ENGL 1301 Composition I - Dr. Waller

Your Assignment: Responding to Critics

Your assignment is a 4-5 paragraph essay and an included MLA works cited page. Following your introductory paragraph discussing your primary thoughts on the quality of your film, whether critics agree or disagree, and your thesis, you will include 3 paragraphs. These 3 body paragraphs will cover the following:

• Presentation of the primary arguments of 3 different critics
• One key claim/quote from each critic with which you can disagree or agree (for example, a plot summary doesn't make a judgment)
• An affirmation or rebuttal, including specific evidence from the film as support

You must cite 2 of your critics from this pre-approved list:

• Reviews at RogerEbert.com
  • Click on Movie Reviews at the top of the screen. Search for the film title or browse the chronological list.
• Reviews by James Berardinelli at Reelviews.net
  • Search the site at the top search box. Sometimes searching Google for Berardinelli and your movie title is more effective than searching the website directly.
• The New York Times Movie Reviews
  • You can search the page directly. Note that not all full text will be freely available on their site.
  • If full text is unavailable, use the site to identify a possible review article and then search the library's full text for NYT: you can create a free account with MCC or use the full text from an MCC database.
• The New Yorker
  • Search on the main website and then limit by section of the magazine and include the year or main actor in your search. You can also search The New Yorker in many of our library databases.
•      Reviews by Peter Travers at Rolling Stone 
  • Click on Reviews at the provide Rolling Stone link or search for "Peter Travers" and your film title.
  • Not all articles are free on the site; search in our Ebsco database for Rolling Stone with your movie title.
• Reviews by Kenneth Turan at The Los Angeles Times and/or at NPR
  • Search Google with your film title in quotation marks and the reviewer's name.
• Reviews by David Edelstein at New York magazine and/or at Fresh Air
  • Search Google with your film title in quotation marks and the reviewer's name.
• Variety
  • Search Google with your film title in quotation marks, the word Variety, and the film's release year.
    You will also see articles in our databases from Variety.

To find other reviews in addition to searching the library resources, try the Movie Review Query Engine.

When searching for articles about your films, keep it simple:

1. Enclose names and phrases in quotations marks (capitalization is unnecessary):
2. "frank capra" AND/OR "it's a wonderful life"
3. Optional: use additional search terms such as review, actor/actress name, or character name
4. On the search results page, you can limit by date or by resource types - article, book, video

What if I am not finding anything?

• Remove the more specific search terms and search for the title and/or director name in the abstract field using the dropdown box (AB Abstract).
• Make sure you are spelling everything correctly

The video below will teach you the basics of using the MCC Library's search engine (which is located on the library's homepage). It incudes information on:

• search basics
• signing in
• the item-preview page
• accessing items
• accessing more information about an item
• narrowing your search results
  • Optional: by publication date
  • Optional: by article format - article, book, video, website

The video below will teach you to use the cite, share, and save button's on the item-preview screen.

The video below will teach you to find more information about a search result by accessing its record page.

The above graphic illustrates a possible research process.

Description of a Typical Research Process

You experience this process often without being aware of the stages or having a name for each stage. It's not always a linear path, as you may go back to previous tasks. You start with a research question, but as you learn more, your topic may undergo some change. You might modify your perspective and become more interested in related topics, leading you to different information sources. As you write, you might rely more on some articles and discard others. As you reread your writing, you will discover areas for revision.

Start

When you receive your assignment, you read through the instructions, paying attention to important details and deadlines. You will look at any provided rubric to be sure that you understand the expectations of the assignment.

1. Outlining or Free Writing

Next, informally think about your planned discussion. Write down some initial thoughts or create a rough outline. You might even create a mind map. This stage helps you move from confusion to clarity but doesn't have to be overly organized or structured. You are just getting your thoughts on paper.

2. Searching and Taking Notes

This next step consists of three activities you might do more than once before moving on.

• Conduct searches for articles and information to support your research topic. Do background research to learn more, if the topic is unfamiliar to you.

• Collect your information in an organized manner through email, your cloud drive, a flash drive, pasting citations into a document, adding articles to your library database folder, or making notes on paper. However you collect these pieces of information, make sure you know where the information came from and can return back to it if necessary.

• Take notes on how this information relates to your overall assignment and discussion. If you started an outline, indicate where you will use the information within that structure.

3. Outline again or for the first time

If started an outline in stage 1 or 2, add more information and detail to your outline at this point. Include passages you plan to quote, paraphrase, or summarize along with the source information. If you have not started an outline, do so now, providing details of your topic, introduction, body paragraphs, and the relevancy of your information sources within the outline.

4. Writing and Revising

This last stage consists of 3 tasks you might repeat. 

• Using your outline, notes, and sources, begin writing. Don't get discouraged if you realize your perspective on your topic changes or you don't have an article for one of your body paragraphs. You may need to search for other information, which is fine. 
• Take breaks often to look at what you have written with fresh eyes. Read your paper aloud. You will find areas to edit and revise.
• Your instructor may ask one of your classmates to proofread your paper for a peer review step. If not, you can ask a classmate, friend, family member, or Learning Commons tutor to assist with proofreading.

At the end of this process, you are ready to submit your paper! Following an organized path of research and writing leads to a greater end result.

Source: Wilson, Rita.  "Scholarly vs Popular." UTSA Libraries, 19 Nov. 2018, libguides.utsa.edu/scholarly.