Film

Order Description the requirement later and the similarity should be lower than 5%, thx Essay Writin" rel="nofollow">ing Guide 1. About writin" rel="nofollow">ing university essays Writin" rel="nofollow">ing an essay at university in" rel="nofollow">involves a number of different tasks: undertakin" rel="nofollow">ing research on a topic; developin" rel="nofollow">ing the means to structure observations, in" rel="nofollow">information, analysis and theory in" rel="nofollow">into a coherent form; ensurin" rel="nofollow">ing such form is logical; evaluatin" rel="nofollow">ing the meanin" rel="nofollow">ing of observations, in" rel="nofollow">information, analysis and theory; and referencin" rel="nofollow">ing the material you use accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to a prescribed system. An essay is not simply a collection of facts or a reportin" rel="nofollow">ing of in" rel="nofollow">information. It is an attempt to grapple with the significance of an event or an issue that recurs across a range of discursive modes. Typically, in" rel="nofollow">in writin" rel="nofollow">ing an essay you are asked to respond to a question. The important thin" rel="nofollow">ing is not to stop short of givin" rel="nofollow">ing that response by simply presentin" rel="nofollow">ing the material in" rel="nofollow">in which the reader might fin" rel="nofollow">ind an answer. It is your job to be direct about what your answer is. Writin" rel="nofollow">ing a good essay in" rel="nofollow">involves the consolidation of a number of skills. Developin" rel="nofollow">ing these skills very much depends on the attitude you take to your work. Readin" rel="nofollow">ing and writin" rel="nofollow">ing skills—such as careful readin" rel="nofollow">ing, meticulous note takin" rel="nofollow">ing and conscientious redraftin" rel="nofollow">ing of written work—require self-disciplin" rel="nofollow">ine and effective time-management. They will be most effectively developed if you adopt a curious and reflective disposition, a willin" rel="nofollow">ingness to be in" rel="nofollow">interested in" rel="nofollow">in the essay topic and in" rel="nofollow">in the content of the course. Good writin" rel="nofollow">ing comes from a hunger for knowledge and understandin" rel="nofollow">ing and an in" rel="nofollow">interest in" rel="nofollow">in expressin" rel="nofollow">ing yourself verbally. Developin" rel="nofollow">ing the skills to write a good essay is cumulative. With effort, over your time at university you will become more adept at writin" rel="nofollow">ing essays, and the skills you develop in" rel="nofollow">in the process will become the foundation of your life skills for makin" rel="nofollow">ing sense of the world by in" rel="nofollow">independent means. Because skills are cumulative, you will benefit most from your time at university if you read carefully through the comments provided by your tutor when your work is returned. When it comes to writin" rel="nofollow">ing your next essay, even if it is for a different course, you should bear those comments in" rel="nofollow">in min" rel="nofollow">ind, makin" rel="nofollow">ing it one of your objectives to pay special attention to any weaknesses that have been identified. Writin" rel="nofollow">ing essays is hard. Fortunately, it is also immensely rewardin" rel="nofollow">ing. Generally speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, it is an opportunity to learn about the world, to evaluate different views of a topic, to organise in" rel="nofollow">information from a variety of sources in" rel="nofollow">into a coherent and in" rel="nofollow">intelligible structure. It also allows you to fin" rel="nofollow">ind out what you yourself thin" rel="nofollow">ink about a topic and to accumulate expertise in" rel="nofollow">in the field you are studyin" rel="nofollow">ing and the area you have researched. Writin" rel="nofollow">ing essays at university is different from writin" rel="nofollow">ing essays at school in" rel="nofollow">in as much as the curriculum is not limited, and you are expected to undertake in" rel="nofollow">independent research and penetrate some of the material covered in" rel="nofollow">in lectures more deeply than the lecturer does. While your lecturer should stand as a guide to your exploration of a research field, what you brin" rel="nofollow">ing to a given piece of work should not be limited to what the lecturer has said in" rel="nofollow">in class. In section 6 of this document you will fin" rel="nofollow">ind a complete breakdown of how to go about writin" rel="nofollow">ing a university essay. Remember, although there is a lot of in" rel="nofollow">intense analytical thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in essay writin" rel="nofollow">ing and a degree of creativity, there is also a lot of plain" rel="nofollow">in hard work. Indeed the thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing and creative processes can’t really come in" rel="nofollow">into play with any degree of success until many of the more mechanical tasks have been completed. Fortunately, much of the anxiety we experience when we contemplate havin" rel="nofollow">ing to thin" rel="nofollow">ink deeply and creatively is ameliorated by the undertakin" rel="nofollow">ings that require pure self-disciplin" rel="nofollow">ine. In other words self-disciplin" rel="nofollow">ine is the first and necessary step to writin" rel="nofollow">ing a good essay. 2. Time-management In the first in" rel="nofollow">instance, you need to manage your time effectively. In your life-time you will hear many people boast that they received a good grade for an essay that they wrote the night before. Very occasionally people do obtain" rel="nofollow">in good results for completin" rel="nofollow">ing a task on the fly, but they would undoubtedly have done better had they spent more time on it. And they would have learned more, which is, after all, the poin" rel="nofollow">int of bein" rel="nofollow">ing at university. To do anythin" rel="nofollow">ing difficult properly takes time. When you are learnin" rel="nofollow">ing new skills, it will take more time than when you have mastered them. So the very first thin" rel="nofollow">ing you need to do to write a good essay is to plan your study for the semester. By the end of the second or third week of session you should have a firm idea of what all your assessment tasks are and when they due. It is more than likely that you will have multiple assignments due around the end of the semester. This means that you will need to organise yourself to make good use of those periods of the semester when not so much work is due to get goin" rel="nofollow">ing on those assignments that are bunched together at the end. Our advice is to plan your semester around the amount of pieces of written work you have, dividin" rel="nofollow">ing the weeks in" rel="nofollow">in the semester by the number of assignments. Makin" rel="nofollow">ing sure you work consistently on those assignments throughout the semester should then be a straight forward task. 3. Be diligent In most cases you will do better in" rel="nofollow">in any in" rel="nofollow">individual assignment by stayin" rel="nofollow">ing fully engaged with all aspects of the course for the duration of the semester. This means goin" rel="nofollow">ing to all lectures, tutorials and film screenin" rel="nofollow">ings, keepin" rel="nofollow">ing up with your weekly tutorial readin" rel="nofollow">ing, takin" rel="nofollow">ing notes in" rel="nofollow">in every in" rel="nofollow">instance and reviewin" rel="nofollow">ing your notes when embarkin" rel="nofollow">ing on your assessment tasks. When reviewin" rel="nofollow">ing your notes take the time to look up concepts you didn’t fully understand and if need be ask your tutor for further help. 4. Preparin" rel="nofollow">ing to write your essay 4.1 Decide on a question and thin" rel="nofollow">ink about what it is askin" rel="nofollow">ing of you. Write down whatever ideas come in" rel="nofollow">into your head. 4.2. Determin" rel="nofollow">ine what avenues of research you will pursue: school course reader, in" rel="nofollow">internet databases and journal essays, library books, films, dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference books. Try to assemble all of your material in" rel="nofollow">in one space as much as possible so that your can move on to the next task, which is readin" rel="nofollow">ing and note takin" rel="nofollow">ing. 4.3 Readin" rel="nofollow">ing and note takin" rel="nofollow">ing: The way you read a text will very much depend on the kin" rel="nofollow">ind of text it is and what you want from it. Some texts will be easy to understand and will require little more than skim readin" rel="nofollow">ing to identify relevant parts/poin" rel="nofollow">ints and you will quickly move on to takin" rel="nofollow">ing notes from them. Others will be very hard to understand, will in" rel="nofollow">involve the use of specialised dictionaries, encyclopaedias and reference books to fully grasp and will require you goin" rel="nofollow">ing over them two or three or even more times. I fin" rel="nofollow">ind that difficult texts require me to read them three times: first I skim, second I underlin" rel="nofollow">ine what I thin" rel="nofollow">ink the important poin" rel="nofollow">ints of the argument are, third I take notes, tryin" rel="nofollow">ing to paraphrase as much as I can rather than simply copy out slabs of text. Paraphrasin" rel="nofollow">ing is an important way of digestin" rel="nofollow">ing the meanin" rel="nofollow">ing of written texts. Good note takin" rel="nofollow">ing is the key to writin" rel="nofollow">ing a good essay and it can also be one of the most pleasurable tasks it in" rel="nofollow">involves. The way you take notes will also depend on the text and what you want from it. It is important to be careful in" rel="nofollow">in the way you take notes to avoid the charge of plagiarism. When you take notes make sure that the very first thin" rel="nofollow">ing you write down are the bibliographical details of the book (author(s)/editor(s), chapter or essay title, book or journal title, publisher, year and date of publication, page numbers). The next thin" rel="nofollow">ing you should do is write the number of the page you in" rel="nofollow">intend to take some poin" rel="nofollow">int from. This is very important and will save the time in" rel="nofollow">in the long run. Next write your poin" rel="nofollow">int, makin" rel="nofollow">ing sure that if you are quotin" rel="nofollow">ing verbatim you use quotation marks, and makin" rel="nofollow">ing a note of it if you are doin" rel="nofollow">ing a very close paraphrase. 5. Watchin" rel="nofollow">ing films and film analysis Watch the films you are writin" rel="nofollow">ing about multiple times and take notes while watchin" rel="nofollow">ing them. The most important evidence for your essay lies in" rel="nofollow">in the films themselves and your essays in" rel="nofollow">in Film Studies courses should in" rel="nofollow">include your own in" rel="nofollow">interpretation of the films in" rel="nofollow">in question. This in" rel="nofollow">interpretation needs to go beyond mere assertion and be backed up with concrete details from the film as evidence. Such details should in" rel="nofollow">include more than a description of what happens in" rel="nofollow">in the story. The story itself is an effect of film form so you should always be considerin" rel="nofollow">ing the importance of such formal elements as framin" rel="nofollow">ing and frame composition, editin" rel="nofollow">ing, lightin" rel="nofollow">ing, mise-en-scène, camera-work, dialogue, sound, noise. You also need to be aware of what genre the film belongs to, what the conventions of genre are, and/or how the work relates to the oeuvre of its filmmaker. 6. How to Structure Essays and Research 6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 Question the categories of the essay topic/question. This may mean takin" rel="nofollow">ing the title apart word by word and askin" rel="nofollow">ing what each one means and how they relate to each other. 6.1.2 And/or: Discuss the implications of the title if it is more straightforward. 6.1.3 Brin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in any theoretical apparatus that might illumin" rel="nofollow">inate the title. 6.1.4 Briefly discuss the stance you will be takin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the piece of work towards the issues raised by the title. 6.1.5 Briefly outlin" rel="nofollow">ine the arguments you will be deployin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the course of the work (that is, set out your stall) 6.2. Corpus 6.2.1 Make sure that arguments are logically ordered, and make the lin" rel="nofollow">inks between the major ones transparent. 6.2.2 When considerin" rel="nofollow">ing each argument, assess it from many sides, takin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">into account all the contradictions found in" rel="nofollow">in the text(s) under discussion. If these contradictions undermin" rel="nofollow">ine your origin" rel="nofollow">inal ideas, then let them be modified. 6.2.3 Be circumspect, thus be aware that films/texts are not about uncomplicated matters. Take the complexity of characters or events in" rel="nofollow">into account when discussin" rel="nofollow">ing them. The result can lead to a more rounded analysis. 6.2.4 Test the validity of your arguments by tryin" rel="nofollow">ing to argue again" rel="nofollow">inst yourself before writin" rel="nofollow">ing. Again" rel="nofollow">in, the result is a fuller appreciation of what you may have previously considered an open and shut case. 6.2.5 Don't labour poin" rel="nofollow">ints or keep referrin" rel="nofollow">ing to them. They become repetitious and ultimately affect the way an examin" rel="nofollow">iner may assess your work. 6.2.6 Your arguments should resemble an in" rel="nofollow">intellectual journey from a place of relative ignorance, through a thorough examin" rel="nofollow">ination, to a conclusion at the end of each argument. 6.2.7 Take material from the film/text as a whole - with examples from here and with examples from there: don't be strait-jacketed by a work's chronology. 6.2.8 In the case of comparative essays: attract material from all your relevant sources. For example, do not write two half essays - write one essay on the two texts, contin" rel="nofollow">inually contrastin" rel="nofollow">ing your sources for productive similarities and divergences around arguments. 6.3 Conclusion 6.3.1 Tie together the conclusions from the arguments presented in" rel="nofollow">in the corpus of the essay in" rel="nofollow">into one more all-encompassin" rel="nofollow">ing conclusion, that is, a conclusion of the conclusions. 6.3.2 Tell the reader what you have learned through the process of writin" rel="nofollow">ing the essay. Your engagement with the film (s)/text(s) in" rel="nofollow">in the work's corpus may have opened your eyes to new facets which have surprised you. These need to be reported in" rel="nofollow">in the conclusion. 6.3.3 Don't skimp: a conclusion is there to show the reader that the essay was worthwhile and that you have learned somethin" rel="nofollow">ing by applyin" rel="nofollow">ing rigorous criticism to texts. 6.3.4 But don’t go overboard either: keep it concise yet full of poin" rel="nofollow">ints derived from the essay’s corpus. 6.3.5 Don’t merely repeat what you have already said either: draw what you have already said together and deduce in" rel="nofollow">interestin" rel="nofollow">ing poin" rel="nofollow">ints. Arguments can be easily structured: you in" rel="nofollow">introduce your terms, you process your material with your ideas, and you draw conclusions. 7. Style Guide for submission of written work Please read the followin" rel="nofollow">ing guidelin" rel="nofollow">ines carefully. Poorly formatted work and in" rel="nofollow">incorrect referencin" rel="nofollow">ing will attract penalties and may result in" rel="nofollow">in it havin" rel="nofollow">ing to be resubmitted. 7.1 Formattin" rel="nofollow">ing your work 7.1.1 All work should be submitted in" rel="nofollow">in 12pt Times or Times Roman Font. Your text should be double-spaced and new paragraphs should be in" rel="nofollow">indented. Footnote or endnote text should be sin" rel="nofollow">ingle-spaced. 7.1.2 When usin" rel="nofollow">ing quotation marks use double quotes as a default. Only use sin" rel="nofollow">ingle quotes when there are quotes within" rel="nofollow">in quotes. 7.1.3 Text in" rel="nofollow">in quotes should not be italicised unless the origin" rel="nofollow">inal text is in" rel="nofollow">in italics or unless you want to emphasise part of the text you are citin" rel="nofollow">ing, in" rel="nofollow">in which case you should say at the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of the footnote/reference to the text: my emphasis. 7.1.4 Film titles and book titles should be italicised. Journal articles and book chapters should be in" rel="nofollow">in quotation marks. 7.2 Notes and references 7.2.1 Use Chicago Style 7.2.2 Notes and references should appear at the foot of in" rel="nofollow">individual pages but at the end of the essay is also acceptable. 7.2.3 Do not use in" rel="nofollow">in text references. 7.2.4 Footnote numbers should be superscript and placed at the end of the sentence after the fullstop. 7.2.5 Second and later references to a previously cited work should be referred to by the author’s last name and the title of the work. If there are consecutive references to the same work you can use ibid after the first reference. Do not use op. cit. 7.2.6 All note references must in" rel="nofollow">include page numbers. 7.3 Example of Notes 1. Christian Metz, Psychoanalysis and Cin" rel="nofollow">inema: The Imagin" rel="nofollow">inary Signifier, trans. Celia Britton, Annwyl Williams, Ben Brewster and Alfred Guzzetti (London: Macmillan, 1982), 36. 2. Ibid., 34. 3. Ibid., 36. 4. Gin" rel="nofollow">inette Vin" rel="nofollow">incendeau, “Melodramatic realism: on some French women's films in" rel="nofollow">in the 1930s”, Screen, vol. 30, no. 3 (1989), 51-2. 5. Monika Treut, “Female misbehaviour”, in" rel="nofollow">in Laura Pietrapaolo and Ada Testaferri (eds), Femin" rel="nofollow">inisms in" rel="nofollow">in the Cin" rel="nofollow">inema (Bloomin" rel="nofollow">ington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995), 110. 6. Vin" rel="nofollow">incendeau, “Melodramatic realism”, 55. 7. Ibid., 56. 8. Metz, Psychoanalysis and Cin" rel="nofollow">inema, 31. 9. Ibid. 7.4 References to films in" rel="nofollow">in both notes and main" rel="nofollow">in text should in" rel="nofollow">include full title with in" rel="nofollow">initial capitalisation accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to accepted style of the language concerned. Titles should be italicised, and in" rel="nofollow">in the case of non-English language films origin" rel="nofollow">inal release title should precede US and/or British release title, followed by director and release date in" rel="nofollow">in round brackets: A bout de souffle/Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) Where such in" rel="nofollow">information is relevant to the argument and does not appear elsewhere in" rel="nofollow">in the text, details of production company and/or country of origin" rel="nofollow">in may also be in" rel="nofollow">included: The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, Warner Bros, US, 1945). 7.5 References to television programmes should be dated from the year of first transmission, and, in" rel="nofollow">in the case of long-runnin" rel="nofollow">ing serials, the duration of the run should be in" rel="nofollow">indicated. Details of production company, transmittin" rel="nofollow">ing channel, country, may be supplied where they are relevant to the argument: Coronation Street (Granada, 1961- ) Where writers or producers are credited their role should be in" rel="nofollow">indicated: Where the Difference Begin" rel="nofollow">ins (w. David Mercer, BBC, 1961). 7.6 When citin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">internet don’t forget to in" rel="nofollow">include the date of access: Malpas, J., “Donald Davidson”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Win" rel="nofollow">inter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win" rel="nofollow">in2012/entries/davidson/ (accessed March 12, 2013) 7.7 Bibliography should be in" rel="nofollow">in alphabetical order by family name and should follow the same format as your references (see above) except that the last name should be first. Do not number entries or use bullet poin" rel="nofollow">ints. Metz, Christian, Psychoanalysis and Cin" rel="nofollow">inema: The Imagin" rel="nofollow">inary Signifier, trans. Celia Britton, Annwyl Williams, Ben Brewster and Alfred Guzzetti (London: Macmillan, 1982). Treut, Monika, “Female misbehaviour”, in" rel="nofollow">in Laura Pietrapaolo and Ada Testaferri (eds), Femin" rel="nofollow">inisms in" rel="nofollow">in the Cin" rel="nofollow">inema (Bloomin" rel="nofollow">ington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995), pp. 106-21. Vin" rel="nofollow">incendeau, Gin" rel="nofollow">inette, “Melodramatic realism: on some French women’s films in" rel="nofollow">in the 1930s”, Screen, vol. 30, no. 3 (1989), pp. 51-65. 7.8 Filmography should follow the same format as your references and should list films in" rel="nofollow">in alphabetical order accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to title. Again" rel="nofollow">in, don’t number or use bullet poin" rel="nofollow">ints before entries. 8. Proofreadin" rel="nofollow">ing Don’t forget to proofread your essay before you submit it. The best way to do this is to read it aloud. You will read it better this way and are more likely to locate grammatical errors and long and unwieldy sentences. 9. For further in" rel="nofollow">information see The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003). This is now available via the library catalogue. Lisa Trahair and Angelos Koutsourakis, October 2013.