Course Recap for Wednesday, October 19

Annotated Bibliography
I checked everyone's annotated bibliography in class. I let each of you know if your sources were good sources, if they were properly formatted, and if your annotations gave me enough information about your source and your paper.  Some common mistakes were:

• The use of electronic citation managers to format your sources.  You can use these to format your sources as long as you compare what they give to you to an actual MLA guide because these things can often get them wrong. And since you have to do that you might as well just use the MLA guide in the first place and save yourself a few steps.  These citation managers use a specific formula to format your sources.  If your source deviates from that formula in anyway (maybe the source doesn't have a date or a author) it can format them wrong.  Even the citations at the bottom (or top) of articles are sometimes in the wrong format so you have to check those, too.
• Not italicizing the names of books and journals.  The article title is in quotations, but the publication in which the article is printed (the journal, newspaper, website, or magazine) is italicized.
• Summarizing the source in your annotations without explaining how you intend to use the source in your paper.  This is the most important part of your annotation.  I want to know how this source relates to your argument.

You were all given the chance to rework your annotated bibliographies.  They are due Sunday at 4.  You won't get credit if I don't get them by Sunday at 4.  Be sure to check out the OWL Purdue site or the WMU MLA Library Guide for information on how sources should be formatted.  If you missed class on Wednesday you will not be getting any feedback from me about your bibliography (one of the disadvantages of missing class).  Look at the commonly made mistakes above and make sure you haven't made any of them.  You can correct and resubmit your bibs just without my feedback. Sorry.


Intro Paragraphs and Outlines
As I checked your annotated bibs you worked on the first paragraphs of your paper and then did an outline where you listed the main points of your paper and the ways in which you were going to use specific scenes, lines, etc from your pieces to support your thesis.


Tips for Writing Your Paper

• Be sure that your research doesn't overwhelm your paper.  You are using the research to support your own ideas not the other way around.  Try not to have entire sections of the paper dedicated solely to your research.  Instead find ways to weave your research throughout the paper.
• Your paper is about the piece so you should be referring to the piece often.  If you haven't watched your film in a long time be sure to watch it before attempting to write your paper.  You'll be watching it with a more critical eye and will be better able to spot things that will support your argument.
• Please look at the sections on In-Text Citations on the OWL Purdue site.  You have to make sure that you are properly attributing all information from your sources.  Also remember that anything taken from a source (unless it's common knowledge)  must be cited.  Even if you paraphrase the information you still need to attribute it to the source.  

Possible Blog Post Topics

• Describe your writing process for this paper.  Where did you start?  How did you approach the topic? What aspects of the paper do you enjoy?  What issues or frustrations have you had in writing this paper?

Homework

• Revised Annotated Bibliography Due Sunday Oct 23 at 4 pm via Google Docs.
• Rough Draft of Analysis Paper Due Monday Oct 24 in class (Bring TWO COPIES please!)