AFAM 199C: “Research-Based Writing”
Topic: African American Cinema
MWF 11:15-12:10
Spring 2007
Professor Steve Brauer
Office: B-111; Office Hours: MW 9-11
Phone: 385-8168; Email: sbrauer@sjfc.edu
Introduction
This course is meant to help you learn the basics of writing an academic research paper at
the college level. We will work on such skills as summary and paraphrasing, quoting
sources and citing them, conducting library and database research, and writing an
annotated bibliography. I will ask you to engage in this learning under the aegis of our
specific topic for this section of DEPT. 199, which is “African American Cinema.” I will
take us through an introductory unit on Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing as a way to
model research questions and projects that scholars might undertake. After that, much of
the class will be about your questions and your projects about the topic. For me, research
papers are an attempt to investigate a question. I will ask you to develop such a question,
one that will allow you to participate in a fulfilling inquiry that results in an informed and
compelling paper on an issue of or about African American cinema.
Student Learning Goals for DEPT. 199 Courses
1. Students will be able to locate, select, and document secondary source material
information relevant to an issue and the question it raises.
2. Students will be able to analyze and incorporate research into their own argument.
3. Students will be able to identify multiple scholarly perspectives on a text/issue and
articulate those perspectives.
4. Through critical revision, students will learn to assert a position and support it using the
tools of research in a well-developed, well-reasoned written document.
5. Students will be able to effectively present and defend some aspect of their research,
using oral communication skills.
Required Texts
Lester Faigley, The Little Penguin Handbook
A fair amount of reading material will be available through our course site on Blackboard
Course Requirements
Graded Assignments – The main work of the course is the construction of a research
paper of 10-15 pages; however, you will be working on a number of other small writing
assignments and projects that will offer you the opportunity to develop the skills to write
this type of research paper. Each student will offer an oral presentation to the rest of the
class. Class participation will also be an important factor in your final course grade.
Reading Assignments – Come to class with ideas about what you’ve read. Preparation
will count toward your grade and it’s pretty easy to tell who is prepared and who isn’t.
There will be some challenging reading, as you will be engaging with scholarship about
which you are not familiar. I will help you with strategies to make sense of this material.
Screening – We will discuss Do the Right Thing in class on January 17th, and you will
need to see the film by that date (if you’ve seen it before, you still need to see it again).
The film is on reserve in the library, and you will have to watch it there or find another
copy that you can watch on your own.
Participation in Class Discussions – The success of discussions will rely upon your
preparation, your ability to listen to others, and your willingness and desire to participate.
We will also be reading one another’s work and I’d ask that you be prepared to share
your helpful and your critical responses to others’ writing.
Presentations – Each student will offer a presentation to the class. I will hand out details
about these presentations as we get closer to the dates on which they will take place,
which will be at the end of February and in March.
Absences – Six unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. If you cannot make it
please get a note from a doctor or nurse.
Other Issues
Grading – Your final grade will be 10% Text Preparation and Class Participation, 15%
Oral Presentation, and 75% Written Work.
Plagiarism – Plagiarism is the unauthorized, undocumented use of another person’s
words or ideas – and it is a violation of college guidelines. Plagiarism will certainly
result in a zero for that written assignment, may result in failing the course, and, in some
cases, may result in suspension or expulsion from the college. Be absolutely sure to cite
any sources that you use in a paper and to include a Works Cited List for those sources.
We will be working specifically on this issue in this course.
Disabilities – In compliance with St. John Fisher College policy and applicable laws,
appropriate academic accommodations are available to you if you are a student with a
disability. All requests for accommodations must be supported by appropriate
documentation/diagnosis and determined reasonable by St. John Fisher College. Students
with documented disabilities (physical, learning, psychological) who may need academic
accommodations are advised to make an appointment with the Coordinator of Services
for students with disabilities in the Academic Support Center, K202. Late notification
will delay requested accommodations.
Schedule of Assignments
January 12 – Introductions. What is African American Cinema?
January 15 – No class. MLK Celebration.
January 17 – Do the Right Thing discussion. Discuss film and consider how one might
have a critical perspective to the film that further opens up our understanding/thinking
about the film: the function of scholarship (not truth or the “meaning” of the text, but a
way to contextualize our understanding of the text).
January 19 – Robert Chrisman, “What is the Right Thing? Notes on the Deconstruction
of Black Ideology”
January 22 – James C. McKelly, “The Double Truth, Ruth: Do the Right Thing and the
Culture of Ambiguity”
January 24 – W.J.T. Mitchell, “The Violence of Public Art: ‘Do the Right Thing’”
January 26 – Jerome Christensen, “Spike Lee, Corporate Populist”
January 29 – Conversation Assignment due. In-class work on quoting and selecting
appropriate things to quote.
January 31 – Library visit.
February 2 – Library Follow-up assignment due. Work on this in class.
February 5 – In-class work on research paper as inquiry – how a writer might offer a
critical perspective to a film/actor/director/genre that further opens up our
understanding/thinking about the subject: the function of scholarship (not truth or the
“meaning” of the text, but a way to contextualize our understanding of the text).
[Look at AFAM websites that Kathi Sigler highlighted for background research and then
go to the library itself and start work on research.]
February 7 – Tommy Lott, “A No-Theory Theory of Contemporary Black
Cinema”
February 9 – Recess Day.
February 12 – Research Paper Proposal due.
** February 14 – Snow day.
February 16 – Class cancelled – Prof. Brauer at conference.
** February 19 – Locating articles to use in research paper.
** February 21 – Locating articles.
** February 23 – Locating articles.
** February 26 – Annotated Bibliography due.
** February 28 – In-class work on managing differing critical perspectives.
March 2 – Class cancelled – Prof. Brauer at conference.
March 5 – Spring Break.
March 7 – Spring Break.
March 9 – Spring Break.
** March 12 – In-class work on pursuing an increasingly complex inquiry.
** March 14 – Review of Sources due.
** March 16 – In-class work on quoting.
March 19 – Outline of paper due.
March 21 – Model Paper.
March 23 – Draft of Research Paper due. Peer review in class.
March 26 – No class – Conferences. Bring draft to conference.
March 28 – No class – Conferences. Bring draft to conference.
March 30 – No class – Conferences. Bring draft to conference.
April 2 – Model Paper.
April 4 – Model Paper.
April 6 – Easter Break.
April 9 – Easter Break.
April 11 – First revision due.
April 13 – Model Paper.
April 16 – Model Paper.
April 18 – Plagiarism, Citations, Works Cited Pages.
April 20 – Class cancelled – Prof. Brauer at conference.
April 23 – Final draft of Research Paper due.
** = Oral Presentation. Student should summarize and present the critical perspective
of an article he/she has found that he/she plans to use in the research paper.