The History of Watching Shows

Description

My essay topic is "The History of Watching Shows". In text citations are necessary along with a works cited. The timeline discussed in the assignment below is completed already. Within the timeline are the four main parts of the history of shows which should be incorporated into the essay. A main point to push is that such a widespread range of options to watch shows has made society more isolated rather than viewing a show as a group activity. I also added the teachers rubric at the end. Here is the timeline-
The History of Watching Shows Timeline:

The Beginning of Television: Televisions for homes are invented. Approximately 1 in 10 homes own a television and on average 3 people per home watch television nightly. The first televised heavyweight fight, between Joe Louis and Billy Conn, took place in 1946 viewed by a record 140,000 people. Television at this time is a group activity since they are somewhat rare and most people have to share a television.

Network programs and cable TV: The growth of network programs is established and cable subscriptions are normalized. Watching a television program as a family or group is the social norm as most homes have one television per household. The passing of the Cable Act in 1989 heavily deregulated cable and led to a rapid growth in cable networks. Cable networks grew from 28 to 79 total networks. Watching a TV show as a family or group is a common new activity of leisure.

HBO: Home Box Office (HBO) is created as the first pay to view TV network. Programs on HBO gained a large following and paved the way for future streaming services. Initially, viewers had to wait for their programs' select time slots, but then HBO made it possible to view programs any time after their release date. Additionally, for the first time Netflix began offering movie rentals rather than only ordering movies. Consumers can now be more selective in what they view rather than only having cable programs as an option.

Streaming Services: Online streaming is offered by companies such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO. This allows viewers to instantly watch shows and movies on their computers or other devices. Viewers no longer need to wait for their TV to be available or wait for their favorite show to start, as they can watch almost any show at any time on any internet connected device. This gives consumers the option to watch the show of their choosing on any device in any room. Television is as accessible as possible and people have become more isolated in viewing shows in general.

ENG 105, Writing Nature Essay#3 – Title: “The History of X” (You provide the “X.”)

Approximately 5 pages plus MLA-style works cited. Number pages. Staple. Label with name, section, and assignment. Use at least three “popular” sources. Scholarly is even better.

The 20-point written assignment is paired with a 10-point timeline (to be done on the online program Tiki-Toki Timeline) and presentation you will give the week prior to Thanksgiving Break. You will give a 5-minute explanation of your critical question regarding the X, as well as how your chosen events on that timeline help you respond to that question.

Tiki-Toki Timeline post to Discussion Board on Blackboard – Tuesday, November 19th

Final Draft, Written Paper– Submitted between the last day of class and the day of our final, via Blackboard. Details to be discussed in class.

In “1491” (an excerpt from the book 1491) Charles C. Mann looks historically at something we don’t usually think of as having a history: the American wilderness. He explores the possibility, suggested by certain archeologists, anthropologists, and historians, that what we once considered wilderness was actually made or cultivated by Native Americans prior to European discovery—and thus, paradoxically, something “natural,” but also historical and cultural. Mann shows us how these scholars are turning on its head the “pristine myth” that has for so long shaped our notions of what our country and what our American continents might have looked like prior to 1492. Such an analysis challenges us to question the given, unquestioned category “nature” at its very core.
Write a paper in which you give a history of something that we don’t usually think of as having a history – something we don’t usually think of in a historical sense. Choose the kind of timeline you wish: long or short, millions of years or a decade or a year. Choose three to five points along that timeline to focus on. Use the online program Tiki Toki to create a timeline. This will be your version of this history and your choices of what to include will be significant. There should be a detectable “principle of selection” for the points you choose. This will be determined by what you’re curious about, what you want to know: your critical question.
We will brainstorm topics for this paper and perhaps even your suggestions for adjustments to the assignment to motivate you even more. We’ll ask, how can you challenge your reader? Our class readings, so far, give us some good models. Can you question categories and definitions as you explore your topic? Can you redefine, or define something that hasn’t been defined, or even re-categorize? Can you trace a thread or find a historical pattern, or historical echoes?

Another challenge is of course to surprise your reader(s) with the freshness of your topic. Here’s a start: the history of biological warfare. Did you know that hundreds of years ago, armies would catapult plague-ridden corpses into the cities of their enemies? This is a cool topic, but not, as it turns out, terribly original. It comes immediately up on Google, for example. Where to take this topic?

History is a narrative, a story. But it doesn’t end, and it’s hard to know if we ever got it right. So here is the creative part: use this exploration of your subject (you might take the last ¼ to 1/3 of the paper to do this) to explore some “what if?” possibilities or implications, the way Mann does in his last paragraph. These might involve envisioning what might have happened had the history played out differently, or exploring what is at stake in being able to see your “X” in the way that you are presenting it in your paper.

RUBRIC, TIMELINE PRESENTATION
To earn ten points, you will tell us how your thread on the timeline addresses each of these points:

1. Topic: Subject we don’t normally think of historically. Topic focused, thread on timeline clear.
2. Clear “principle of selection linked to critical question.
3. In thread (and timeline), clear what we learn studying this topic historically that we would not otherwise learn.
4. Sources: Thread effectively uses at least three popular sources.
5. Introduction: Beginning hooks us, effectively putting topic into context, justifying the topic, and qualifying (i.e., delimiting subject or claims).
6. Conclusion: Conclusion does not simply repeat introduction, but rather discusses how far we’ve come in understanding questions raised, and leaves opening for more exploration. Clear “So what?” and/or “What if?”
7. Organization: Thread on timeline organizes historical information clearly and effectively, smoothly integrating historical events themselves with the author’s take on this material. Transitions connect ideas, create narrative that goes beyond chronology.
8. MLA format: including in-text citations. No dropped quotations. Uses signal phrases.
9. Separate works cited.
10. Title: 2-part title, evocative: informative (Fibonacci Daisies: The Natural History of a Numerical Sequence)