MA Dissertation in Film Studies: Critical Survey Kings College London 2012-13 The critical survey is a 4000 word piece

of writing, worth 25% of the 90 credits allocated to the dissertation module. It should consist of an assessment of past and present criticism of, for example: a single filmmaker; a group of filmmakers; a film movement; a studio, production company; a star; a philosophical or theoretical or political idea. You may choose to focus on a subsection of your dissertation topic. What is a critical survey? A critical survey involves situating your project in relation to what has already been written on the topic. This is an evaluative exercise; in part, you are producing an argument (about critical opinion) based on surveying a range of material. The piece must be written in continuous prose and should include a full bibliography at the end. The purpose of this assignment is to aid you in your research for the dissertation. You will need to: become familiar with the conversation in a particular research area; identify research questions; sift, group, summarize and evaluate critical opinion; identify areas which deserve further exploration. You need to do this in order to identify what is novel about your own research aims and objectives. There are two types of literature that you need to deal with in a critical survey: 1. Literature pertaining to your key concept (this might be a genre, a national cinema, an aspect of film form or style, a theme, or a theoretical idea). 2. Literature pertaining to the films that you have chosen to focus your study on. A literature review is not a summary of everything that has been written on a particular topic/group of films. An effective survey involves: 1. Selection/ discrimination. Focus on literature that relates most specifically to your topic and/or has been particularly influential in your field of study. 2. Identifying shared arguments or approaches. Examine similar treatments of the same topic collectively. 3. Synthesis. Only deal with those aspects of the literature that directly pertain to your own research interests (i.e. dont attempt to cover everything). In sum, then, your survey should provide: 1) A general introduction to the topic, explaining the logic of selection and outlining the critical premises upon which that logic relies. 2) An indication of special bibliographic problems, if applicable. 3) Reference, where appropriate, to other media such as electronic texts, websites, and online videos. Relationship of the critical survey to the dissertation A dissertation needs to present a methodologically and theoretically coherent narrative. At the same time, each chapter should refresh the central concerns of the dissertation by bringing in chapter specific literature. The critical survey is a first step in the research you conduct towards your dissertation. It is a formative piece of work, which is marked separately from, and which you will submit several months before, the final 15,000 dissertation. You may find that you repeat some of the material in your final introduction, where you will provide an overview of the key literature being engaged with in the dissertation. However

MA Dissertation in Film Studies: Critical Survey Kings College London 2012-13 individual chapters will provide opportunity to delve into that literature in more depth. Having conducted your critical survey, part of devising your dissertation entails identifying what critical literature will be dealt with in each chapter. Therefore while some repetition is inevitable, it is vital to take on board the feedback you will receive the critical survey when writing the dissertation, and to make the revisions necessary for incorporation of the survey within a longer piece of writing. You must not simply use the identical piece of prose as a first chapter or introduction to your dissertation. Marks will be deducted for those who simply repeat the same material verbatim. Citation of sources and presentation of bibliography All your sources must be given in full. You will lose marks for inadequate referencing. For the presentation of your sources, in the endnotes and the bibliography, please consult the Chicago-Style Quick Citation Guide. With respect to formatting and submissions make sure you follow Film Studies Guidelines for the Presentation of Your Work and the Regulations for the Submission of Course Work in the Assessment section of the online handbook. Insert endnotes at the end of each chapter Illustrations are not required, but you may insert illustrations (e.g. frame grabs) for the purpose of enhancing the analysis. Insert illustrations in an appendix at the end of the dissertation. All illustrations must be adequately numbered and captioned. If these are frame grabs (usually extracted from DVDs) respect the original aspect ratio where possible. Please include calls for illustrations in the body of the text, in brackets. For example: (see image 1). Illustration captions are excluded from the final word count. You may have individual chapter titles, as well as an original dissertation title. Attach a Title cover page (also including your candidate number) and a Table of Contents page. These two pages are excluded from the final word count. You do NOT need to include your original dissertation proposal, nor an abstract. As with all other assessed work, your critical survey should be submitted electronically through KEATS. You will also receive feedback to your work via KEATS. More information can be found here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/learningteaching/e-learning/upgrade/upgrade-moodle.aspx Word Limit Every piece of assessed course work that you are required to submit has a word limit. This limit must be carefully observed; failure to do so will be penalized when the work is marked. The School of Arts & Humanities has issued Examiners with the following guidelines: An electronic word count should be noted on the front of all pieces of course work. Word limits apply to everything excluding the bibliography and filmography. There will normally be a 5% tolerance for work that exceeds the word limit: no penalty will be incurred for up to 5% over the limit. Thereafter 2 marks will normally be deducted for every additional 5% over the limit, until 50% is reached. After 50% 3 marks will normally be deducted for each additional 5%. An equivalent penalty does not apply to candidates whose work falls short of the prescribed limits. Such short work will be assessed in accordance with the usual undergraduate marking criteria. Deadline: The critical survey is due before 12 noon 1 June 2013. SUBMISSION VIA KEATS.