Research Essay
For your final essay, your group will collaboratively research a topic that directly relates to the conversations this class has been having all semester. Your essay should not only directly address a concept relevant to the course, but also apply this concept effectively to a visual medium. Potential topics:
- A director and his/her body of work as it relates to the concepts of the course
- A film genre we haven’t covered and how it relates to the concepts of the course
- Hitchcock’s body of work and the male gaze / the act of looking
- Andy Warhol and representation / semiotics (sign=signifier/signified)
- The connection between cave art and street art (the human impulse to make images)
- The ways in which different artists/directors have used image icons
- The value of art/cinema for our culture
Semester Portfolio Project
On the day of the exam, you will submit your semester writing portfolio. Your portfolio will include:
- Title Page
- Revised drafts of your Hitchcock, Visual Culture, Gender Representations / Gaze, and Research essays
- *UConn Students will also include an introductory reflection piece Your introduction should address the following questions, though not necessarily in this order. It should take the form of a coherent essay, not simply a series of answers to the questions.
- What are the conclusions you are making about the central ideas of the course? What is the conceptual understandings you are walking away with?
- What important insights or approaches do your essays contribute to the class’s discussion of cinema and the practices of looking?
- What did you learn about writing and your own writing process?
Thursday, 1/4
Checklist for gender / gaze essay
Assignment overview for the research project, group, general/basic research, and topic selection
HW: Submit form on proposed topic
Friday, 1/5
College-level academic research with continued gathering and evaluating of sources
HW: The research process begins! You’re gathering and evaluating sources, pooling them together with your other group members on your shared document. You should have 3 good sources for Monday’s class.
Monday, 1/8
cont. gathering, evaluating sources and reading each other’s contributions, begin to synthesize information
Tuesday, 1/9
Thesis and outlining, adding research as necessary
Wednesday, 1/10
Drafting & conferencing day
Thursday, 1/11
Drafting & conferencing day
Friday, 1/12
Drop
Monday, 1/15
No School – MLK Day
Tuesday, 1/16
Peer Review and revision
Arri Weeks 