The Assignment:  Choose a film that was a popular topic among serious reviewers and write a 500-750 word (2-3 pages) Synthesis Essay that analyzes, compares and contrasts the critics' ideas. Don't feel like you have to choose a blockbuster or an "important" or serious work. It can be a comedy or drama or action movie, a work of art or a certified bomb, a film that was released 50 years ago or just this month, even a TV movie if you can find enough reviews. Feel free to select almost anything except "Forrest Gump" (since this is the topic of the sample student essay).

In general, you'll have an easier time writing about a film that you liked instead of hated, that was popular enough (at least temporarily) to be the subject of several serious reviews, and that was released at least a month ago. If you choose a film that began playing in just the last few weeks, it may be difficult to find reviews.

Audience:  Your essay will appear in a Parkland College literary magazine. You can assume that your readers are Parkland students and staff who are familiar with your film, but may not have actually seen it.

Purpose:  Your purpose in writing is not to give your personal evaluation of the film. Instead, you are dealing with the reviews of professional critics and giving the reader an analysis of their collective opinion. Your purpose in writing is to answer the reader's questions: "What did critics think of this film, and why?"

Sources:  Search the Web for reviews of your film. Start by consulting Research Tools, where you'll find links to newspaper reviews, film sites and television and cable stations that have movie reviews. Use the search-engine links to locate other reviews. You can also use reviews from print magazines and newspapers. I'll provide other relevant links in my posts in Angel.

Another excellent source for reviews (and for research you'll be doing for Paper #4 and #5) is the FirstSearch site, which contains several different databases of published articles. You can access FirstSearch from the link on the Research Tools page and from the Parkland Library page. In the FirstSearch drop-down box, choose ArticleFirst or Wilson Select  to find full-text reviews.

Try to locate at least 6-8 good reviews of your film. Look for long reviews that analyze the film and are developed like essays rather than plot synopses. Consider your sources carefully and select authoritative reviews by recognized experts if possible. There's a big difference between the online review by Roger Ebert and the ramblings of a Joe College who just posted his reaction on his personal home page.

Choose three or four reviews that you believe are representative of the whole. Your goal is to give the reader an accurate assessment of all the critics' opinions. If you read ten reviews and find that opinion is split (five are generally positive and five are negative), choose two of each for your analysis.

Develop your thesis:

    1 -  For each of your selected reviews, identify the critic's thesis (main idea) and look for the major points that support that thesis. Write it out.

    2 - Make a topic outline of each review.  List all the specific elements of the film that influenced the writer's overall evaluation. These might include performances, characterizations, director, screenplay (script and plot), casting, special effects, music, locations, symbolism, theme or moral, audience reactions, book on which the film was based, comparisons to other films, etc.

    3  - Look at the thesis statements and outlines for all your selected reviews and try to identify which major elements of the film had the greatest effect on the critics' conclusions. It doesn't matter whether or not your reviewers agree.

    4 - From this analysis, develop a thesis for your own essay. Your thesis is the answer to the reader's question: "What did critics think of this film?", so it should accommodate an overall conclusion that can be made from all the reviews, with an emphasis on the main element or reason that caused the critics to evaluate the film as they did. Try to focus on one main idea, even though you're dealing with what might be three or four very different viewpoints.

A good thesis will summarize the critics' evaluation (as a whole, whether or not they liked the film) and focus on why they came to that conclusion (which element or elements of the film most affected their assessment). Some sample thesis statements:

Even after 60 years, critics feel the message of "The Wizard of Oz" has timeless appeal for adults and children.

Although reviewers were generally negative about the overall quality of "The Big Chill", they were virtually unanimous in praising the performances of the ensemble cast.

The weak plot and so-so special effects of "Godzilla" caused reviewers to call it the most over-hyped, disappointing film of 1998.

Use these topics to develop the body outline of your essay. Each body topic should focus on an idea that advances your thesis, and each topic should include support from at least 2-3 of your reviews. Keep in mind that your purpose is not to give a synopsis of the film nor to merely summarize the reviews, so don't organize your essay around the plot or your sources.

Sample outline:  Outline and thesis for a synthesis of critical opinion of the film "Titanic":

I.  Introduction -- idea or observation about disaster movies in general, how "Titanic" is different, the critics' response (Thesis: Critics raved about "Titanic" because of director James Cameron's success in combining a great love story, historical accuracy and believable special effects.)

II.  Overview of the critics' opinions -- the main thesis of each of the reviewers you'll be citing in your paper. (Based on the above thesis, these comments -- and much of the material in the rest of the paper -- will probably focus heavily on Cameron.)

III.  Love story -- script, believability, character development, etc.

IV.  Performances of DiCaprio & Winslett -- emphasis on romance/chemistry between the characters

V.  Historical story -- accuracy, sets and locations, etc.

VI.  Special effects

VII.  Conclusion -- re-emphasize the thesis, leave your readers with an idea or recommendation that will help them understand the reviews and evaluate the film for themselves.

Use a quotation if you use the reviewer's exact words -- whether it's a full sentence, a phrase, or even just one word used in a special way. You should, however, be very selective about what you quote. Try to use no more than one full-sentence quotation per paragraph. Unless the reviewers' exact wording is unusual or controversial, you can often communicate the idea more effectively by summarizing or paraphrasing it into your own words.

Cite your sources:  You must provide full documentation every time you use anything from an outside source, whether it's a direct quote or your own summary of the critic's comments. For this paper, documentation will take three forms:

1 - In-text references:  All of your support material will be experts' ideas and opinions, so you'll want to identify the source in the sentence where you present the material. To do this, give the reviewer's full name and the name of the publication when you make your first reference to each review (According to Chicago Tribune reviewer Gene Siskel, . . .) . For subsequent references, use just the reviewers' last name (Siskel felt that . . . ).
     If you are using an unsigned review, use the publication or web site name to identify the source (The Internet Movie Database reviewer called the film . . . ;  According to the Variety critic, ... ).

2 - MLA notes:  For every reference to an outside source, you will also include an MLA parenthesis note. Since you will have already identified the author in the sentence, the MLA note will include only the page number of the material you cited. Examples:

In his review of "Presumed Innocent", Newsweek's David Ansen complained about Harrison Ford's haircut, but not his performance (2).

The film was called "riveting" by the Internet Movie Database (1) and "best of the summer" by Pauline Kael of the New York Times (3).

According to Kael, "Presumed Innocent" offers viewers more sophisticated suspense than "Jagged Edge" or even "Chinatown" (4).

3  - Works Cited page:  At the end of the text, include a perfectly formatted Works Cited page that gives the reader detailed information on all the sources you used to develop your essay (list just the sources you actually cited with an MLA note; don't list every review you read). In your paper and in the Works Cited entries, use italics for names of web sites and publications (Internet Movie Database, Film Quarterly, Newsweek), Use quotation marks for film titles ("Godzilla") and titles of reviews ("DePalma's 'Bonfire' Flames Out").

To complete this assignment, you will also need to consult:

• Citing Sources from the Web -- formatting guidelines for your Works Cited page and MLA parenthesis notes.

• Paper #3 Checklist -- a listing of paper requirements and "how-to" tips to help you revise your draft. It also includes more details on organizing your topics, citing support material and structuring effective paragraphs.

• Sample paper -- a student essay on critical opinion of "Forrest Gump".

With your final paper, include:

1 - A description and analysis of your readers (2-3 sentences).

2 - Your thesis statement.

3 - A topic outline of the finished paper. Use the sample paper as a model for format.

Due date:  Post your paper in the Paper 3 assignment folder in Angel by midnight of the due date listed on the Assignments page. Please submit it in text form (cut and paste from your word processor). For the subject line, list your last name and the assignment number (Jones - 4).

Part B

Write a short (2 paragraphs) response to the author of each of the three papers. Post each response to the Paper 3 assignment folder as a reply to the original message. You can also send a copy to the personal mailbox of the author. 

In the first paragraph of each response, you can comment on the film itself and the overall content of the essay. In the second paragraph, focus on the development of the evidence and make some suggestions for improving the writing and organization. Be positive -- point out what you liked and which parts of the essay were especially interesting or well written. Then try to make constructive, specific recommendations that could improve the composition. You might point out that a paragraph needs more evidence to develop the topic sentence, that an MLA parenthesis note is missing or formatted incorrectly, that a passage is difficult to understand, that punctuation is missing from a quotation.  Use the Paper #3 Checklist to evaluate the essay and decide on the specific areas that could be improved.

After you receive the comments on your essay, you may revise or rewrite your paper. If you choose this option, post your revised version to the Paper 3 folder by the due date listed on the Assignments page. At the same time, delete your first draft from the folder.