These instructions need to be followed: CDFS 412 BOOK/MOVIE ANALYSIS PAPER INSTRUCTIONS
200 points (17% of full course grade)
This assignment requires that students apply the information they learned in class, the textbook, and three selected
research studies to the characters and events in a movie or book of your choice. Each student must choose one movie or
novel that features adolescents (ages 10-20) and adolescent issues. Select from the list on eCampus, or choose another
with the approval of your instructor.
YOUR PAPER SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS, ALL OF WHICH SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED
WITH APA-STYLE HEADINGS:
1. Introduction & Transition (approximately 1 page):
The goal of this section is to introduce your main topic or the focus of your paper. Your selected adolescent
issue should be the primary focus of this section, not the novel/movie.
A. Identify the KEY adolescent issue (e.g., identity and parent-child relationships) addressed in your paper, and
explain it in your own words. Then, citing the textbook, your selected articles, and any other necessary sources,
discuss what is known about your topic. In other words, this section of your paper should read like a
“regular” research paper you’d write for any course.
B. Next, identify your selected book/movie. Then, transition to the literature review section of the paper by stating
exactly what you will accomplish over the following pages of the paper (see the example on eCampus for
inspiration on this section).
2. Descriptions of the Three Selected Research Studies (2-3 pages):
Review three research studies on your selected adolescent issue. State the authors and publication date of the
article you chose from the professional, peer-reviewed journal. Include this information in a bolded APA-style
header for each study. Each summary should be between 1/2-3/4 pages long, and should answer the following
questions in a balanced fashion:
· What were the research questions about your adolescent issue addressed in the study?
· How did they do the study?
· What is the major research finding about your adolescent issue?
· What can be concluded about your adolescent issue based on this study?
Hint: Your instructor realizes that reading journal articles can be challenging, and in this context, summarize
means summarize to the best of your ability. Do not try to convey every detail of the peer-reviewed journal articles
in your summaries, paraphrase only the articles’ abstracts, or focus on a single paragraph or section of any of the
articles. Be certain that your summary is written entirely in past tense and is completely in your own words. Any
wording that is not your own must be enclosed in quotation marks and cited appropriately. You should not
discuss the movie in this section of the paper.
3. Examples from the Book/Movie (approximately ¾ -1 page):
In this section, illustrate your adolescent issue with at least three short descriptive examples from the movie/book.
You can highlight sequences of events in the plot, character details, verbal statements, non-verbal actions, or any
combination of examples from the media source. Make it clear that you’ve carefully read the book or watched the
movie, and that you understand book/film. This also provides you the opportunity to demonstrate that you can
identify your paper’s key issues in the “real world.”
Don’t try to summarize the entire film or book: Just focus on points that fit with your selected adolescent issue
Book/Movie Assignment 2
and the elements that are related to your literature review summaries in the previous section of the paper. DON’T
FORGET TO ENCLOSE ALL DIRECT QUOTES IN QUOTATION MARKS AND TO INCLUDE CITATIONS
AS APPROPRIATE.
4. Evaluation (1 page):
Finally, evaluate the accuracy of the portrayal of your adolescent issue in the book/movie. Answer the following
questions, and support your answers by referring to the literature you reviewed above, the text, and the course as a
whole:
1) What elements of the portrayal of your adolescent issue were accurate? Be specific and describe how these
elements were based in reality. Provide evidence for your conclusions by referring to the findings of the three
studies you just reviewed, and be sure to cite the source(s)!
2) What elements were inconsistent with the research, were inaccurate, or were myths, misconceptions,
stereotypes, or exaggerations about this adolescent issue? When discussing inaccurate elements, briefly state
what should have been changed in order to make the portrayal more realistic of adolescence. Provide evidence
for your conclusions by referring to the findings of the three studies you just reviewed, and be sure to cite the
source(s)!
Identify and describe at least 2 elements (e.g., 1 accurate example & 1 exaggeration; 2 exaggerations; 2 accurate
examples). Don’t forget to cite your sources: The sources of your information for your evaluations must be
clearly cited in APA format. Strong evaluations will have citations to all three articles and possibly the course
textbook.
5. References (1 page):
A. Submit a references page in APA format. Be sure to include your three research articles, your selected book or
movie, and any additional reference books or articles on this list (e.g., the textbook).
B. Ensure that the in-text citations in the body of your paper follow APA style. The in-text citations must clearly
delineate the sources used from your own work, and all statements needing a reference must contain one.
You will also be graded on the following criteria:
– Overall paper quality (see the assignment rubric for more information).
– Writing, Formatting, etc.:
A. Include a title page with your name, the name of the movie or book, and the movie’s year of release or the
book’s publication date.
B. Your paper should be no longer than 6 full pages of text (the title and references pages do not count in this
total), and must follow basic APA formatting conventions:
1) All pages INCLUDING THE TITLE PAGE must be formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font, be
double-spaced, and have 1” margins on all sides.
2) Include a header with your last name and page number in the top right corner of all pages. This header should
also be in 12-point Times New Roman font.
3) If using Word 2007, you must remove the extra half space added after each paragraph by default. This
is particularly important in the references page, as this extra half space is a violation of APA style.
4) If using earlier versions of Word, double-check that the right and left margins are 1”, not 1.25”, as this
is also a violation of APA style.
C. Double-check to make certain that your writing is clear and free of grammatical and spelling errors, typos, etc.
– Your Book/Movie selection and its appropriateness for the paper.
Book/Movie Assignment 3
– Your article selections. Submit your 3 selected research articles in pdf format to the assignment dropbox with your
paper. If you do not submit these copies, you will earn zero points in this area, regardless of the suitability of your
articles.
– Effective use of direct quotes (see the assignment rubric for more information on how this will be graded).
– Responsiveness to feedback on practice assignments (see the assignment rubric for more information).
SUBMISSION: You must submit your paper in two places in eCampus. Submit the FULL PAPER ONLY to TurnItIn
(portal in this folder). Submit YOUR THREE ARTICLES to the Assignment Dropbox (also in this folder). Your paper
will not be graded until you have submitted these materials in both places.
1. Title: Adolescent girls’ sexual development. Authors: Graber, Julia A., Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne example: (Graber, J &Brooks,G) or (Graber,J&Brooks,G, 2014)
2. Title: Girls’ pubertal development: An examination of predictors and trajectories. Author: Becnel, Jennifer N., example: (Becnel,2015,p100)
3. Title: Bridge over troubled water’: Girls’ growing bodies, growing minds, growing complications. Author: Ferraro, Jacqueline, William Alanson White Institute, New York City, NY, US example: (Bridge,2015)
References
Ferraro, Jacqueline, William Alanson White Institute, New York City, NY, US Becnel, Jennifer N., Arizona State U., US
Graber, Julia A., U Florida, Dept of Psychology, Gainesville, FL, US
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Columbia U Teachers Coll, Inst for Child Psychology, Child Development, & Education, New York, NY, US