FINAL PAPER ON EACH FILM

Bob Corbett, instructor
GNST 1200, Summer 2001

THE ASSIGNMENT; PREPARATION HINTS; GRADING CRITERIA

• ASSIGNMENT:  Write a paper about the film before seeing it in class. The paper must meet the following criteria:
  1. The paper must be more than 2 full page -- single spaced, but may not go onto a fourth page.
  2. It must be SINGLE SPACED and meet the careful guidelines that no margin -- top, bottom, both sides, may be more than one single inch. Your name and the name of the film and such must go on a cover page. The paper itself is full text.
  3. The paper must 100% your own work and may not have a single quote from any source.
  4. The content of the paper must meet the following criteria:
     • In one very brief sentence, you must state your overall judgment of the film as art.
     • You must defend your thesis with arguments which support and show that the your thesis is a rational claim emerging from the film itself and some particular view of art.
     • Each individual argument you give must be NUMBERED, and written in a separate paragraph.

• PRE-PREPARATION TASKS:
  • You will need to simply sit and THINK about the film and about film as art.
  • Once you begin to come up with your own thesis, then you must search for REASONS for this view. This is a course in the university and the university is the house of reason where views are not dependent upon feelings or intuitions, but upon our ability to defend them with reasons.
  • As you begin to articulate reasons for your thesis, sketch them out and be sure they are reasons for exactly what you've claimed in your thesis statement.
  • The put it all together and write it up in coherent form and in well-constructed English d as much as you can in the area of your research.

• THINGS I WILL ESPECIALLY NOTE AND LOOK FOR IN GRADING THE PAPER IN ITS VARIOUS PHASES:
  • Is the paper on-time? Late papers will not be accepted and please note: THE PAPER MUST BE TURNED IN BY THE HOUR THE CLASS BEGINS. I WILL ACCEPT NO PAPERS BY E-MAIL. I MUST HAVE A HARD COPY IN HAND WHEN THE CLASS BEGINS ON THE DATE IT IS DUE.
  • Is the first sentence a short and very clear and significant thesis statement of what is art the art film?
  • Is the thesis well-defended by reasons?
  • Is each individual argument numbered and separated out by its own paragraph?
  • Is the paper original and seeming the student's own work?

• THE GRADES THEMSELVES:
  • A grade of A will mean: A significant thesis about the art of the particular film stated in the first very sentence and is it then carefully defended by reasons and each reason numbered. The paper is single-spaced within the exact margins demanded and is more than two pages of text itself and yet less than four. The paper is written in standard English and is presented with some degree of style and grace of language.
  • A grade of B will mean: All parts of the process asked for in the above were present, but the paper just didn't match up to the superior quality expected of the A. Perhaps the paper didn't follow the specific guidelines of form; or there were lapses in standard English; or the content was just a bit off from what was promised; or the paper just lacked the grace and style expected of a superior paper.
  • A grade of C will mean: All parts of the paper process were done and on-time. However, the final products were just not in the category of above-average. The paper represented a solid piece of work which should be expected of any undergraduate, but nothing above that. It was good, solid, unexceptional work.
  • A grade of D will mean: Some deviations from the criteria expressed above were present in some area of the paper. Perhaps lapses in seriousness of content, or presentation; perhaps failures to adequately express the paper in standard English; perhaps lapses in following the form required.
  • A grade of F may mean anyone of three things:
    1. The paper did not meet the time requirements given. Late work is simply unacceptable for any reason at all.
    2. Significant failures to meet the assignment at the level of reasonable university expectations of thought, attention to detail, significant lapses in the content's accuracy. (Specifics will be pointed out).
    3. The paper form (rather than the content) was seriously flawed. This could mean the time peramaters or such things as clarity of expression, or use of the English language. All of these would be expected to be used in a reasonable fashion for university level work. However, a grade of F on these grounds would require some quite serious deviation from the expectations listed above.

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