African-Canadian Studies
CAN 217 BA
Review
of an African-Canadian 
Book / Film / Drama / Art Exhibit / Cultural Event

Professor Patricia Clark

Format: 

 Typed, double spaced or Web Page Presentation; sources documented, using  MLA format
Length: 800 words, minimum
Value:   30%
Due Date: Thursday February 24 (Week 7) Submit one copy to the professor AND one electronic copy of your assignment to SafeAssign.

Instructions:

Imagine that you have been commissioned to write a review for a college or city newspaper or an academic journal, either printed or electronic.

Select a book, film (videotape or DVD), live theatre presentation, or art exhibit whose subject matter is about or closely related to some aspect of the African-Canadian experience or which has been created/written/produced by an African-Canadian. The book can be creative writing, including  novels, plays, collections of short stories or poems; non-fiction writing, including historical accounts, memoirs, biographies, journalism, or political or social science; or a live theatre presentation. The film can be a documentary or a feature film. (In the Seneca Learning Commons, you will find a good collection of documentary films that are appropriate for reviewing in this course. You'll find them linked to the heading "African-Canadian Studies" at this site:Seneca Audio-Visual Recommended Video List for African-Canadian Studies ). The play can be any piece of theatre by an African-Canadian or about African-Canadians, but not The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, since you are undertaking another assignment on that play. You may also review an art exhibit/collection by an African-Canadian. Please do NOT review The Hurricane. The professor has read too many plagiarized reviews of this film.

Write a review which summarizes the book, play, art exhibit, or film and analyzes and evaluates its content and format or techniques. In summarizing, remember the five Ws of journalism: who, what, when, where, and why.  In analyzing and evaluating, consider the purpose/themes of the book/film/play and the techniques of the author/director/actors. Be sure to give your article a headline/title that would capture the readers' attention in a newspaper or journal.

Guidelines for Writing a Film Review - a link

Guidelines for Writing a Book Review - a few links you may find helpful:

Sample Reviews

You may wish to consult magazines and newspapers to see how the "experts" handle the job of reviewing. Here are some sample reviews:

    "Wings lack swing" (Globe and Mail: Saturday September 5, 1998) A book review by Clifton Joseph of Cecil Foster's memoirs Island Wings

    "The outraged citizen-poet speaks out": (Globe and Mail: Saturday March 28, 1998, D17) A book review by George Elliott Clarke of M. NourbeSe Philip's A Genealogy of Resistance and Other Essays

    "Book Review" (Share: August 24-30, 1995) A review of Dionne Brand's book Bread out of Stone

    "Rhythms out of Africa" (Globe and Mail: Saturday, March 2, 2002) a dance review by Paula Citron of COBA: At the Premiere Dance Theatre in Toronto

      "Love, Sex and Eating the Bones" (Reel Film Reviews: March 4, 2004) A film review by David Nusair of Sudz Sutherland's feature film

     "New Waterford Girl: Clueless and Angry in a Small 70's Town" A film review by A. O. Scott, New York Times

    "We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place" A film review by Amy Taubin (The Village Voice: July 26 - August 1, 2000)

Finally, attach a Works Cited list to your review in which you list the bibliographic details of the book, film, or theatrical presentation you have reviewed and of any other sources you consulted and cited in your review. Follow the Modern Languages Association (MLA) protocol in compiling your bibliography.

Do not cheat or plagiarize!
Cheating refers to acts such as copying any part of another person's work and submitting it as your own or using other prohibited materials or methods to complete an assignment. Plagiarism is the act of copying any part of another author's words, ideas, or organizational plans and presenting them as your own. Therefore, you must place in quotation marks all borrowed passages that you quote to support your ideas. You must also cite all the outside sources of information and ideas that you quote or present in your own words. (For more information, please see the pages on preparing a bibliography and on quoting passages.)

Cheating and plagiarism constitute prohibited behaviour and will be penalized in accordance with college policy:

9.3 Penalties
The penalty for a first offence of cheating or plagiarism is a grade of "0" on the work in which the offence occurred, and will result in a comment being placed on the transcript by the Academic Honesty Committee. The penalty for the second offence of cheating or plagiarism is an "F" in the course where the offence occurred, a second comment on the transcript and suspension from the College for a time period determined by the Academic Honesty Committee, normally for a minimum of three (3) semesters. When a student returns to the College, he/she will be placed on Academic Honesty Probation. Any further violation of the Academic Honesty policy will result in College initiated mandatory withdrawal for academic purposes.

The student has the right to appeal the decision of the Academic Honesty Committee, consistent with Academic Policy. Evidence will be kept on file. The procedure for dealing with both Cheating and Plagiarism is found in Appendix E.

It is every student’s responsibility to familiarize him/herself with the proper procedure for avoiding cheating and plagiarism through the various resources beyond the Academic Policy such as the Student Handbook, and the Learning Commons website at http://library.senecacollege.ca/Academic_Honesty/index.html.

Students may seek assistance from Student Services in understanding the policy and procedures for Academic Honesty.

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