Friday, November 13, 2009

Psycho assignment

First, here are the brief citations for those essays, just so you know, for your; I don't require a bibliography, so it's enough to write something like "(Ebert, p. xx)" or "(Sterritt, p. xx)." Cite their ideas, don't plagiarize them:

"Psycho," The Great Movies, Roger Ebert
"Psycho," The Films of Alfred Hitchcock, David Sterritt

You're to write a formal argumentative essay of approximately 500-750 words that analyzes the movie by responding to the Sterritt and Ebert essays. Some possible approaches: What is the movie about? How does the movie use its visuals and words to address its issues? How does your own view mesh or contrast with the views of the essayists? As in an essay on a piece of literature, think about how to divide up the paper, focusing on a particular aspect of the film or idea from the film in each body paragraph. Use the Ebert and Sterritt essays as touchstones and reference sources. You could simply use the Sterritt piece as a springboard, with your entire essay responding to his arguments. Whether you merely reference the essays or directly quote them, you still have to cite them properly in the paper.

This is not due on your next class day, but on next Wednesday and Thursday. If you're having trouble framing an argument, please talk to me.

Post any questions here.