Research Outlines [RO] Guidelines & Models

Use of Secondary Sources [SS]

Academic Honesty/Plagiarism
Grading Criteria for RO
[rev May 2016]
RO Guidelines and Criteria for Grading:
1. Maximum 2 pages, with citations
2. A focused thesis that extends topics covered and makes an argument or gets us to
think of things in a fresh way.
ROs that simply attempt to clear an obstacle/fulfill a requirement are much
different than ROs that express enthusiasm for the material and a sense of
discovery.
3. No Plot Summaries or purely informational work. Create and Present ROs
that you would like to hear.
4. No Overviews: a class of 20 should have 20 different angles on the subject.
5. 6-8 detailed bullet points (this is not an essay)
supporting/illustrating/demonstrating your ONE FOCUSED thesis
5. Two to Three (not 1) legitimate secondary sources. See below.
6. RO are lead sheets for the Verbal Presentation of your ideas, so think of each
RO as the basis for a mini oral presentation. They will be graded on "depth
and detail" (Go narrow and deep, not wide and shallow).
7. Your RO is for your talking points. You will have more to say than you have
written.
8. Presentation of ROs should be limited to 5 minutes max, so that all have a
chance to present their discoveries. From syllabus:
50%: Course Participation: Quality, not just Quantity, and Courtesy.

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9. The use of first person (I) is encouraged since these RO should be an
exploration of your ideas, and not derivative.
10. Post Online each week in Google Drive folder.
Do not email your work to me or have to post during breaks, etc.
No RO when due = 0 for the day.
No late Assignments accepted, since they are meant to generate informed
participation. Do not include late work in your end-of-semester Portfolio.
Throughout semester, compile and SAVE ONE MS Word document (not PDF) of
all your written work with a Table of Contents [Required], listing & numbering
all assignments.
turnitin on OL will provide an Originality Report, indicating how much of
your work (including ideas, not just language) is taken from web sources without
documentation. You will need to post this Portfolio at the end of the semester on
both turnitin (on OL) and in Google Drive. No paper copy required.

Cite Secondary Sources [SS], beyond the usual websites, in your RO. Use articles
from JSTOR (scroll down Berklee site) and other reputable sources, e.g.,
https://library.berklee.edu/_research_wiki_root/index.php/Recommended_Da
tabases_for_LHUM-100
https://scholar.google.com/?hl=en
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ [automatically give you Citations]
Do not use sources such as Spark or Cliff Notes.
Include SS with links WITHIN RO wherever they support your thesis or bullet points,
NOT at the bottom. The idea is to see relation between your ideas and the
research. Copying or Paraphrasing from SS does not fulfill the assignment.
For general guidelines see: MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web
Publications): https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

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The above includes listing the title of source e.g., New York Times or Salon.com,
author, and then the URL for the specific page you consulted, not simply the
homepage. Also see : http://easybib.com/
Whenever you make use of the language from a source, you must use quotation
marks. Do not simply paraphrase someone elses ideas. This is plagiarism.
When you utilize an authors idea, but not the exact language, you still must cite,
by indicating as follows within parentheses: (see [name of publication], authors
name [where available], URL, etc.).
Grading Criteria for RO
A = Excellent
B = Good
C = Average
D = Poor
F = Failing, no credit, includes assignments not submitted on time.
Allowing for the added nuance of +/- grades, ROs will be assessed according to how
successfully they satisfy the 10 Criteria above, so keep in mind, among all above:
Insightfulness of your Thesis, Quality of Research, Originality, and Genuine Inquiry (as
compared to going through the motions) and Oral Presentation of your research.
See also the following, adapted from Berklees Professional Education Division Syllabus:
A
The student has demonstrated a superior level of achievement and
understanding of material researched for ROs and other assignments and
satisfies the letter and the spirit of the 10 Criteria above.
AThe student has demonstrated superior achievement. Minor Divergence from
Guidelines.
B+
The student has demonstrated advanced achievement. Increased Divergence
from Guidelines.
B
The student has demonstrated advanced achievement. However, additional

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concentration could produce a higher level of achievement. Some Divergence
from Guidelines.
BThe student has demonstrated advanced achievement. Additional attention to
guidelines could produce a much more refined and consistent level of
achievement.
C+
The student has demonstrated average achievement. Divergence from
Guidelines is of a larger magnitude.
C
The student has demonstrated average achievement. Divergence from
Guidelines is of an even greater magnitude.
CThe student has demonstrated only a basic level of achievement and has not
followed sufficiently the Guidelines.

D
The student has demonstrated less than a basic level of achievement and has
largely ignored the letter and the spirit of the Guidelines.
F
The student has largely ignored the Guidelines and produced work that adds
nothing to the conversation. The works contains severe flaws.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
From the
Policy Handbook for Students
https://www.berklee.edu/policy-handbook-students
Section II: Sanctions, p. 49:
Sanctions for all proven cases of academic dishonesty may include but are not
limited to the following. A student may appeal any finding or sanction.

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1. A reduced or failing grade
2. A letter of reprimand
3. A defined period of disciplinary probation, with or without the attachment of
conditions
4. Loss of Berklee scholarship
5. Loss of work-study privileges
6. Suspension from the college
7. Dismissal from the college
8. Notation on the official transcript
9. Revocation of an awarded Berklee degree or diploma
From the Student Handbook
Music Therapy Department
Berklee College of Music
https://www.berklee.edu/search/google/%22STUDENT%20HANDBOOK
%20MUSIC%20THERAPY%20DEPARTMENT%22?query=%22STUDENT
%20HANDBOOK%20MUSIC%20THERAPY%20DEPARTMENT%22
Berklee College of Music insists on academic honesty. Unless the assignment
explicitly is a group project, all of the work in this class must be your own. The
source of all information in any written assignment must be cited properly,
whether it is a quotation, paraphrase, summary, idea, concept, statistic, picture,
or anything else you get from any source other than your own immediate
knowledge--including the Internet.
Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, including
parenthetical citation, footnotes, or endnotes; a simple listing of books and
articles at the end of an essay is not sufficient.
Plagiarismnot giving proper credit to a source and thereby passing off
someone elses material or idea as your ownis a type of intellectual theft and
deceit and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting. Plagiarism may result in a
failing grade for the assignment or course, and possible dismissal from the
College. It is your responsibility to be aware of and abide by the rules governing
plagiarism, fraud, and cheating found in the College Bulletin under the section
Honesty in Academic Work and in Scholarly and Professional Practice. If you
have any questions about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, please talk with
a reference librarian, ask a teacher, or refer to a writing handbook.
Websites that discuss types of plagiarism and how it can be avoided through
evaluation and proper documentation of sources include:

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https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Model Research Outlines (RO) for all Courses

Your Name
Dr Joseph Coroniti
Course Title. Section _______
Date
Note: Put citations of secondary sources in the BODY of your RO,
where they apply: not at end and not at end or in footnotes.
Table of Contents
Final Portfolio+Exam
Outlines List + exam.
1. Fargo
2. Birdman
3. Blue
4. White & Red
5. Cinema Paridiso
6. Taxi Driver
7. Apocalypse Now
8. Whos afraid of Virginia Woolf?
9. Amadeus
10. The Great Beauty & Le Dulce Vita
11. Henry V
12. Final Exam

pg.
pg.
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pg. 16
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Research Outline 1
"Fargo"
Name
The movie Fargo is filled with a great amount of iconography,
ranging from a mirrored structure or "golden rule" for the anti-heroes
presented throughout the film. My theory is that the Coen Brothers
tried to show the forsaken right so salvation is only marked by the
actions in which an individual may take. In this case, by the actions
those of Gaear Grimsrud, Jerry Lundegaard, and Carl Showhalter; the
three who caused the problems which came back around to hit them
almost the same way in the end.
-Fargo, an ideologically implicit movie which constantly shows the
values of the characters presented, in the good old fashioned good vs.
evil. However has strong hints towards ideologically explicit near the
end of the movie; showing the very heavy values of Gaear doing
anything that he can to continue his reign of greed. Against him
speaks the Voice of Justice values from Marge Gunderson in the
discussion for the importance of money.
-In a left right scale of Relative Versus Absolute ideology, the movie
seems to fall heavily towards the right side, due to the fact that each
committed crime is paid for, rather than the criminals escaping with
the money, Carl not being put in a woodchipper, and Jerry living
happily ever after with his new found wealth. This absolute form of
justice is very showing, and it is a strong characteristic in the Coen
Brothers films.
-Similar to the last bullet point, however, the characters (or criminals)
in the movie seem to be steered by a sort of golden rule driven Fate
which guides the way that they live or die. Similar to a Final
Destination for these villains, each one finds themselves being struck

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by the same situation in which they caused pain for others. Three
great examples are as follows:
-Jerry Lundegaard causing his wife to be kidnapped from the house
shows a graphic scene having her pulled from her quarters, forcefully
ripped from the bathroom. The very same thing happens with Jerry at
the end of the movie when police pull him from his quarters in a panic
similar to that of his wife during her kidnapping.
-When Carl finds himself confronting Wade Gustafson instead of
Jerry for the money tradeoff, Carl kills Jerry in greed of the gigantic
amount of money, stealing the rest for himself. Speeding away, Carl
finds himself giving his half of the original promised amount to Gaear
when a disagreement sends Carl out, Gaear himself kills Carl in the
name of another $20-40k.
-Gaear, in his second kill, found himself chasing after the car
who witnessed their first murder, chased them down, he found the
couples car crashed and shot the man running through the snow. The
same thing happened with Gaear near the end of the film with Marge
chasing the couple (of criminals) finding their car, and shooting Gaear
as he runs away, again through the snow.
All these are rough examples of the characters sealing their own fates,
but the way that fate came back to them seemed to be quite on
purpose due to the thoughts of ideology (or fate) by the Coen
Brothers storytelling.

Source:
In the Coen brothers punishing world, morals are everything - Tasha
Robinson
https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/349-in-the-coenbrothers-punishing-world-morals-are-ev/

Research Outline 2
"Birdman"
Name
From the beginning of this film, I found myself seeing this story as a
narrative on the story about stars, acting, casting, and the realization
that an actor can easily become typecast into a role in which they find
not suitable. From the moment that we see Riggan (Keaton) floating in
meditation, we see that the character development will be not similar
to that of other films, however, the most important concept that seems
to be present is the use of differentiation between the characters
Birdman, and Riggan who need to be placed in different mental areas
by Michael Keaton. So my belief is that this movie is quite
premeditated by the directors to break the fourth wall in a way,
showing a different story on casting, acting, typecasting, and the "Star
System".
-Relating the obvious point first, the film is a great expression of
theater on a broadway stage. The acting is well articulated, and in
relation to the continuous cinematography this actors have to be
concise, and almost devoid of error. On the other side of the past
statement is that the film IS a stage film captured by picture, so the
error may still be there, but the actors don't acknowledge their
mistakes on screen. 1
-Just after the overexaggerated performance of Ralph (Jeremy
Shamos) goes awry, Mike Shyner (Edward Norton) is cast into the
stage show, and immediately there is a combat of ego in the
production. Quite similar to a true acting situation, the director has
most choice in the lines of acting, however when the star gets a little
too powerful for the good of the production, the actors can demand
different standards that may help or hurt the production. This situation
is very telling when he and the theater critic decide to have a
conversation after the first audience preview of the play where he pulls
the thread in which she is tied to Mike, and not Riggan for the review

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of production, creating a feeling of usurping/ mutiny against the
direction of the play. 2
-The character development of Lesley draws a literary parallel to that
of Marilyn Monroe 3 after the second audience preview in which she
states her childhood dream of being an actress. She finds herself in a
flustered state of mind, talking about how she still feels small in the
theater world, needing other people to tell her the satisfaction that she
should have (having the statements of others be the sense of selfworth she should feel). This relates to the exploitation in the 40's to
the present of furthering one's career by committing oneself to an
important figure in film.
-The film tells the important personality of someone trying to break
away from that typecast character who made Riggan the star that he
didn't want to be. This happens quite often with actors with a specific
character role to play (Shirley Temple, John Wayne, Daniel Radcliff).
However, these actors sometimes find that these new roles are jarring
to the audience. This very problem is very present in Riggan when he
tries to be someone he wanted to be, but cannot either due to his own
preconceptions to who he used to be, or the expectation that he is
only doing this for that very reason (which causes an influx of the
opposite reaction to what they hope to accomplish, more
expectations.)
-The interaction between Riggan and the theater critic, Tabitha, creates
a great description of what was described in the book about the great
differences between stage productions, and film productions with
commentary of the inferior nature of a celebrity rather than an actor
with true technique. However, the film ironically transcends the idea of
a standard film as it is, again, a stage production on film. The
difference between this and another film is the importance of the
continuous shot, as often the films are filled with cuts and
noncontinuous emotional contexts that often aren't as emotionally
connected as the continuous acting presented in this film.
-The acting in this film is very well articulated as you see Riggan
unwind into a mess of his former self, grasping for the
popularity/attention that he feels like he needs. Michael Keaton shows
a very decisive final scene of the play in which Riggans half-crazed
stare has changed from that of a character in his own play back to a
character he thought himself to be (an individually powered being
surrounded by his own satisfaction). 2
Sources Cited:

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1. Backstage.com - 3 major differences between Stage and Screen
Acting. http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/backstageexperts/3-major-differences-between-stage-and-screen-acting/
2. BusinessInsider.com - How to differentiate good acting from bad
acting http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tell-good-actingfrom-bad-acting-2014-9
3. Understanding Movies - Louis Gianetti

Research Outline 3
Blue - Krzysztof Kielowski
Name
Throughout this movie, Julie finds herself in a sort of hateful mourning
for her husband and child. A few times, she picks up sheet music and
allows the music to create a visual/sound synesthesia for the
moviegoer during these scenes. This is very evident through most of
the film as the constant edits, and photography causes the viewer not
only to rely on the effects of the visuals, but understand that there is
great changes happening from the music as well, especially when the
visuals fade out immediately. This is a general analysis on photography
-Throughout the film, the use of photographic reflection is very
consistent. First being shown in the eye of Julie as she is informed of
her husband and daughters passing. This happens a few more times
in the glass of pictures, and the swirling mirror of a light-shone coffee
cup. This creates an image of, well, reflection for the viewer by simply
employing a realist style camera angle that shows almost no need for
extra special effects.
Cinema Lessons by Krzysztof Kieslowski
http://www.mentorless.com/2014/05/23/cinema-lesson-krzystofkieslowski/
-Noting the synesthesia, each time that Julie finds herself in a quickly
changing personality, the combination of the visual and musical change
is a large indicator that she is going through a large change herself.
Often the camera will fade down to black, then back up to the same
visual, almost creating an image (in this situation) of shutting out
herself from others, and the world itself. This happening, is always
paired with the hymn of the husband, which shows an abrupt change
from the silence that came before it.
-Other instances of said synesthesia happen when Julie is looking at
the husbands music, and the combination of the staff paper and

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visuals act as if the music is actually there itself. An instance near the
end of the movie finds Julie tracking the score paper and reading the
melody line for the finale of the piece, the camera follows almost as if
it were a tracking score. This scene is made more important by a quick
pan to the right, making this music (but one staff) fill the screen,
making this staff seem so much larger than the specified context.
-The scene in which Julie hangs Annas chandelier in the apartment
brings us to bated breath as it is hidden from view for a great amount
of time. This is a great visual technique not used very often, as it is
usually the audience to know first, then the characters second. The
form just described is known as dramatic irony, of course the film
shows a sense of the opposite being true whereas the knowledge is
hidden from the audience, but known to the characters. This technique
brings some more tied interest into a film itself.
-This film is quite expressive in its nature, however, it becomes
confusing at some points. The camera is often telling the story as a
juxtaposed film in first person view, yet we get to see the reactions of
Julie herself as she sees the things that we are reacting to. There is
quite often a large plot-point and the camera will snap back to Julies
face for a reaction, this allows us as an audience to see what she feels
about any given situation, even if the emotion seems flawed, or
perhaps confused in nature similar to when she finds the chandelier in
Annas room and rips a few pieces from the hanging strings almost
enraged.
Digital Photography - Adding Emotion and Feeling To Photographs
http://digital-photography-school.com/adding-emotion-and-feeling-tophotographs/
-Once more, there is a different kind of synesthesia present in this film
at times of great change in Julies psyche. Often when she is wallowing
in her sorrows over Annas death, she finds blue to be the color that
outlines the scenes, as she is swimming, walking down the street, and
otherwise. This can give the audience some insight into how she
should be feeling, even if the Julie herself would want to conceal those
feelings. A true sort of dramatic irony for those of us watching the film.
Color Association Analysis
http://www.joehallock.com/edu/COM498/associations.html

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