For your final critical reaction paper you will be asked to analyze the documentary, The Prison WithinLinks to an external site., using theories, concepts, and ideas from the course. The goal is to demonstrate how the course material can be applied to the documentary in thinking critically about social issues related to punishment, politics, and justice. Papers should be between 8-10 double-spaced pages not including references.
To successfully write your paper, you will need to provide a brief summary of the documentary and select concepts, theories, or ideas from the class material which you will use to analyze the film in a thoughtful and comprehensive way. While you get to decide what of the course content you integrate into your paper, you must engage 7 ideas/concepts that we discussed throughout the semester. At least four of the ideas/concepts must be taken directly from the Simon, Davis, and Gilmore readings – this material must be cited direclty from the texts themselves. Additional ideas and concepts can come from lecture, group discussion, and other materials (i.e. podcasts, news articles, videos and other readings) and must be cited accordingly. In-text citations for lecture should be (Strong, week or date of lecture) and group discussion should be (group disc., week or date of discussion). The analysis will conclude with general thoughts and takeaways from the documentary. Please be sure to review the rubric throughout your preparation for and writing of the paper. The final portion of your critical reaction paper will provide a brief reflection on your overall takeaways from the course.
*You may select which formatting guidelines to follow. However, in-text citations must be properly notated i.e. author last name and year. If you use direct quotes then you must provide page numbers. A cover page is not necessary.
**Late papers will be assessed a point reduction. Papers will not be accepted after May 19th.
***Violations of academic integrity, such as plagiarism or papers written by artificial intelligence will result in a zero for the paper.