ENTRY 1:
Your entry should be 4 paragraphs in length.
FORMAT: Think of your entry as a mini essay. Assume that you are writing for a general audience of
fellow college students. The reader may not have viewed the documentary you are discussing. You will
need to provide enough background information for your analysis to make sense to someone who has
not seen the film.
In your first paragraph, you will open by introducing the documentary series you will be discussing. State
specifically what you see as an important purpose or intent of “The Downward Spiral.” For example: the
purpose of the film is to show how different colonies used the law to gradually make slavery a racialized
system. OR the purpose of “The Downward Spiral” is to shows the different ways that enslaved people
sought to resist the system, etc. Conclude the introduction with a specifically stated thesis statement.
Everything you include in the entry should clearly support your thesis.
Using the SIEL method of paragraph development, discuss supporting examples in paragraphs 2 and
3. For each example, clearly establish WHERE the historical event took place. For example, “half-
freedom” was specific to the colony of New Amsterdam. The Stono Rebellion took place in the colony of
South Carolina. You must discuss history specifically in order to be accurate.
Outline before you write your final draft. Use the two major supporting points from the outline as
topic sentences for paragraphs 2 and 3. The topic sentence will both support your thesis and introduce
the supporting example you will discuss in that paragraph. In paragraphs 2 and 3, describe and discuss
two examples of historical events or facts presented in the documentary that support your thesis. There
was a great deal of information presented. Choose carefully. Establish in your discussion HOW these two
examples support your thesis.
Paragraph 4 should be your conclusion.
