Why or in what ways is writing important to your discipline/field/profession?
The ability to write clearly and persuasively is an essential skill in the film studies discipline and indeed in the professional world of film. Students from our program have gone on to become filmmakers, corporate professionals, critics, teachers and academics. Writing is central to these professions: writing scripts, proposing and pitching film projects, applying for funding to make films, reporting on films, reviewing films, producing scholarship on films, and promoting films. In our discipline, as well as in professional work related to film, communicating clearly and persuasively through writing is central.
Which courses are designated as satisfying the Writing in the Discipline (WID) requirement by your department? Why these courses?
The Film Studies Program has two informal concentrations: 1) critical studies and 2) production. Both share the program’s two required writing in the discipline courses: FILM 219: Foundations in Film Analysis and FILM 454: Contemporary Film and Theory. These two courses engage in much of the range of writing and critical thinking that are not only found within the film studies discipline but also are expected of our graduates in their future professions, whether those professions are in the film industry, in film criticism/reviewing, in film scholarship, in film festival programming, or in archival work.
What forms or genres of writing will students learn and practice in your department’s WID courses? Why these genres?
Students will engage in a variety of different types of academic writing from response papers to critical research papers and will have the opportunity to practice writing skills crucial to their success in a range of different film-related professions.
What kinds of teaching practices will students encounter in your department’s WID courses?
Students in film studies WID courses have multiple opportunities to practice various critical writing skills, from summary and synthesis to critical analysis and argumentation.
The Foundations in Film Analysis course (FILM 219), depends on scaffolded writing assignments, beginning with short, low-stakes writing, often reflective, of no more than a paragraph that introduce students to writing as a way of making sense of what they read. Students build these responses into summaries and then into short critical essays that do not require outside research. Students then turn those short essays into extended critical research essays through a program of research. Writing workshops and small-group tutorials take place throughout the process, stressing peer review and revision. Instructor feedback and modeling through shared exemplary writing are also a part of the process. Revision is encouraged, even after “final” essays are submitted.
The Contemporary Film and Theory course (FILM 454) is structured around a series of varied writing assignments across the semester, through which students learn to apply critical and theoretical perspectives to film analysis. To sum up, our WID courses engage students in a full-range of best practices that encourage students to see writing as a vital part of learning.
When they’ve satisfied your department’s WID requirement, what should students know and be able to do with writing?
Students should be able to demonstrate critical reading and thinking skills such as summarization, synthesis and critical judgment; demonstrate writing skills such as persuasion, argumentation and supporting claims; demonstrate the ability to design and initiate a research program; demonstrate the application of critical and theoretical perspectives to their own writing; and demonstrate a familiarity in revising and editing their own work as part of the process of writing.
