1. Getting Started
This Assignment Help will help you in finding information for assignment 2 - Critical Analysis
For this assignment you are required to research a Global auteur from the pre-approved list, integrating close film analysis as well as academic research into your response. This will then form the basis of your Assignment 3 (the Creative Audio-Visual Essay).
| Please refer to your Course Outline and Course LearnOnline Site for full assessment information. |
2. Plan your search
When searching for information, it can be tempting to just copy and paste your whole assignment question in to the search bar, but this usually doesn't give you very good results. To get the best search results, you should plan a search strategy following the 3 simple steps below.
Example question:
"Analyse the role of female protagonists in Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli animated films."
1. Break your question down:
| Identify the task word(s) in your question. | "Analyse" |
| Next identify the content words in your question. You can find these by taking the task word and adding the question “What?” |
Analyse what?
|
2. Identify your key concepts
Think of synonyms or similar concepts that can be used. This is important as not everyone will use the same terminology.
|
Concept 1: Female Protagonists |
Concept 2: Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli animated films |
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Synonyms or similar concepts:
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Synonyms or similar concepts:
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Tip: You don't need to use every possible keyword in your search - play around until you find what works for you.
3. Build your search strategy
Connect your concepts using AND or OR
- AND Connects different concepts
- OR Connects similar concepts or synonyms
So our search strategy might look something like this:
| (heroine OR female) AND "Studio Ghibli" |
Tip: Refer to the How To Plan your Search Guide - PDF (275.61 KB) for more information on building your search strategy
Want to know more?
3. Find information
The Library Collection is a great place to start finding information.
Use your search strategy in the search bar:
(heroine OR female) AND "Studio Ghibli"
Too many search results? Use the Refine my Results menu (on the left hand side) to narrow down your search.
Want to know more?
Try Google Scholar to find scholarly information. Make sure to access Google Scholar through the link above or from the Library homepage to get access to the full text of any resources that we have in the UniSA library collection.
The Advanced Scholar Search option gives more flexibility when you search. To access it select the menu (three lines) in the top left hand corner of Google Scholar. This menu will appear once you do an initial search in Google Scholar.
Want to know more?
Databases are searching tools for finding articles, papers, reports and more. Some databases are subject-specific, whilst others may cover multiple subject areas. You can find databases by browsing the database list by subject, or by clicking on the 'Find Information' tab in this guide.
Some Key Databases
4. Peer reviewed resources
Peer reviewed (refereed) journals are of a high quality and must go through an evaluation process with experts in the field before being published. The terms scholarly and academic are sometimes used instead.
When searching the library Collection, peer reviewed articles are indicated with a purple icon. You can also use the "Refine my Search" menu to show only Peer Reviewed articles in your search results.
Want to know more?
5. Writing your assignment
In this Assignment, you are required to critically analyse a minimum of two films.
At University, to be critical doesn't mean to criticise or be negative. Rather, you need to question the information and opinions in a text (in this case, films) and present your evaluation or judgement of that text.
Analysis requires separating the content and concepts of a text (film) into their main components and then understanding how these interrelate, connect and possibly influence each other.
Check out the following links for more information on Critical Analysis:
UniSA has an excellent tutorial called Writing Your Essay that walks you through every step of writing a successful essay.
For more tips on essay writing watch the below video (video length: 2 min 27 sec) and have a look at this page on writing an essay.
For more information on assignment writing, please visit Study Help for a range of resources to help with study and assignments.
Referencing support
- Referencing websiteResources on different referencing styles. Find examples of in-text citations and references for diverse formats including articles, books and book chapters, websites and more.
Note: Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the referencing style required for your course.
Other referencing support tools:
What do you do with all those references you have found?
Use bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. There are also many free systems available.