Description
Objectives:
For the draft of the research paper (essay 3): Create an outline and working draft of the research paper.
For the final research paper: Write a college-level research paper that meets all the course outcomes. (See list at the end of this document).
Requirements: The research paper will focus on your text from Essay 2. The series must be the same, but the episode may be changed if you like.
“The Artful Dodger” series!
In addition to the essay itself, the final research paper must meet the following process requirements.
A research question (Slideshow example)
A Working Thesis
A library instruction module created for our course
A full draft and outline of the paper–submitted before the research paper. (This is listed as Essay 3, research paper draft in the Modules and Assignments)
The final version of the Research paper must be a revised version of the draft of the Research paper. (In other words, students cannot submit the exact same paper twice; see syllabus for further statement).
The final research paper must meet the following formatting and source requirements:
A minimum of five (to a maximum six) secondary sources must be used including two types of resources. A citation for the television show is also needed.
All sources (except for the television show) must come from the MVCC library resources unless you ask for permission to use them. Just send a Canvas message with a link and a brief analysis of the source’s credibility so that I can make that determination.
MLA 9 format is required for in-text and works cited entries.
You need a combination of six direct quotes and/or paraphrases (with the quotes introduced).
The research paper process counts for 20 percent of a student’s grade in COM 102.
No student can pass COM 102 without submitting and passing this assignment with a grade of C or higher.
COM department grading standards of grammar and mechanics still apply. See Rubric.
The page count is 5-6 pages excluding the Works Cited page.
The draft and outline should attempt to meet the above requirements, but sources could change, for example.
Note: Any intentional plagiarism (that means copying some other work and turning it in as your own, buying a paper online, or having someone else–including a chatbot–write the paper) will earn an “F” for the course. See the plagiarism policy in the course syllabus for more information.
To avoid plagiarism: Cite all your sources. Know what is your work and what is the work of others. Be mindful of your resources. Errors in citation can pull strong writing into the C and D levels. Please make sure to reach out for help.
Here is an example of an argumentative position on an episode from The Good Place. The Good Place example meets the needs of our research assignment and contains a step-by-step breakdown of the research process. Following this process example will eliminate some of the accidental errors sometimes made with citation.
Assignment meets the following requirements from the syllabus:
COM 102 Course Content Outcomes
1. Analyze the choices writers make to suit purpose and audience.
2. Use a variety of tools for prewriting, drafting, revision, and editing.
3. Construct an argument based on a text.
4. Demonstrate awareness of elements of rhetoric.
5. Adapt style and tone to purpose and audience.
6. Create connections among texts.
7. Guide an argument with writer’s own voice while seamlessly integrating sources.
8. Use more advanced, independent information literacy skills to creatively select sources tailored to purpose and audience.
9. Document and cite sources in MLA style.
10. Demonstrate more sophisticated style choices for clarity, conciseness, cohesion, and emphasis.
MAKE SURE TO USE “THE ARTFUL DODGER” SERIES
MAKE SURE TO READ ATTACHED FILES, AS THEY CONTAIN EXAMPLES OF FORMATTING AND INSTRUCTIONS
IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS MESSAGE ASAP
Unformatted Attachment Preview
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Com-102-317
12/22/2023
The Artful Dodger: Dead Men’s Secrets
The Victorian Era is one of the most notable historical periods in world history. Life
during the Victorian Era was riddled with controversies and contradictions, most of which are
attributable to the sociopolitical expectations and limitations. The Victorian Era was also marked
by a plethora of social problems from poverty and meagre pay to child labor. Social classes, a
pivotal aspect of Victorian Era society, also posed challenges to women’s empowerment and
societal expectations based on an individual’s background. The Artful Dodger presents a sneak
peek into Victorian-Era Australian life. The film showcases the Victorian Era lifestyle in vivid
detail illustrating societal controversies, contradictions, and class struggles, with a comical twist
making it a recent, captivating production. The current article focuses on episode three Dead
Men’s Secrets.
Produced by Sony Pictures for Disney+, the film features a young highly skilled doctor,
Jack Dawkins, formerly a Royal Navy surgeon desperately trying to create a new life in a small
town, Port Victoria, in Australia. Dawkins was inducted into the crime by his uncle Fagin during
his childhood back in England before he eventually abandoned him to rot in a prison cell at the
age of 13 years. Fagin tracks Dawkins to Port Victoria and is hell-bent on luring him back into
his life of crime for ‘one last score’. Fagin, a criminal and subsequently Dawkins’ servant,
constantly reminds the doctor of his past in his attempt to lure him back to their old ways.
According to Fagin (3:16-3:18), ‘This is how it used to be. The way it should always be. Your
eyes, my brain; together we’re unstoppable.’ Dawkins detests Fagin’s advances. The young
surgeon is adamant; he is too invested in trying to build his new life to slide back into his old
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ways. Dawkins is adamant; he repulses Fagin’s advances. For example, in 3:26, he blatantly
refuses Fagin’s proposition, urging him to find himself his accommodation. However, Dawkins’
mounting gambling debts, lack of reliable income despite being the town’s surgeon, and his
craving to scale up the social ladder force his hand.
Controversies and contradictions were a pivotal aspect of the Victorian Era
lifestyle. Dead Men’s Secrets is loaded with controversies emanating from Dawkins’ internal
conflicts. Dawkins is committed to leading a new life, different from the one Fagin envisions for
him. Being a surgeon is not only a path to improving his station in Victorian Era society but also
a pathway to earn a decent, honest living, if he can succeed the Professor as the chief surgeon.
However, the lack of meaningful pay at his current position, a predilection for gambling, and the
mounting debt, therefore, force Dawkins’ hand into considering Fagin’s proposition. Dawkins
inwardly despises Fagin and does not care about him. In 5:30-6:17, Fagin informs Dawkins that
his morning crumpet is a high point during his day; he would prefer it if it was not burnt.
Dawkins notes that he is not ‘interested in your bloody crumpet. You just be thankful you’ve got
one (5:44). As Fagin drones on about his crumpet, Dawkins snatches it, crushes it under his boot,
and tosses it out through the window before leaving the room. The scene illustrates Dawkins’
disdain for his uncle. Yet, despite his derision towards his uncle, Dawkins does not get rid of
him; he takes him up as his servant and houses him in his cramped living space allowing him to
further sell him into his distasteful and risky plan.
Fagin’s presence in Dawkins’ life and his plan exposes Dawkins to a myriad of moral
dilemmas further advancing the motif of controversy and contradiction. The Dead Men’s
Secrets revolves around locating and retrieving the soldiers’ pay, which was stolen from Gaines’
residence. Dawkins and Fagin were in Gaines’s house on the night of the heist to steal the pay but
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were unsuccessful. During the episode, Fagin locates the missing pay but is forced to hide it
‘Near Tinkler (22:22). ‘More specifically, in Tinkler. Inside Tinkler’ (22:38). The scene presents
two dilemmas. First Dawkins feels that they should retrieve the money, return it to Gaines, and
clear their names (22:11). This course of action would ease pressure on Gaines, allowing them to
focus on their other pressing agenda. However, they could also use the money to clear Dawkins’
debt with Darius, thereby solving their more pressing agenda. The scene also reveals a twist in
Fagin’s character. Throughout the film, Fagin is presented as a self-centered con artist who will
stop at nothing to line his pockets. Such an egotistical con artist would not pose to think if all he
had to do to retrieve a hefty payday was to exhume a buried corpse. Or would he? 23:08-25:01
exposes an unexpected twist. Fagin would not exhume Tinkler to retrieve the soldier’s pay,
which before this moment he was obsessed with securing. He is ready to forego the payday and
risk the mounting pressure and scrutiny from Gaines if it means not disturbing the dead! I found
this twist in the plot rather intriguing not just because it advances the motif of controversy but
also because it reveals a contradicting and unexpected trait. Like Dawkins, Fagin is also torn
between two worlds; in one he wants to enrich himself at everyone else’s expense while in the
other, he is ever so slightly considerate and wants the dead left alone even at his peril.
Lady Belle is not spared from the controversies of the typical Victorian Era society.
Women were treated as inferior, fragile, humans whose place in society was limited to managing
domestic affairs. Lady Belle, however, is committed to becoming the first-ever female surgeon in
Port Victoria. She is committed to using an evidence-based approach to curing disease. Lady
Belle spends all her time researching a plethora of medical topics to advance healthcare. In 6:099:12, Lady Belle was the first to notice the absence of rot on a corpse’s wound at a site where a
cloth containing carbolic acid was placed. The Lady expresses her findings to Dawkins, using
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knowledge from medical journals to support her argument. However, Dawkins is deaf to her
proposition.
Similarly, Gaines asks her wife, Peggy, to ‘…go inside. There are things I wish to say to
my friend that are unsuited for your ears’ (27:49-27:51). Gaines goes ahead to unburden himself
to Darius; he does not reveal any top secrets worthy of safeguarding. Lady Belle and Peggy are
sidelined merely for being women. Victorian society expected women to concern themselves
solely with domestic affairs while leaving men to undertake all the important work. Despite her
commitment, knowledge, and ability to read, Lady Belle cannot become a surgeon because
society forbids it. Similarly, Peggy cannot hear her husband’s confessions and fears because she
is a woman. Yet, the governor’s wife, Lady Jane Fox, runs the colony from the shadows because
Governor Edmund Fox is incompetent, but a man, nevertheless.
Dead Men’s’ Secrets illustrates the many controversies and social conundrums that
plagued Victorian Era societies. From low wages to gender-based discrimination, life during
Victorian society was organized around strict rules, forcing many, creating numerous dilemmas
for the likes of Dawkins, who were committed to improving their station in society but were held
back by traditions and culture. Others, the society squashed the aspirations of many, such as
Lady Belle who could not pursue their ambitions because of societal restrictions. I find this
episode intriguing, informative, thought-provoking, and an accurate representation of life during
the Victorian period. I highly recommend the episode and the rest of the film to anyone with an
interest in history and societal development.
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Works Cited
The Artful Dodger. Directed by Jeffrey Walker, Corrie Chen, and Gracie Otto, Produced by
Ross Allsop, and Jeffrey Walker, and performances by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, David
Thewlis, Maia Mitchell, and Damon Herriman. 2023. Disney+, 2023.
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M
O
C
2
10
Questions
and Thesis
Research
Paper
The Research Process Continues
Working Thesis
& Conducting
Research
Step 1
Research
Question
Step 2
Research paper
for grading
Step 3
Graded draft
(Essay 3)
Step 4
Today we
will…
Discuss
Essay 1 or 2 to
Essay 1 or 2
Choose TV ep &
Persuade someone to
watch; Analyze
Reality TV
The Research section
Research Paper
of COM 102
An argument backed by
research on a topic
that TV show explores
Let’s Begin
Choose something to
research from your TV
show.
Find a Topic
Go back to your show from
Essay 1 or 2.
●
●
●
●
What is one topic
explored?
Why is that topic
interesting?
What’s missing in the
conversation?
Why is the
topic/theme relevant?
ntal
pleme tion
p
u
S
From
mposi
k, Co als
o
o
B
E
ti
Essen
Research
Question: Now
What
Choose topic to
research from show
What does the text
say about the
topic?
Think about it
Narrow t
he
focus &
As
addition k
al
question
s
What could be
better? What is
important to ____
audience?
Revise question (s)
Research
potential answers
to the Questions
The Goal
is
to answe
r
one ques
tion
through
research
.
Question
How well does
“Title of my Show”
from The Series
illustrate ______?
Answer/Working Thesis
“My Ep title” from
The Series
effectively
illustrates _____ to
an audience of
_______.
ntal
pleme tion
p
u
S
From
mposi
k, Co als
o
o
B
E
ti
Essen
Researching Popular
Culture is complex
and fun!
nt
ignme
s
s
a
o
This
you t
s
k
s
a
ultimately illustrate your
understanding of the research
process.
topic
process
sources
Don’t forget
See the assignment sheet for
information on source requirements
and for a sample process and outline.
Select
Resources
Make sure to meet
resource
requirements.
Remember to choose
sources that are
accessible and
credible.
Questions?
Contact me:
[email protected]
CREDITS
: This
present
ation t
emplate
was cre
a
t
e
d by
Slidesg
o, incl
uding
icons b
y Flati
con, an
infogra
d
phics &
i
m
a
g
e
s
by Free
pik.
Student Example
Research
Intro and thesis
Body Paragraph with topic sentence
A Paragraph General Outline:
Topic sentence that relates to an
element in the thesis
Summary of a scene that relates
to the TS
Secondary source that
discusses the content of the
scene that relates to the TS
Concluding statement on the
topic
Transition, new paragraph
Works Cited list (with hanging indents)
Sources for citation help:
Citation for media
In-text and Works Cited
examples
MLA Review slides
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
