Film Analysis Paper Rough Draft Workshop

1)  The thesis must grow from accurate and adequate primary source evidence.  Show the author (and me) what the draft reveals to you about its support.  List, in words or phrases, the key evidence used in the draft.

2)  Test it for accuracy and completeness.  Look at the script and the film, itself.  Can you suggest changes in or additions to the evidence to improve the support for the thesis.

3)  Does the thesis currently articulate a non-obvious insight based on the author’s original reasoning about the evidence?  Try to state the thesis in your own words.  If you see the opportunity, suggest modifications to the thesis to improve its explanation of the evidence.

4)  What is the most obvious evidence the author uses?  What is the most non-obvious evidence the author uses?  Help the author to sketch an outline of the order in which the paper should bring its best readers from what they already believe about the obvious evidence to the author's non-obvious insight ("news") about the least obvious evidence.

5)  Does the argument use some scholarly support in a proper manner?  Test its relevance to the thesis being argued.  Can you suggest where the paper might need additional scholarly support?  Remember there are many things a scholarly source can do for the paper, and if this paper is not using them for these purposes, check them off below with comments about where they might be used.  Can you suggest where the writer might look for the source?

_____  to establish in the introduction what recently work has been done on the issue in other texts/films, or in this specific text/film.

_____  to define, in the body of the paper, terms relevant to the issue.

_____  to provide historical context to the discussion, such as what significance a city or country had during a war, how a clothing style ordinarily was interpreted, etc.

_____  to introduce a contradictory scholarly interpretation of the evidence which the writer seeks to disprove.

_____  to provide biographical information about authors, directors, actors, and others who might be said to be “authors” of what we see on the screen.