 Does it get the reader’s attention?  Does it introduce the topic of the paper?  Does it suggest the writer’s angle on the topic?  Transforming a War Horse into a War Hero: Disney’s Problematic Insistence in War Horse that Animals are Like Humans

 Do you begin with an effective attention getter?  Do you provide enough context to frame your paper? In a nutshell-are you adequately introducing the notion that Disney films have been described as having tremendous power to convey values and have been accused of conveying negative values?  Do you end the introduction with a strong thesis? It should be about a specific film and make clear your stance on the above issue.

 Do all body paragraphs help to prove the thesis?  Is each body paragraph in and of itself unified?  Is the main idea of the body paragraph announced in a topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph?  Do your topic sentences give you something to prove?

 Joey and Topthorn are war horses.  Joey’s relationship with fellow war horse, Topthorn, is depicted in a very human way.  Bolt, Bambi, and Mickey Mouse are a few of Disney’s animal characters.  Many animal characters in Disney films are made to seem like humans.

 Are your body paragraphs well supported?  If it seems necessary, have you considered the opposition? For example, if I want to claim that Disney sends very positive messages to viewers in Beauty and the Beast, I may need to take into account some of what we’ve read about Disney’s negative messages in Beauty and the Beast). In this case, the opposition might be worked right into your thesis: Though Beauty and the Beast has been accused of promoting dangerous ideas about gender, these ideas are a minor part of the film and do not outweigh the wonderful message that Beauty and the Beast conveys about valuing a person for his/her inner worth rather than his/her appearance.

 This may be the place to return to the larger issue raised in “Animating Youth” and MMM – do Disney films convey problematic messages? What final answer are you giving?

 Have you provided parenthetical citations for both quoted and paraphrased materials?

Author: none Title: “A Horse with Heart” Date: 2010 Section: Technique Paragraph: 2 The racing footage is spectacular. Paraphrase: The film includes “spectacular” footage of the races. Correct: The film includes “spectacular” footage of the races (“A Horse,” Technique section, par. 2).

Author: none Title: “A Horse with Heart” Date: 2010 Section: Technique Paragraph: 2  Major props to Diane Lane, who is a no-bull wonder as Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery, a Denver housewife and mom who takes over the Virginia stables she inherits from her dad and runs into a brick wall of male resistance. Direct Quote: In a review entitled “A Horse with Heart,” Penny Chenery is described as “running into a brick wall of male resistance”. Correct: In a review entitled “A Horse with Heart”, Penny Chenery is described as “running into a brick wall of male resistance” (Technique section, par. 2).

 Have you formatted long quotes (40 or more words) correctly? Giroux makes a plea for careful consideration of Disney films: Given the influence that the Disney ideology has on children, it is imperative for parents, teachers, and other adults to understand how such films attract the attention and shape the values of the children who view and buy them. As a producer of children’s culture, Disney should not be given an easy pardon because it is defined as a universal citadel of fun and good cheer. (Third section, par. 1) By using the word “citadel,” Giroux points back to Disney’s power. A citadel is….

 If you use an author’s name in your prose, do you remember to say who that person is at first use? NO: Gail Dines doesn’t like the representation of women in Beauty and the Beast (Sun & Picker, Gender section). YES: Gail Dines, a professor of Women’s Studies, doesn’t like the representation of women in Beauty and the Beast (Sun & Picker, Gender section).

 Does your Works Cited page say Works Cited at the top? Does it include at least six sources? (You may have a replacement for Giroux’s “Animating Youth” as this was an optional reading.) 1) Giroux’s “Animating Youth” 2) Sun & Picker’s MMM 3) The Disney movie you chose to analyze 4) A credible article 5) Another credible article (database) 6) Another credible article (database)

 Is your Works Cited page double spaced straight through?  Is it alphabetized?  Does each line after the first in an entry have a hanging indent?  Have you included on your Works Cited page ONLY those sources you actually cited in the body of your paper?

 Is it in Times New Roman 12 point font?  Are margins 1 inch on all sides?  Is it at least 1500 words?  Are movie titles italicized and article titles inside quotation marks?

 Have you edited your paper carefully, correcting all superficial errors?  Have you confirmed that where you quoted, you quoted accurately?  Have you stayed in academic voice?

Giroux claims that Disney has a great deal of power and so we need to be careful to look carefully at Disney films. I think that the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a particularly good one to consider. It tells us things about both race and gender. SingularPluralobjectivepossessive 1stIweme, usmine, ours 2ndYouyou yours 3rdHe, she, it theyhim, her, it, them his, hers, its, theirs

 Consider how the paper conforms to the checklist we just covered.  Review ALL the papers in your group.  When you are finished, complete the In-class exercise and submit it to the instructor.