Academic Writing

Academic Writing Mrs. Stutz emilyannemulder@gmail Moodle: AW - Stutz, access code: letmein (registration closes in three weeks)

Prescribed Text • Bailey, Stephen. Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students. Third Edition.Oxford: Routledge, 2011. ISBN 978-0415595810 • MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

Recommended Text • Aczel, Richard. How to Write an Essay. Stuttgart: Klett, 1998.

Websites • Yale's Film Analysis Web Site • http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/ • Film terms and analysis methods explained and demonstrated • Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ • MLA Style Guide • Writing tips

Assessment • 1500 word essay during the semester with a minimum of six secondary sources • Unless you’re MA Angewandt, then it’s 2x2000 word essays.

Presentation • Select a film adaptation to present to the class • Upload prep material to Moodle by Sunday evening • Prepare a presentation as well as some sort of activity for the class to get everyone thinking critically about the film

Fundamentals • All assignments must be uploaded to Turnitin • Before you begin typing, set the language to English. • Make sure that you have run a spell-check and proofread your work.

Format • All work must be double-spaced. • Use 5 cm margins. • Each new paragraph should be indented from the left hand margin by one tab stop. Alternately, you may leave a blank line. Don’t do both. • Ensure that your name appears on every page.

Punctuation You must use proper English punctuation. No excuses. Here are a few common pitfalls: • This isn´t an apostrophe. It’s. • „These“ are not inverted commas, “these” are. • The apostrophe is easily found with Shift+#

Proofreading • There, they’re, their • You’re, your • It’s, its • Loose, lose; proof, prove • Belief, believe • Spend, spent (send, sent; extend, extent) • Who’s, whose • Heroin/Heroine • Whether, weather • Bear, beer • Plague, Plaque

Style The following points should be born in mind when writing in a formal essay style. • Don’t use contractions! • Do not use exclamation marks. • Limit the use of the first person. Phrases such as “I think” or “in my opinion” are redundant. • Don’t use “etc.” or “and so on,” as substitutes for your examples. If you’ve got something to say, say it. • Avoid addressing the reader as “you.”

Kids Dude Movie TV Show Chicks Children Man Film TV Program(me) Women Register

Speed Dating • What can be adapted into film? • What are the advantages to adaptation? • What are the disadvantages? • What could you write about concerning film adaptations? • What do you consider to be great adaptation? Why? • What do you consider to be a failure as an adaptation? Why? • What makes an adaptation successful / unsuccessful? • Why would a director choose to adapt something rather than take on a new screenplay? • Why should / shouldn’t the author /creator be involved in an adaptation? • What things are easier to adapt? Which are more difficult? Why? • What books should be adapted? Which not?

Film Terminology /Whattoconsider • Director • “auteur” -author, the figure who stamped a film with his/her own personality • “metteurs en scene“- person who merely transcribed a work from one medium into film. • Diegesis – world in which events occur, also inlcludes actions, attitudes, ect. not explicitly present. • Mise en scene – all the things that are put on the scene • Décor , lighting, space, costumes, actors • Story vs. plot : events and the way they are told (order duration setting) • Sound • Shot – single stream of images (close up, pan, medium, long) • Framing – limiting what the viewer sees • Focus – highlighting certain aspects over others • Editing – transitions from shot to shot

Academic Writing