Philosophy essay

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Paper Requirements for Philosophy of Film 324 01 Fall 2015, University of Dayton

General Summary of What You Are to Do: You will pick one film from those we have watched in class and one reading selection that goes along with that film. You will then write a paper based on this reading and film PLUS another film (that you choose and watch on your own). You will supplement the reading with an additional source that you research on your own that connects to the reading provided in some relevant way. This additional reading can be in philosophy, in film theory, in film criticism, or in cultural studies. If you are unsure whether or not a source you’d like to use will meet the requirements for this paper please email me for approval. Clarification on acceptable sources:

1) One of the required sources used must be a reading assigned for class. 2) The second required source must be a primary source – which means that it must be by the

original author and not a book about that author. a. Website blogs, Wikipedia, etc. do not count as primary sources, although they may

be used to guide your thinking provided you do not plagiarize from them. In general .edu sites for information on authors is better than .com sites. Also scholarly encyclopedia articles.

b. Good UD library search databases for articles in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals: EBSCO or JSTOR. Philosophy, literary theory, film theory and studies, and film criticism are all sub-fields from which you can choose sources.

Consult the paper due dates to make sure you do enough research ahead of time that you can obtain a needed source from OhioLink or ILL if needed. Format:

- 2500-3000 words, based on the course material, and class discussion.

- Single-spaced with a blank line between paragraphs.

- 12-point font with 1 inch margins.

- It must be submitted to the Assignment tab on Isidore for papers as an attachment in Word. No other formats will be accepted.

- You will need to include a Bibliography or Works Cited List and use MLA style both for this

and for in-text citations. See http://libguides.udayton.edu/c.php?g=15325&p=83392 and https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ for the guidelines for this. Don’t forget that films need to be listed in the Works Cited page as well as all sources used.

- Do NOT share your paper topic or papers with classmates before submission.

Due Dates: Paper 1: Topics/proposals due Oct. 6, paper due Oct. 18 Paper 2: Topics/proposals due Dec. 1, paper due Dec. 13

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Paper Content:

I. Introduction [Thesis statement, overview of paper in connection to the two films chosen including which theories you will use and how you will apply them to the films chosen.]

II. Body of Paper [you can organize this in your own way to follow your thesis]

a. Set forth the theories you are using and explain what claims they make that you will

compare and contrast your chosen films with, including appropriate in-text citations. You MAY NOT use a source without citation or represent another author’s work as your own. If your paper does this it will receive a grade of F. Both direct quotations and close paraphrases must be cited. You can use some of what we discussed in class discussion as part of your analysis and there is no need to cite to that or to me.

b. Analyze the features of the movies you have selected in connection with the theories

you have provided in a, above. How do they fit? How do they not fit? What might this mean?

c. What happened as a result of this analysis? Do the theories stand? If not, why not? What

alternative theory is suggested instead that would fit better? Here is where you may feel free to provide your own, improved theory that covers your genre! Don’t be afraid to be a philosopher!

III. Conclusion

This should summarize the findings of your paper plus suggest how or why this change (or additional support for the theory provided if it has not changed) is relevant to how we understand the theory of film under discussion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

- Do not waste a lot of time on plot synopses of movies - Do not plagiarize. If you “borrow” a movie description or critical review without citing it

your paper will fail. All papers will be run through the “Turnitin” plagiarism detection system so be on guard against this

- Getting the philosophy right is the hardest part of these papers for most students. This is first and foremost an upper-level philosophy class so the biggest component of your grade will be based on your understanding of and application of the philosophy at issue. Take a lot of care on this aspect of your paper and email me/consult me if you’re not sure about your take on something.

Grading Your paper will be downgraded one-half letter grade for each day that it is late and it will not be accepted at all if turned in more than 2 days late. You may turn a paper in early without penalty but I will not pre-grade it for resubmission.