The goal of this exercise is to use the research resources of the Queens College Rosenthal Library to find sources for your research project.

Due by 10:00 a.m. Thursday, April 19th
Estimated time: 2 hours

For the scholarly research essay, you will need to situate your review within at least three contexts:

• the sociohistorical context i.e. you must consider the social and historical factors that contribute to the exhibit’s popularity (or unpopularity) .
• the generic context i.e. you must evaluate the exhibit within the conventions of the particular genres that define it.
• the existing map of opinion i.e. you must critically engage existing ideas about your exhibit in order to develop your own original viewpoints.

To do so, we will use the range of resources accessible through the QC library. Contact Librarian David Williams (david.williams@qc.cuny.edu) if you have any questions about or need additional help using the library’s many resources.

Assignment

For this homework exercise, you will use the library (and Internet search engines when appropriate) to find:

• ONE contextual source about the popularity of your exhibit. For example, if you are analyzing the popularity ofThe Walking Dead in American society, you will need to find a source that provides absolute and relative viewership statistics. For example:
  1. How many people watch the show?
  2. What types of people?
  3. What are trends in the viewership? Is viewership decreasing? Increasing?
  4. How do these numbers compare to other similar shows currently on television?
  5. How do these numbers compare to similar shows from other time periods?
• ONE or TWO argument sources that explain the existing main opinions about the aspect of your exhibit that you are interested in exploring. For example, if you are analyzing the popularity of The Walking Dead in American society, you will need sources that articulate the opinions that already exist about its popularity. For example:
  1. Is there a predominant viewpoint about your exhibit? What is it?
  2. Has the predominant viewpoint changed over time?
  3. Is there a debate about your exhibit? Why? What are the different perspectives in the debate?
• ONE contextual source that provides relevant information about contemporary social or political issues that are arguably addressed in your exhibit. For example, if you are analyzing the popularity of The Walking Dead in American society, you may need to find a source that reports on citizens’ growing fears about societal collapse or nuclear war. For example:
  1. What are the main social or political issues addressed in the show?
  2. What contemporary real-world reporting has been done about these issues?
• ONE theoretical source that explains and explores the conventions, functions, and/or implications of the genre of your exhibit. For example, if you are analyzing the popularity of The Walking Dead in American society, you may need to find a source about horror film and television. There are often multiple ways that an exhibit can be classified or categorized; therefore, a wise place to start is to research how it is already typically classified. For example:
  1. How is the show typically classified?
  2. Is it classified or categorized in a variety of ways?
  3. How are these categories defined? How do they typically work (according to experts or scholars)? What do they typically do (according to experts or scholars)?

Therefore, your aim is to produce a Works Cited list in MLA style that includes your exhibit (i.e. the film you are analyzing) and (at least) the four or five sources that you will find from this exercise. Post the MLA citations for the sources you find as a comment.

The goal of this exercise is to clarify the central question of your scholarly research essay by problematizing your exhibit.

Estimated time: 2 – 3 hrs
Due by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 17th 

Read my brief comments in response to Exercise 3.2. then review the five ways of identifying an intellectual or interpretive problem taught in our last class (described in the Identifying Problems handout). You will need to conduct preliminary research on your exhibit and also analyze it in order to determine the main question you want to explore in your scholarly research essay. Therefore, make sure to look up existing opinions about your film. Find out how the film is categorized as a genre and how that genre is define. Watch your film before our next class and take careful notes on patterns and anomalies you observe. You will use these observations and your preliminary research to create a clear, focused research question for your scholarly research essay.

Example 1
Latoya Peterson was motivated to write her essay about Kanyé West’s “Monster” music video because she noticed that the existing criticism of the music video seemed to overlook an important pattern in the music video: (nearly) all the dead women were white whereas all the black/brown women were depicted as monsters. Therefore, the central question of her essay is: What does this pattern reveal about cultural attitudes towards white women and women of color?

Example 2
A past student noticed that central female characters in the animated film Inside Out seemed to be based on common female stereotypes yet the film was universally praised as a feminist masterpiece. Therefore, in her research essay, she asked: Do the stereotypical depictions of Joy and Sadness undermine the film’s reputation as a “feminist” film?

Bring your central research question to our library workshop next Tuesday. As mentioned in our next class, our next class will be a library workshop so class will be held in Rosenthal 225.

The goal of this exercise is to identify two possible exhibits for your scholarly research essay.

Estimated time: 30 mins
Due by 9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 12th 

Review the assignment guidelines for Essay 3. Your exhibit can be:

• a feature-length movie (like Last Lovers Left Alive or It)
• a music video (like Kanyé West’s “Monster” music video or Taylor Swift’s “…Ready For It?” music video)
• a documentary (like Grizzly Man or Super Size Me)
• a short film between 10 and 30 minutes

As in Essay 2, you do not have to choose an exhibit that has an explicit monster; you may choose an exhibit that has an aspect that is conceptually monstrous. Whatever you choose, make sure it is something that you are genuinely interested in examining and writing about. Remember that, like Latoya Peterson, you will ultimately focus on and analyze specific aspects of your exhibit – not the “entire” exhibit!

Writing

List two film exhibits that you could possibly analyze for your scholarly research essay. Cite them using MLA style. Make sure that they are not the same type of film i.e. do not choose two movies or two music videos.