Welcome
Welcome to the Research Guide for ENG101, College Writing. Please use this guide to find resources for your persuasive research fo the New Bedford Film Festival paper. Please contact myself or any BCC Librarian if you have any questions.
ENG 101: New Bedford Film Festival
For this essay you will propose a film that you believe should be screened at the “New Bedford Film Festival” (NBFF)[1] at the Zeiterion Theater. This essay’s purpose is to persuade the programmers at the NBFF that your film choice is the best film for Festival. This essay will be using the mode of argument. This essay will be written using MLA notation. There should be 4-5 sources including the peer-reviewed scholarly article.
Required:
- Peer-reviewed scholarly article: You must incorporate a quote from a scholarly source that supports a point you are making. The source can be about an issue or theme or it can be about the film itself.
- Address the opposition and refute it: This can be done using research or rhetoric.
Potential additional sources:
- Appeal to the Zeiterion’s mission or vision statement: What is its purpose? How does your film choice align with its audience?.
- Current event relevance: Does your film reflect an issue New Bedford or the Southcoast faces right now? Cite news or editorial sources and align them with themes in your film.
- Important theme(s): Themes in film are often varied and hidden. Remember that some films have multiple themes. Why is the theme you found important to your audience.
- Reviews: Find reviews here or here that speak to qualities that could persuade the Z to show your film.
- Appeals to demographic: Think about this area. Conduct research to examine our population and how your film meets our needs. Do we need to be entertained? Informed? Woke? Persuaded?
- Interview with a persuasive person: This can be anyone from a regular citizen or someone in a position of authority—but be mindful of logical fallacies (bias, hasty generalization)
- Be personal: At some point in the essay (the beginning? end?), you should express why your choice has personal value to you. Consider why you chose the film, what impact it had on you—anecdotes welcome!
Length: (5-7 pages typed, double-spaced, including separate cover page and Works Cited) Essay must have a title (not the thesis).You can't use a film that's already used in the student samples or one that your peers have chosen.
What is Persuasion?
According to the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, persuasion can be defined as an active attempt by a person, group, or entity (such as a corporation), usually through some form of communication, to change a person’s mind. Although we use the term mind here, often what we are referring to are attitudes or opinions. Persuasion has been a central focus of the social psychology literature at least since the mid-twentieth century— perhaps because persuasive attempts are so common. Furthermore, if attitudes can be changed, behavior can be changed as well.
Every day we are exposed to hundreds of attempts to change our opinions. Consider how often you come across an advertisement—in a magazine or newspaper, on television, the radio, or a Web site. But marketers are not the only ones trying to influence us. Family members, religious leaders, politicians, and friends all try to convince us to do things, agree with them, or support their cause. Although persuasive attempts are pervasive, they are not always successful.
