Documentary Analysis

Introduction
For this assignment, your task is to watch a documentary pertaining to your project topic and critically analyze it in a 3-4 page essay.
General Instructions
The essay must be a minimum of three (3) full pages. Students should also attach a cover page similar to the example on Moodle (does NOT count towards the three-page minimum… do NOT use a header!). All essays must be double spaced in size 12, Times New Roman font. Page margins should not exceed more than one inch. Your essay must have an easily identifiable thesis statement that clearly articulates the argument you are making.
Specific Instructions: In this assignment, you will be evaluating your chosen documentary in the same manner as historians. Therefore, the information presented in the documentary is less important for this assignment (though the content is definitely important to increasing your knowledge of history and you should pay attention to it!) than the manner in which that information is presented and the argument it is trying to make. Your essay should address the following issues (with suggested minimum lengths for each section):
• Introduction Paragraph: ½ Page (100-150 words) – Should introduce the reader to prompt and include your thesis statement.
• Summary of Documentary: ½ Page (150-200 words) – Should briefly introduce the reader to the content of the documentary.
• Evaluation of Documentary’s Style: 1 Page (250-300 words)
o What is the documentary’s purpose? Is it a heroic narrative of the event in question? Or does it seek to revise or retell the history of the event/person or some aspect of it? Or maybe, does it seek to examine some under-covered, or “hidden” aspect of the movement? Is it a political documentary that uses history to make its argument?
o What is the documentary’s structure? Does it focus on an event or an individual (or group of individuals)? How does that affect the story being told?
o What is documentary’s style? Does it rely primarily on narration? Does it use interviews? How does it use those interviews? Does it rely on archival footage and pictures? Or does it recreate scenes? How do those choices affect the way you understood the argument?
o Does the documentary present opposing viewpoints? How does it present and treat those opposing viewpoints? How does this affect the documentary’s argument?
o Does the documentary rely solely on primary sources (archival film and letters, interviews with participants), or does it also use secondary sources (historians or other experts, statistical analysis, etc.)? How does the film use this information? How does this affect the documentary’s argument?
• Critical Evaluation of the argument: ½ page (150-200 words)
o What is the documentary’s argument? Why does the documentary say it is important?
o Where are the strengths (the most convincing aspects) in the documentary’s arguments? Where are the weakness (the least convincing aspects) in the argument?
o Are you convinced by the documentary’s argument? Why?
o If you are unconvinced by the documentary’s argument, what would you do differently? Why is your approach better?
• Conclusion/Summary: ½ page (100-150 Words) – Wrap the essay up in a neat bowtie!
Citations: You should be able to complete this assignment using just the documentary and, possibly, the textbook and the lecture notes. If you plan to use any additional sources, you must clear them with me before doing so. All sources must be cited using parenthetical citations.
Suggestions: Watch the documentary at least twice. The first time, watch it purely to absorb the information it is providing, don’t take notes. Now that you know what the documentary is about, watch it a second time, taking careful notes and paying attention to style and argument.