Essay Overview: In this essay, you will explore an issue that you find interesting and relevant. You will complete this exploration through research and film analysis. You will complete the worksheet at the end of this handout before beginning your research. You will have another handout next week to complete also before you begin your research. The purpose of postponing research is two-fold:
1. This will allow you to develop a very important clear picture of what you think and what your experiences are regarding an issue before you begin. This allows you to build an argument from your own thoughts first, but it also allows you to note your biases.
2. This will also allow you to engage with the ideas within your research, rather than just use your research to build your ideas. There's a very important distinction between the two, but one of the most important ones is "interest." How interested you are in a topic before researching directly impacts how interested you are in writing your paper, which directly influences the interest you gain from your readers and your grade!
You should:
1. Watch the film you choose at least 3 times
2. Watch 2-3 important scenes in the film 15-20 times to make sure that you gain all of the minor details that occur in a film shot or sequence. Remember, films are auditory and visual texts. There's as much observation of body language and feeling expressed (as well as the impact of both on the viewer) within each scene. You've been practicing your skills for this moment, so show them off!
Requirements
Length: 5 full pages (not including Works Cited)
Point of View: 3rd person (No I, me, my, you, your, yours, our, ours) You practiced changing 1st person experience to 2nd person in the 2nd essay. In this essay, you are trying to understand that your experiences are part of a collective set of experiences that can still be expressed in 3rd person.
§ Remember your 3rd person terms: individuals, society, people, citizens, human beings, the living, the dead, the inspired, students, parents, adults, those who care, those who don't care.
§ Remember your qualifiers: most, many, some, few, the majority, a minority, equal numbers of, and so on.
§ Most of all, remember you are part of many of these terms. Your job is to figure out which group your experiences should be defined within.
Sources: (6 total required)
3 Scholarly Journal Articles on issue or film from Valencia or UCFs library databases (Key: Volume/Issue #s). These need to be legitimate scholarly articles, meaning they are fact based articles written by experts in the field on your topic or subtopic. You may have an article that is simply on a smaller topic in your essay.
1 News Source (From Databases or Internet or television)
1 Book Source
1 Film Source (The movie you choose to analyze):
2 Internet Sources (One must be legitimate. You will receive information that will teach you how to analyze online source(s) to determine whether it's a "good" source. The other can be a personal blog or other web source you are using to establish an opinion. Remember to check Pop Matters, Reverse Shot, and Movie Review Querie Engine websites.