EXTRA CREDIT READINGS

Your fourth extra credit opportunity will involve responding to an article entitled 
Is Disney the Nicest Place on Earth? A Content Analysis of Pro-social Behavior
in Animated Disney Films. The authors are Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Sarah M. Coyne,
Ashley M. Fraser & Laura A. Stock-dale. The article is available as a PDF
file in the EXTRA CREDIT READINGS folder on our Blackboard course page.

After reading Is Disnet the Nicest Place… you should write an essay in which you subject the content of the article to critical evaluation. Which claims do you agree with, and why? Which claims do
you disagree with, and why? In what way might you expand upon, add to, or develop some of
the arguments and/or concepts in this article? These questions are intended as helpful suggestions
for framing a response to the reading. You are not required to address these particular questions
if you don’t want to. You must, however, offer a thoughtful and well-argued response to what
you have read.

Please offer reasons and evidence in support of the positions you are taking. In presenting your views,
be sure to cite ideas in Is Disney the Nicest Place… that are relevant to your argument. Proper citation means clearly identifying concepts, and indicating the article pages on which they are introduced and described.

Your essay must be a minimum of 1000 words long, typed and double-spaced. The paper should be
submitted electronically to the JOURNALS section of our Blackboard course page. The deadline for
submitting is Thursday, April 17. Any time on April 17 will be fine. PLEASE NOTE: The word
count should be printed at the top of the first page of the paper.

In grading submissions, the following criteria will be considered: topical relevance, coherence, and length. Topical relevance means the written work must clearly relate to the assignment. Coherence relates to the clarity of both the position being expressed and the writing. A clear position is one whose ideas mesh. Writing quality speaks to how well those ideas are communicated. Grammatical breakdowns, misspellings, inappropriate word choices, and improper punctuation interfere with effective communication. In order to evaluate what you say, it is necessary to understand what you say. [HELPFUL HINT: Careful proofreading can go a long way toward insuring that your ideas are clearly expressed.] Finally, students must meet the length requirement specified for the assignment