Proceedings from the 2019 CEA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana: Imaginative Revision Strategies in the Foundational Writing Classroom: Envisioning an Essay as a Documentary Film

Authors

  • Andrea S Walsh MIT

Keywords:

revision, composition, documentary film

Abstract

With an expansive view of essay revision,this article explores the ways in which writing students can successfully draw upon documentary films as aids in the revision process. This article argues that engaging with visual media and identifying the multiple ways in which documentary films introduce their subjects, organize and present information and perspectives, provide historical context and draw upon expert sources can suggest similar approaches for essays. Documentary-enabled revision is particularly suited to the contemporary age of visual media, in which students are often immersed.

Author Biography

Andrea S Walsh, MIT

Andrea Walsh teaches undergraduate courses in composition and rhetoric, as well as autobiography, in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program at MIT. She also teaches undergraduate courses in MIT's Women's and Gender Studies Program. Her training is in literature and sociology; she is the author of WOMEN'S FILM AND FEMALE EXPERIENCE: 1940-1950 (Praeger, 1984) as well as articles on gender, media and social history. She often uses documentary films as teaching resources in her courses.

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Published

2021-03-22