MEDA10036G Documentary Film: An Introduction

Q1.  Identify which of the essay questions you will be responding to.  Describe your reasoning for choosing this topic in 2-3 sentences.  Identify the two films you will use for your comparative essay.  Why, in your opinion, are these films the most effective choice for illustrating your chosen topic?

Q2.  Make a list of between 5 and 7 keywords related to your essay topic.  This may include topic keywords like “expository documentary” or “social actors”, the director’s name and the film’s title.

Q3.  After watching Sheridan librarian Kathleen Oakey’s video tutorial on how to search and evaluate academic resources in the Sheridan library, visit the Sheridan library website Using the keywords you created in Q2, locate three potential academic resources such as a book, journal article, powerpoint or encyclopedia entry, that might be relevant and helpful to your topic.  For each resource, prepare the following:

a.  An APA reference entry

b. A 1-2 sentence summary of the main argument or position from the source

c. A 2-3 sentence evaluation of how this source is relevant to your essay and how you might use the resource to support your position

d. One direct quote from the resource, including a properly formatted intext citation

Q4.  Referring to the definitions and examples from slides 5 and 6 in the video Lecture “Writing About Documentary Film” for each of these elements, draft an outline for the introductory paragraph for your chosen essay topic, writing 1-2 point form sentences for each element.  

a. CONTEXT STATEMENT

b. PROBLEM STATEMENT

c. THESIS STATEMENT

d. BODY PARAGRAPH SUMMARYQ5.  Rewrite your introductory paragraph, using complete sentences and editing your work for clarity, word choice and grammar.  Review the outline of your introductory paragraph.  Ask yourself the following questions: Is it specific?  Does it avoid good/bad evaluations?  Does it make a debatable point?  Does it clearly identify the topic you will be discussing and the texts you will be evaluating?