1. Thinking Critically About Pop Culture: Representations of Women and LGBT People

2. Quickwrite #5
Using a the quote sandwich method and a template from They Say, I Say, get ready for class discussion by responding to a quotation you find to be significant from the readings for today. (“Why the Odds are Still Stacked Against Women in Hollywood” and “More Representation for LGBT People of Color.”)

3. Some Questions that Will Help You on Essay #2
As you analyze the pieces of media that you have chosen in order to support a claim you are making about pop culture and diversity, ask yourself:
What are the main values that are being put forward as “correct” or “normal” by this piece of media? Are these values particular to any one group? Are there any groups whose values/ideas are poorly or unfairly represented?

4. Some Questions that Will Help You on Essay #2
Do you notice any patterns in the representation of diverse groups in the media you chose, or patterns in the representation of the one minority group you chose? If so, what do you think those patterns mean? Why are they important?
Is there anything missing from the portrayals you are researching? Is there anything complicated that is made simple? Any subtle differences that are glossed over? What are the consequences of this over-simplification?

5. Portrayals of Women and LGBT People in the Media
What is the “larger conversation” that each of these authors is a part of? What are some of the assumptions that these authors respond to?
What are some of the “big claims” that each of these authors makes? Identify one “big claim” and be ready to talk about it and your reaction to it.
How do these authors support those claims? Was their support convincing?
What were your reactions to these articles? Did you find places where you agreed? Disagreed? A little of both? Why?

6. Thesis Statement Review
A thesis is the claim about your topic/issue that you are making in the introduction of your essay and supporting in the body of your essay.
Every paragraph in your essay should work together with all of the other paragraphs to support/explain your thesis.
This means that your thesis is one of the most important sentences in your essay.

7. Finding a Thesis for Essay 2
What do you think about what have you learned about the issue you set out to explore? You might consider questions like…
Why are things the way they are when it comes to representation/diversity in the area of the media you researched?
What are the consequences of things being this way?
What should be done differently in your area of pop culture?
If you are researching a controversial issue/portrayal, do you agree with the criticism of the piece/genre of pop culture? Why or why not?

8. A strong thesis will… Make a claim that invites further discussion.
A thesis should not be a statement of indisputable fact.
If your thesis puts forwards reasons for or consequences of an indisputable fact, that is acceptable. You claim is not that the fact itself is true. Instead, your claim is about some aspect of the “hows and whys” surrounding that fact.
Be clear and explicit.
Do not make your reader guess what you are trying to prove. State what you will prove clearly and specifically in your thesis.
Be found near the end of your introduction paragraph.
In US academic writing, you are expected to place your thesis near the end of your introduction. Some of the writers we read may place their thesis statements differently, but remember that they are writing for different audiences in different situations. Your situation requires you to place your thesis in the introduction.

9. Examples of Thesis Statements from Readings:
“More Representation for LGBT People of Color,” because it is a news/magazine opinion piece, states its thesis in the very first sentence: “A lack of diversity on TV and in Hollywood…” and re-states the claim in the last sentence of the 5th full paragraph: “The lack of visibility is also pronounced…”

10. Thesis FAQ Can my thesis be a question?
Answer: Absolutely not. A thesis is a thesis statement. It is a claim that reflects your informed point of view about the issue. That means that a thesis might be the answer to a question you ask in your introduction, but it is not a question itself.
My thesis seems very long. Is that ok?
Because thesis statements are trying to shrink down the argument of an essay into one sentence, they tend to get long. If you think your thesis is too long, ask me or your peers for a second opinion.
Thesis statements often contain the skeleton of an outline for your essay. This type of thesis briefly lists the major points that will be discussed more fully in the essay.

11. Rewritten Thesis Example:
If I were to re-write “TV Diversity: Whose Job Is It Anyway?” as a academic essay, the thesis might look something like this:
African Americans are often represented poorly or not at all on television for two reasons: first, while there may be notable exceptions, there is a general lack of diversity among the people who make decisions about which stories to tell and which actors to cast; second, there are misconceptions about the profitability of shows with diverse or primarily black casts that make networks unwilling to take chances on these shows.
There will probably be at least two or three paragraphs supporting and explaining the blue section, and at least two or three paragraphs supporting and explaining the green section.
Notice that this thesis is tackling the “why” question when it comes to lack of representation.

12. Do I have to write my thesis today?
No. If you are still researching and deciding what claim you want to make about your issue, you aren’t ready to write your thesis. After you do the in-class activity, keep researching/reading/brainstorming/drafting so that you can get ready.