Junior Honors English – Film Research Essay
Your research paper this year is an analysis of an American Film. You will submit a minimum of eight articles in the
creation of the essay, and you are required to use six. Many of you will find that at some point in the process, often
when a wonderful thesis becomes clear, you may need to locate additional articles.
On the due dates for the articles, you must ALWAYS submit the following items.
1. A complete article (If you are using a book, you must submit a photocopied copyright page and at least the first
page of the article or chapter.)
2. Your notes (These may be separate pages with important quotations, your reactions, etc., of these may be
annotations of the text.)
3. An annotated bibliography
4. Research questions
5. Current thesis (which is actually more of a hypothesis, and will change over time)
One of the most important aspects of your research will be the reading of a variety of articles. You will want critical
articles concerning the director, the cinematographer, the writer(s), the star(s), the production history, the genre, the
time period, articles contemporary with the release of the film, critiques on the American dream, on race, on gender,
etc. Complex, insightful, and interesting articles will help you create a complex, insightful, and interesting essay.
Throughout this quarter, you will want to watch your film as often as possible. You may also benefit from watching
other films by the same director, in the same genre, from the same year, etc.
The final product will be an eight page focused essay, with a strong thesis, the seamless integration of evidence, in a
mature prose style. It will be worth 300 essay points.
FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE: Sunday, February 12th by Midnight on turnitin.com
**Due to the amount of time spent on writing this assignment, students who are absent before or on the due date are
still expected to submit the assignment to turnitin.com ON TIME. Any paper submitted after the due date will receive
10% reduction for each school day it is late regardless of absence from school. Also, be aware that any possible
computer problems should be anticipated and planned for if necessary.
Below and on the back of this handout you’ll find a list of suggested films. Feel free to choose one of these films, or one
of your own. So long as the film is American, you have parent permission, and the film is critically and socially significant,
you can choose any film you’d like.
Films that have proven to be researchable:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Adam’s Rib
Alien
A Hard Day’s Night
All Quiet on the Western Front
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Barry Lyndon
Blade Runner
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
City Lights
Do the Right Thing
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Edward Scissorhands
Harold and Maude
Harvey
High Noon
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
L.A. Confidential
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Reservoir Dogs
Saving Private Ryan
Shawshank Redemption
Singin’ in the Rain
Star Wars
Some Like It Hot
Taxi Driver
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Manchurian Candidate
The Producers
The Shining
The Usual Suspects
The Wild Bunch
Unforgiven
West Side Story
Also, many of the Disney movies