Blog 1: Interview

I interviewed a student whose primary source was a film entitled “Last King of Scotland.” His film had cultural and social implications as well as critique. He recommended that I find a cultural source that also had implications and critique. This is a given level of interpretation that can catalyze further analysis. He suggested that after I find the significance of this first level of implications, I should ask “what is the next level of significance?” I should look for a source with many levels of interpretation and analysis. Some other advice he gave me was to talk to my instructor a lot and go to the writing center a lot. When talking about the semester long project, my interviewee had some seemingly obvious advice. He said to take all the small activities leading up to the research paper very seriously. Often the assignments are small enough to bullshit. However, if I take them seriously, it will make the research paper easier in the end. Another obstacle he had was a change for his original plan. Because of the constraints of the assignments, he couldn’t do what he had originally planned. His advice was to carefully analyze the cultural text before choosing the paper topic. He said “let the cultural text speak to you.” He also recommended being open about secondary sources, paying special attention to the source in the synthesis essay.