essay showed what a good paper needed: a very strong thesis, it must be well stated, have a great introduction, it must be general enough to get the audience into the paper & enough information not to make the essay boring, and also to always have well developed sentences. Dr. Reimer also said that the essays that we had to evaluate just talked about the films and did not have research. In our essays we should both research our topic and then write objectively about each film.

            As our class discussion started, group 1 and 2 had to evaluate the same essay, essay #1. Both groups agreed that they would give the essay the grade of a D and said the essay needed major work. The problems with the essay are: weak vocabulary, run-on sentences, information  wasn’t well stated, it made weird & unclear comments, it was better described as a book report or an outline than an essay, had confused tenses, and there was no voice or tone. Dr. Reimer mentioned that this essay looks pretty much like a free write. Dr. Reimer gave another tip, saying that as we write our papers we need to keep our tenses straight. The best tense to use is present tense when actually talking about the film’s story, as films are always happening.

            Group 3 had to evaluate essay number 3. The group agreed that they would give the essay a grade of a C or high D. Even though the essay gave an attempt of an analysis and the closing paragraph gave a conclusion, the essay had too many problems. The problems were: it seemed pointless, it had choppy sentences, weird comparisons, gave a too emotional opinion, it didn’t really tie into the conclusion, and the font was creative (too large) Group 4 had to evaluate essay #4.  The group agreed that they would give the essay a grade of a C. The essay gave good examples, but this essay’s problems were: no great introduction, it needed a stronger paragraph development, needed a stronger conclusion, needed to elaborate more on examples, and worded the paper funny. Dr. Reimer gave us some tips about writing our paper. He said that we might want to read the editorial part of The Observer on Saturdays because it has a section on how to write. He also said that it might help if we write the paper and then when we think it is the way we want it, we need to have someone we trust to evaluate the essay. Then we should re-write the essay fixing all the problems that were found wrong by the person who evaluated it.

            Lastly, in the last few minutes of class we watched the last five to ten minutes of the film Gold Diggers of 1933. This film was directed by Busby Berkley and it showcased the choreography of a Broadway play and three different romance stories. The film was considered a light fluffy type of entertainment. The part that we saw was the end of the film which shows the play that was being put on.   The play showcased how people fought in the war, how they came back to the Depression. It kind of asked, “what are they going to do now?” The end of the film seemed to have no relationship to the rest of the movie but was added to make a political comment about the first part of the film.  Lastly, Dr. Reimer says that today in films there are ironies that kind of doubt what was shown, just like in this the film.