World History

HIST 1112

Dr. Tompson

Fall 2022

Video Documentary Analysis:

Instructions

Almost every week of the syllabus for this class includes a documentary

video that corresponds to the topic for that week. Video documentaries are one of

the main ways that history is presented to the public, and as such they are worthy

of critical analysis. For this assignment you are being asked to reflect on not only

the basic content of a video documentary, but also how the material is presented;

and how we, the viewers, can evaluate whether the historical information presented

is reliable. Twice during this semester you will submit a Video Documentary

Analysis (VDA). For each one you must write a 500- to 750-word commentary

about one of the documentaries that are listed in the syllabus and contained within

each of the Weekly Modules.

Preparing to Write your Video Documentary Analysis

When you have selected a documentary that you intend to write about, watch and

listen carefully and TAKE NOTES. Captions, if available, may be helpful for

picking up unfamiliar words or names, but beware: “auto-generated” captions

usually contain errors and inaccuracies (particularly where foreign names and

words are concerned).

After briefly describing the content of the media, analyze & evaluate how

the history is presented and how effective the presentation is. The main purpose of

your VDA is not to merely summarize the information, but to think critically and

assess how this historical information is being conveyed. Support your assessment

with specific examples and information from the documentary under consideration.

Your VDA should not just take a casual approach to evaluating the particular

source (e.g., “I liked this documentary”), but rather should actively explore what is

good or bad about the source, then explain how it succeeded (or didn’t) in

presenting history (e.g., “This was an effective presentation of the history of

________ . The producers accomplished this by [(a), (b), (c), etc.]”).

Note that this assignment is not simply about your opinion. You should

work to provide an objective, even-handed analysis of the source under

consideration; an analysis which is supported by evidence. However, in your

closing paragraph you may want to briefly state your reaction as a “consumer” of

this particular historical media.

As with any media source, we should strive to be critical consumers of

information. This means watching and reading carefully, paying attention to how

the material is presented, and how well it appears to be supported by evidence.

Look for any sign of bias or selective presentation of information: have any

particular perspectives been given undue emphasis? Have any particular

perspectives been left out of the presentation?

Here are some questions that you should consider when writing up your

VDA:

• What kinds of images and sounds are used to present the historical

information? Are there still images such as paintings or photographs, maps,

scenes with actors, historical film footage? What kind of music or sound

effects are used, and how does this influence the viewer’s experience of the

documentary?

• Does the documentary rely upon: historical footage with narration;

interviews with experts; reenactments using costumes and props; and/or

other techniques?

• How can we evaluate how reliable and trustworthy this documentary may be

as a source of historical information?

Remember that your commentary in your VDAs should be mainly analytical rather

than just descriptive. This means you need to focus on explaining how the

historical material is presented, as opposed to simply repeating what happened or

what was shown in the documentary. If you just submit a summary of the

source material, you will not do well on the assignment.

Formatting and Organization

Each VDA must be typed and double-spaced as a document in a standard 12-point

font (such as Times New Roman) with one-inch margins. 750 words of double-

spaced text is approximately three pages. Your paper may go over that amount

slightly if necessary, but if it is less than 500 words you will not receive full credit.

Work to organize your observations and arguments into separate paragraphs. In an

assignment of this length, you should plan to write three to five paragraphs.

IMPORTANT: If you use the exact wording (or very similar) from the

documentary under review—or any other source—without marking it as such by

using quotation marks and a proper citation of the source, this

constitutes plagiarism. A first offense will result in a grade of zero on the

assignment, and a warning; a second offense will result in a grade of F for the

class, and your misconduct will be reported. Note that all students’ assignment

submissions will be screened automatically through Turnitin.com.

Grading:

Each Video Documentary Analysis is worth 10 percent of your final grade, and

will be assigned a point score based on the following grading scale:

* 9—10 = Excellent; well-written, analytical approach with direct reference to

evidence from the documentary

* 7.5—8.9 = Good; well-written but lacking some analysis and/or direct

reference to the documentary

* 6.0—7.4 = Fair; some flawed writing and/or little analysis and/or insufficient

attention to evidence from the documentary

* ≤ 6.0 = Poor; poorly written and/or evidence from the documentary is not

discussed

When & How to Submit your Assignments:

There are two deadlines for Video Documentary Analyses (VDAs). For each of

the VDAs, you will need to choose one of the video documentaries posted in

CougarView which correspond to that particular due date.

You will submit each of your two VDAs in an online dropbox, found by selecting

“Assignments” which is under the Assessments tab in CougarView. Late

submissions will not be accepted. Make a note of the following deadlines to avoid

any problems.

VDA #1: The first VDA is due by Oct. 9th and should be based on one of the

documentaries contained in the Weekly Modules for Weeks 1 through 6.

VDA #2: The second VDA is due by November 22nd and should be based on one

of the documentaries found in the Weekly Modules for the last half of the semester

(that is, Weeks 7 through 12).

IMPORTANT: You do not have to wait until the deadline date to turn in these

assignments; on the contrary, you are strongly encouraged to complete and submit

them at the earliest opportunity. NOTE that the different assignments for this

class (PSA and VDA) share the same due dates ; so if you wait until the last

minute to complete them both, you will put yourself in a bind. If a particular

week’s documentary video catches your interest, you would be wise to write up

your Video Documentary Analysis while that material is fresh in your mind.

However, please DO NOT jump ahead in the syllabus and submit a PSA that

addresses material from a week that we have not yet reached in the syllabus.