Spadoni • revised Jan. 2020
—continued—
Checklist for Essay Writers
PART 1. FORMATTING
Follow these steps now to save yourself headaches later and avoid losing credit
Title a word processor file “film-template” or something. Follow the instructions in this Formatting section. For an
essay title, type “[essay title]”. For paragraph text, type a sentence and copy and paste it repeatedly until you have a
paragraph. Do the same to make another paragraph, and another, until you’re onto your second page. Do this to
make sure MS Word isn’t adding extra space between paragraphs (see below) and that you have no first page header
and the correct second page header (see below). When it’s time to write your essay, open this template file and save
it to a new name. Keep the template file for your next essay (and any future course you take with me).
Some formatting instructions below are to ensure students are meeting the same length requirement and that no
formatting deviations are disguising this fact. If I ask you to email me the word-processor copy of your essay and it
shows deviations, you will lose more credit than if you had just handed in a paper under the page minimum. If you
email me a file that is not identical to the essay you handed in, you will lose even more credit.
1. Format the top of your essay like this. To get the above-and-below spacing for your title as below, enter a hard return above and
below your title, then (in your double-spaced document) make these above-and-below lines single space.
Angelo Marconi
Engl 367—Intro to Film
Prof. Spadoni
May 24, 2020
[Center essay title; 12 pt font; no boldface, underlining, or brackets]
Essay text starts here. Make sure no more space precedes and
follows your essay title than you see above. ....
2. Last name and page number in the top-right corner of the second and subsequent pages (not the first page). Don’t hand write this
information on the tops of your pages.
Marconi 6
3. Black ink. Standard white paper. Single sided.
4. Times, Times Roman, or Times New Roman typeface (not Cambria), 12 point—including essay title. Don’t change typeface or
font size to increase page length.
5. Double space your work. Don’t alter line spacing to increase page length.
6. Standard margins (1 inch top and bottom, 1 or 1.25 inch left and right). Don’t adjust margins to increase page length.
7. One space (not two) between sentences.
8. No extra space between paragraphs. MS Word likes to insert extra space. Don’t leave figuring out how to tell it not to for the last
minute.
9. Italicize film titles—and at the first mention, follow title with the director and year in parentheses, like this: In an early scene in
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975), a character tries to… Italicize book titles; essay titles are not italicized and go in double quotes.
10. Staple pages, top-left corner. Unstapled.
Spadoni • revised Jan. 2020 —continued— Checklist for .docx
1. Spadoni • revised Jan. 2020
—continued—
Checklist for Essay Writers
PART 1. FORMATTING
Follow these steps now to save yourself headaches later and
avoid losing credit
Title a word processor file “film-template” or something.
Follow the instructions in this Formatting section. For an
essay title, type “[essay title]”. For paragraph text, type a
sentence and copy and paste it repeatedly until you have a
paragraph. Do the same to make another paragraph, and another,
until you’re onto your second page. Do this to
make sure MS Word isn’t adding extra space between
paragraphs (see below) and that you have no first page header
and the correct second page header (see below). When it’s time
to write your essay, open this template file and save
it to a new name. Keep the template file for your next essay
(and any future course you take with me).
Some formatting instructions below are to ensure students are
meeting the same length requirement and that no
formatting deviations are disguising this fact. If I ask you to
email me the word-processor copy of your essay and it
shows deviations, you will lose more credit than if you had just
handed in a paper under the page minimum. If you
email me a file that is not identical to the essay you handed in,
you will lose even more credit.
2. 1. Format the top of your essay like this. To get the above-and-
below spacing for your title as below, enter a hard return above
and
below your title, then (in your double-spaced document) make
these above-and-below lines single space.
Angelo Marconi
Engl 367—Intro to Film
Prof. Spadoni
May 24, 2020
[Center essay title; 12 pt font; no boldface, underlining, or
brackets]
Essay text starts here. Make sure no more space
precedes and
follows your essay title than you see above. ....
2. Last name and page number in the top-right corner of the
second and subsequent pages (not the first page). Don’t hand
write this
3. information on the tops of your pages.
Marconi 6
3. Black ink. Standard white paper. Single sided.
4. Times, Times Roman, or Times New Roman typeface (not
Cambria), 12 point—including essay title. Don’t change
typeface or
font size to increase page length.
5. Double space your work. Don’t alter line spacing to increase
page length.
6. Standard margins (1 inch top and bottom, 1 or 1.25 inch left
and right). Don’t adjust margins to increase page length.
7. One space (not two) between sentences.
8. No extra space between paragraphs. MS Word likes to insert
extra space. Don’t leave figuring out how to tell it not to for the
last
minute.
9. Italicize film titles—and at the first mention, follow title with
the director and year in parentheses, like this: In an early scene
in
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975), a character tries to… Italicize
book titles; essay titles are not italicized and go in double
quotes.
10. Staple pages, top-left corner. Unstapled essays will be
returned ungraded.
11. You’ll lose points for terrible printout quality, because you
shouldn’t be finishing your essay and printing it at the last
second.
4. Checklist for Essay Writers • Spadoni • 2
PART 2. WRITING
Advice for this section: Read it through, marking it up, then set
it aside and write your essay. (Don’t let this
document or anything else spoil the fun of writing your essay.)
When you have a first draft (well ahead of the due date
or none of this works), use these instructions, and the
formatting points above, as a checklist.
12. Your essay title should provide an idea or hint of your
thesis. (See below on theses.) Avoid titles that signal not what
your thesis is
but what the assignment is. (A bad title would be “Motifs in The
Matrix”) If your essay focuses on one film, incorporate the
film’s
title into your essay title. (A bad title for an essay on The
Matrix would be “Keanu Kicks High”)
13. Assume your reader has seen the film. No need to fill up
space summarizing the plot. Include only as much plot
description as is
necessary to help the reader grasp and appreciate your analysis.
14. Have a thesis and state it early, typically the bottom of your
first paragraph. A thesis statement articulates your essay’s main
claim,
your unique point of view, your take on the topic on which
you’re writing.
5. 15. Avoid evaluation, especially in thesis statements. “Star
Wars is a masterpiece” is not a good thesis statement (and such
a sentence
should appear nowhere in your essay). Neither is “Motifs in Star
Wars bind the film together in interesting ways,” since that
claim
could be made about every film ever made. Avoid calling
something “interesting” and instead articulate why it is so.
16. Avoid statements of author intention, like: “This shot shows
that Jenkins wants viewers to suspect that...”; and “Varda
moves the
camera closer until it frames...” Consider not what the author is
doing but what the film is doing. Focus not on author intentions
but textual functions and effects.
17. Your essay should have an argument with a structure that
flows from and supports your thesis. This isn’t easy. Even
experienced
writers often don’t figure out what they’re doing until deep into
their first draft—which is why it’s crucial to revise your work
(more on revising below). Sketching an outline of your
argument and its parts before drafting is a good way to rough
out an
effective essay design. (Essays that weren’t outlined first tend
to read like it.) Remember that you can help keep your reader
oriented by clearly indicating transitions within your paper. I
am happy to meet with you to discuss this.
18. Revise your work. A good way to spot problems is to read
your essay aloud. If you stumble or get lost in a sentence,
chances are
your reader will, too. Look for grammar and readability issues.
Is the essay jargony? Is it saying things in a complicated way
that
could be said in a clear and simple one? Is it redundant? Look
6. for awkward passages, claims that need further explanation or
support, missed chances to make your argument richer, and
other problems that characterize every first draft. Never hand in
an
essay you haven’t read as a hard copy first. Editing and writing
at a computer is fine for early drafts and last minute tweaks, but
in
many ways you have not read your essay until you have read a
hard copy. After a certain point, you simply won’t see problems
that are right in front of you if you’re working on a screen. (A
fabulous short book that will help you become a better writer is
Williams and Bizup, Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace.)
How do I know I’ve revised enough? You’ll know when you
read a printout and make zero red marks on it—but
here’s a guideline if you’re not used to bringing this kind of
attention and care to your writing: Print, mark up, and input
changes a minimum of five times before handing the essay in.
Note that sometimes fixing something involves not
fiddling with what you wrote but taking a pad of paper and
writing a sentence or paragraph clean—a great thing to do,
and it almost certainly will make necessary more printing,
marking, inputting, and so on. Print at least five times. If you
don’t do this, you still might get an A, but you’ll leave the joys
of revision largely undiscovered, and you’ll never know
what you were capable of with this assignment.
19. Beware DVD commentaries and the Internet! Unless the
assignment is to write a research paper (and even then you need
to be
careful), avoid Googling around and reading what people have
said about your film. Avoid DVD commentary tracks. It’s
incredibly easy to let phrases and ideas from these sources
creep into your work—and that’s plagiarism. DVD
commentaries in
7. particular can really kill the joy of discovering a film for
yourself.
To repeat: Do not go on the Internet for hints and inspiration to
help get you started. In a recent semester, I
gave Fs to three students who did this and who incorporated
into their essays ideas (but no phrases) that were not
their own. Do not plagiarize. Avoid the Internet altogether. I am
guessing you would not like to go before an Academic
Integrity Board and have to explain what happened.
Be aware that a careful and thoughtful essay that is wholly a
student’s own tends to look totally different than one
that carries, however faintly, the stink of plagiarism.
20. Turn in an essay that has not been rewritten by your parents,
friends or anyone else. Turn in your work. There are
permissible
ways to get help with an essay. See the syllabus and/or talk to
me.
21. When quoting a source, give a page number: Dunlop notes
that “films are like dreams” (33). Note where the period, close
quote,
and parentheses are in relation to each other. Use double, not
single, quotation marks. When you quote, quote exactly.
22. When paraphrasing a source, give a page number. Example:
Smith acknowledges that there are exceptions (286-87). If
you’re
paraphrasing so closely that you’re using words and phrases the
author uses, rephrase or quote instead.
23. If you refer to material not on the course reading list (and
follow the assignment regarding whether this is permitted),
include a
8. bibliography. For formatting guidelines, see the current Chicago
Manual of Style.
24. Meet the minimum page length. A paper that makes it three
quarters of the way down the seventh page is 6.75 pages long
and not
long enough for an assignment that calls for a 7-8 page paper.
25. Spell check
Feel free to schedule a meeting with me to talk about your essay
and these guidelines.
Case Western Reserve University
College of Arts and Sciences
SAGES- Seminar Approach to General Education and
Scholarship
USSO 290W- Understanding Body Image through Self-
Perception
Spring 2020
Instructor: Hannah Barna Blake
Email:[email protected]
Office Hours: Before class by appointment
Units: 3 units
Prerequisite: FSEM
Hours: TuTh 2:30 - 3:45 PM
Location: Thwing 301
Writing Instructor: Dr. Cara Byrne
Email: [email protected]
Writing Resource Center hours: see
https://writingcenter.case.edu/
9. Course Description
This course examines the historical, psychological, and cultural
approaches to the self-perception of one's own body. We will
explore how body standards have changed throughout history
and across cultures, and how this is reflected in portraiture.
Additionally, we will investigate psychological studies on body
image, acknowledging the challenges in an evidence-based
approach and considering medical diagnoses when distortion in
self-perception occurs. Finally, we will analyze current body
standards perpetuated by the media in regards to body size,
shape, and gender. Through reading and discussion, students
will gain a deeper understanding of healthy body image and
strategies for applying it to their own lives.
Student Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this seminar, the student should be able
to…
-Participate in a variety of academic conversations by
contributing insightful, relevant ideas
-Consider differences in values and assumptions to think
critically, deliberate ethically, and respond articulately to
questions/problems
-Research and apply scholarly concepts and information
-Write clear, insightful, persuasive, research-based, and
appropriately documented argumentative essays
-Effectively communicate information through oral and/or new
media presentations
Course Requirements
Textbooks
Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men,
Women and Children. Sarah Grogan. 3rd edition. Published in
2017 by Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-138-92888-6
10. Additional readings will be posted to Canvas. These include
excerpts from:
The Oxford Handbook of The Psychology of Appearance. Eds.
Nichola Rumsey and Diana Harcourt. Published in 2012 by
Oxford UP.
Many Mirrors: Body Image and Social Relations. Ed. Nicole
Sault. Published in 1994 by Rutgers UP.
Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture. Amy
Erdman Farrell. Published in 2011 by New York UP.
Recommended readings
The Craft of Research. Booth, Wayne C., Colomb, Gregory C.,
and Williams, Joseph M. 2nd edition. Published in 2003 by
University of Chicago Press. Available online:
http://sir.spbu.ru/en/programs/master/master_program_in_intern
ational_relations/digital_library/Book%20Research%20seminar
%20by%20Booth.pdf
Attendance and Participation: (250 points) 10 points per class.
As this is a seminar course, all students are expected to attend
class regularly, keep up with reading, and participate in class
discussions. Students enrolled in this class are to demonstrate a
commitment to the class, to self, and the course work. TWO
unexcused absences will be permitted throughout the semester.
Each additional absence will result in a 1.5% reduction of your
final grade.
Tardiness: Timeliness is important. A student will be marked
tardy if they arrive after class has begun or leave early. Points
will be deducted in accordance with the amount of class missed.
Excused absences: All anticipated absences should be
communicated to the instructor in writing at least one-week
prior. Excused absences may be given in cases of injury or
illness, emergencies in the student’s immediate family,
professional development, or when the student is representing
11. the University. Relevant documentation i.e. a note from doctor,
parent, University etc. is expected and, in the case of
unanticipatedabsences, due within one week post-absence.
Participation: Defined as meaningful contribution to in-class
discussion. Also includes in-class writing assignments and
demonstration of reading comprehension.
Formal writing assignments: All formal writing assignments are
expected to demonstrate a mastery of language arts skills. The
sustained and organized development of an idea or point should
be supported by observable evidence and/or original thought
and reflected by the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the
material. Each paper should have a clear introduction, body, and
conclusion. Consistent use of correct grammar, syntax, and
spelling of Standard English is expected. All written
assignments are to be submitted via Canvasbefore the start of
class on the due date. Late assignments will be reduced in grade
by 10% for each day they are late. Detailed assignment prompts
and rubrics will be posted by the instructor on Canvas.
Assignment Formatting: All written assignments should be in
MLA format, with a name block and page numbers, 12 pt Times
New Roman font, double-spaced, and spell-checked. See here
for more information on MLA formatting:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Historical Analysis paper: (200 points) Students will write a 3
page minimum paper discussing a historical perspective on body
image and how it is reflected in a work of art on display at
CMA. This paper will use a minimum of 1 in-class reading and
1 outside source. A short presentation of paper will be given
next to the chosen artwork at the Cleveland Museum of Art. In-
class presentations will be given at CMA on Tu 2/11 and Th
2/13. Paper will be due Th 2/13.
12. Psychological Analysis paper: (200 points) Students will write
a 5 page minimum paper analyzing a body image questionnaire
used in scientific studies. A minimum of 1 in-class readings and
2 outside sources (including a credible journal article) will be
required. Paper will be due Tu 3/17.
Cultural Research paper: (350 points) Students will culminate
the semester by writing a research paper on a chosen population
and their specific body image challenges. Additionally,
historical body image perspectives, a psychological study
involving this population, and a media advertisement are to be
included in the discussion. A minimum of 1 in-class readings, 1
credible journal article, and a total of 5 sources will be
required. In-class presentations will be given the last 2 weeks
of class, Tu 4/14, Th 4/16, and Tu 4/21 Final papers will be due
Thursday, 4/30.
Instructor meeting: Students are required to meet with the
course or writing instructor at least once during the semester.
These meetings should occur between the draft and final
versions of any of the 3 papers.
Late Work Policy: If a student is absent on the day the
assignment is handed out, it is their responsibility to retrieve
the assignment before the day it is due. To facilitate this, all
assignments will be posted along with their due dates at
http://Canvas.case.edu. The instructor is willing to answer
questions regarding assignments, but any assistance must be
sought no later than 24 hours before the assignment is to be
turned in. Assignment grade will be reduced by 10% for every
day that an item is late.
Canvas and Email: Class communications and announcements
will be made via Canvas and sent to your University email
account. Class assignments, documents and grades will be
available on Canvas. http://Canvas.case.edu. Assignment
13. submission will be via Canvas, as demonstrated in class. You
are responsible for checking your University email on a regular
basis. Requests for the use of non-university emails will not be
honored.
Evaluation
Requirement
Points
Percent
Grade Scale
Attendance / Participation
Historical analysis paper and presentation
Psychological analysis paper
Cultural research paper
Total
250
200
200
350
1,000
25%
20%
20%
35%
100%
90-100%
80-89%
70-79%
60-69%
14. < 59%
A
B
C
D
F
Rubric
A = Excellent work in all categories including participation,
written assessments, and presentations and with excellent
attendance (meeting the attendance requirement).
B = Good work in the majority of categories but may need to
improve in participation, written assessments, and/or
presentations. May not have met the attendance requirements.
C = Fair work in general with a need to improve in several
categories including participation, written assessments, and
presentations and/or may not have met the attendance
requirements. (Written assignments may not have met standards
or may have had points deducted for late submissions.)
D = Attendance was very poor thus affecting participation
and/or work in the written assessments did not meet the
standards or was late.
F = Failure to meet the course requirements.
Academic Integrity Policy: CWRU's academic integrity policy
defines plagiarism as the presentation, without proper
attribution, of another's words or ideas from printed or
electronic sources. It is also plagiarism to submit, without the
instructor's consent, an assignment in one class previously
submitted in another. If you plagiarize, I am required to report
the violation to the University. Sanctions I can impose range
from failing the work in question to assigning a failing grade
for the course. Additional sanctions may be imposed by the
University. For more information, see
https://students.case.edu/groups/aiboard/policy.html
15. Support for Students with Disabilities: In accordance with
federal law, if you have a documented disability, you may be
eligible to request accommodations through ESS Disability
Resources. In order to be considered for accommodations you
must provide a memo (via email) from Disability Resources.
Please contact their office to register at 216.368.5230 or get
more information on how to begin the process
(https://students.case.edu/academic/disability/getstarted/).
Please keep in mind that accommodations are not retroactive.
Writing and Academic Resources Available to CWRU Students:
Writing Resource Center – staffed by full-time writing
SAGES/English faculty, advanced graduate students, and skilled
undergraduate Peer Writing Fellows, the WRC offers individual
support for writers at all stages of the writing process in
addition to in-house workshops and other programming. For
more information, visit the WRC website at
writingcenter.case.edu.
Educational Services for Students (ESS) – staffed by trained
professionals and talented undergraduates, ESS supports student
learning through academic coaching, individual consultations,
programs, courses, and printable resources. For more
information, visit the ESS website at
https://students.case.edu/education/.
SAGES Writing Portfolio: After the completion of your second
SAGES University Seminar, you will compile a Writing
Portfolio and submit it to the SAGES office. The Writing
Portfolio documents your development as a writer over your
first three SAGES seminars and provides the University with
feedback that will be used to enhance the SAGES program. The
Writing Portfolio includes an essay from each of the three
seminars you have taken, as well as a Reflective Essay. For that
16. reason, you should save all of the essays you write for this
class. For more information about the portfolio and how to
submit it, please consult the SAGES website at
http://sages.case.edu/.
Semester Calendar
Semester Calendar- Spring 2020
Week
Date
Class Topic
Due
Week #1
Introduction
Tu 1/14
Th 1/16
Syllabus
Intro & ideals
Grogan p 1-6 &11-18
Week #2
Historical
Tu 1/21
Th 1/23
History
CMA- Identify Artwork
Grogan p 18-30
Week #3
Historical
Tu 1/28
Th 1/30
WI Workshop- Art analysis
Art documentary
17. Thesis and works cited
Week #4
Historical
Tu 2/4
Th 2/6
Nudity and the savage body
WI workshop-evidence
PDFs
Draft
Week #5
Historical
Tu 2/11
Th 2/13
CMA Presentations
CMA Presentations
Historical paper
Week #6
Psychological
Tu 2/18
Th 2/20
Psych intro
Media influence
Grogan p 38-53 & 75-83
Grogan p 116-127
Week #7
Psychological
Tu 2/25
Th 2/27
KSL day
Thesis worksheet
Identify assessment tool
Works cited
Thesis wkst due F 2/28
Week #8
18. Psychological
Tu 3/3
Th 3/5
WI workshop- peer review
Treatment affects appearance
Draft
PDF
Tu 3/10
Th 3/12
Spring Break-No class
Spring Break-No class
Week #9
Psychological/ Cultural
Tu 3/17
Th 3/19
Silent debate
Factors affecting BI
Psychological paper
Grogan p 135-149 & 154-172
Week #10
Cultural
Tu 3/24
Th 3/26
Cultural documentary
Cross-cultural differences
No class meeting
Identify population
Grogan 150-154 & PDF
Canvas assignment-due by 11:59pm
Week #11
Cultural
Tu 3/31
Th 4/1
19. Barbie and ads
Outline and presentation ex
PDF
Thesis and works cited
Week #12
Cultural
Tu 4/7
Th 4/9
Fad diets
Behavior affecting BI
Outline
Grogan p53-65 & 83-95
Week #13
Presentations
Tu 4/14
Th 4/16
Presentations
Presentations
Draft #1
Week #14
Presentations/ Wrap-up
Tu 4/21
Th 4/23
Presentations
Positive BI
Grogan p 184-197
Draft #2
Finals week
Th 4/30
Final research paper due
20. (continued)
Jan. 28, 2020
Engl 367/467—Intro to Film • Spadoni
Assignment: Scene analysis essay
Length: 5 pages (stick to this guideline, and do not go onto a
7th page)
Due: March 19—hard copies at the start of class
Who: Undergrad and grad students
These four films are (or soon will be) on 3-hour library-only
reserve in KSL:
Actress (Robert Greene, US, 2014)
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, US, 1962)
Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, IL/FR/DE/US/FI/CH/BE/AU,
2008)
The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, US, 1956)
Part of this assignment is to watch all four films before March
3. I may give a quiz on or any day
after this date to make sure you’ve watched them all. The
reason for this is that the films you find
the most exciting won’t necessarily be the safest picks or ones
you would ever predict.
Pick a film. Select a sequence and write an analysis of it. By
“sequence” I mean a series of
consecutive shots, not a shot here and there. It could be, for
example, a scene, an excerpt of a scene,
21. or a sequence that straddles the end of one scene and the start of
the next. Shoot for roughly two-
and-a-half to four minutes of film. Shorter is okay. Avoid
picking too long a sequence or you’ll risk
including too much to analyze in a paper this short. What you
select will depend on what interests
you and what you want to do with it.
Use terms and ideas we’ve learned in the course, but avoid
turning your essay into a list of
identifications of this or that technique. Organizing everything
will be your thesis and argument—
that is, what you want to say and how you want to say it.
Advice for coming up with a thesis and argument: Watch your
film, taking notes all the way
through. Note the sequences you find interesting. Pick a
sequence you’d like to write about. (It’s
fine if you don’t yet know why, but you just find the sequence
fascinating, intense, disturbing,
funny, sad, etc.) Watch the sequence several times. Keep taking
notes. Patterns in your thinking and
observations will start to emerge. That is, you’ll start to get an
idea of what you want to say and
how you want to say it. Lightning can strike any time—now, or
not until after you’ve started
outlining or even writing (common even for experienced
writers). In an outline, rough out the order
you want to make your points in—where to talk about this or
that element or moment, where to
make a claim or ask a question, what to lead in with, what to
save for last. At some point, watch the
whole film again, or skip around and revisit scenes in light of
what’s starting to cook in your notes.
Hint 1: If you’re having fun, it’s probably a good sign. Hint 2:
If you start this assignment too close
22. to the due date, you probably won’t have any fun.
The first time you mention your sequence, indicate the precise
start and end times on the DVD copy
in the library, not another version of the film. (Don’t watch
your film on the Internet or, Lord save
us, a phone. Don’t use VLC to get times because they won’t be
accurate.) For example, near the
start of the essay:
In the sequence in which Beatrice finds the passport [21:15-
23:36], several…
Note the format of the code. If you’re using a viewing station in
the Freedman Center, ask for a
remote so you can get start and end times and do other things
like pause the image.
Don’t incorporate cue times into sentences like they’re words.
Not — “The shot starting at 41:23
marks the end of…” — but — “The next shot [41:23] marks the
end of…”
Keep the focus squarely on your sequence, but consider how the
sequence fits into the larger film.
Good places to do this are in your introduction and conclusion.
More points:
• Don’t go on the Internet for hints and inspiration to help get
you started. In a recent
23. semester, three students, who did not take any actual phrases or
sentences from another
source, got into trouble for plagiarism. Let me restate: Avoid
the Internet altogether. (See
the syllabus on the serious consequences of plagiarism.) Be
advised that a careful and
thoughtful essay that’s wholly a student’s own tends to look
totally different than one
that, however carefully and minimally, steals from another
source.
• Don’t listen to DVD commentaries, which cause plagiarism
issues with notorious ease. Do
no outside research for this essay. Don’t quote the bible,
Shakespeare, or any other source—
including our textbook. Do not include footnotes or a
bibliography.
• Assume your reader has seen the film and avoid filling up
space with plot summary.
• Avoid statements of author intention and evaluation.
• Unstapled essays, and essays sent as email attachments, will
be returned ungraded.
• Follow the Checklist for Essay Writers (handed out with this
assignment and on Canvas
under “course information”) to avoid losing credit. Follow the
instructions in the box at the
top of this Checklist to make a template file you can use for all
written work in this class.
24. See “Common Problems in Student Essays” (handed out and on
Canvas under “course
information”), which describes most of the problems I see in
student essays.
• Especially review, on the Checklist, “How do I know I’ve
revised enough?”
• For your essay to be marked on time, I need it at the start of
class on the due date,
when I collect it.
• Keep the electronic copy of your essay. If I ask you to email it
(not a PDF) to me and
you can’t, I’ll assume you have altered the formatting to meet
the page minimum. Be
aware that if the file is different than the printout submitted,
your grade will be
lowered more than if it had just been too short in the first place.
• I’m happy to meet with you to discuss your ideas and
questions. Get in touch to schedule an
appointment well ahead of the due date.
Advice: Read this assignment and the Checklist and Common
Problems documents. Mark them up.
Use the Checklist, page one, to take care of many formatting
requirements up front. Then set these
documents aside and make the assignment your own. When you
25. have a solid draft, use these
documents as checklists to help you fine tune and otherwise
improve your work and to guide the
revision process.
Don’t keep your film out longer than the loan period. If this
happens close to the due date, you’ll
be preventing other students from finishing their essays, and I
will find out from the Library who
has the film and lower your essay grade one or more grades
depending on how long it is kept
overdue.