Paper writing question [History is Awesome!]

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I don't know how active this community is, but I figured this would be the best place to ask this question.

So, I'm writing a paper for a college senior level history class and it requires me to use at least one primary source. However, the source I've chosen is video and I've never actually written a paper before that uses video as a primary source, so I'm not quite sure how to approach it. How does one exactly incorporate it when all your other sources are text? Do you say that in "x film" this scene happens and this indicates something about what the film is trying to say?

The source in question for my paper is a propaganda film, so I know to mention that part and I do have some idea of how I do want to use it in my paper, I just would like advice for doing this sort of thing.

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There are 13 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Doesn't the Turabian website or book have something about how to cite videos?

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I'm not asking for information on how to cite videos. I'm asking for advice on how to incorporate the information you're using into text. I have trouble translating between mediums sometimes.

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Ah. Well I can't help there. O.X I would think it would work like citing from a book, only noting specific moments within a film, but I'm not sure.

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You'd just use it like you would any other source. "In scene X," "So-and-so shows this," etc. should be fine.

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The one and only time I did that, 6+ years ago, I relied a great deal on the citation guidelines for MLA style papers, unfortunately I don't have that paper any more to go back and look at it.

I think that was the paper I got to know one of the reference librarians really well, too. +makes wry face+

Now I'm totally fascinated.

So citing it isn't your problem, you've got that. Incorporating it is.

What I'm pretty sure I remember doing is using timestamps in my description. Like "at 00:20:15 in [title], [x] occurs and displays ..."

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Well, I'm using Chicago style for my paper and I know they have a format for it, so I'm not particularly worried about that part.

I'm not sure how well time-stamps will work since I'm watching it on Netflix, but it's also a well-known film and I'd probably refer to scenes and such. I probably could mention that it's a certain amount of minutes in or find it somewhere else online though.

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What she says.

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Any primary source, whether oral, written, video or other, is applied in the same manner. For citation purposes, assuming the video is not well know, the references should include the maker (director or entity that released it), date/country of release, etc. When I cite films from the Stalin or Nazi Germany era, I refer to them by name as they are well-known.

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I'm using a well-known film, so in text I'll probably just refer to the film title. Since the citation style I'm using is one that uses footnotes, I'll probably put the full information in the footnote itself though.

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Here is an actual example:

7 Lee Tamahori, Director, Once Were Warriors, 1995.

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In order to have a timestamp, as it is the most specific way to reference a scene, just start a timer on your computer or something that gives hours, minutes, seconds at the same time you begin the movie.

If this is not an option, my only advice is to be careful on how you say "the scene where X did That". Specificity is the issue in referencing the scenes, and it has to clearly mark the scene you mean, without any chance of being mistaken for a different scene, while also adhering to lingual confinements of a formal paper.

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Hia~ I do history at uni so I've done things like this before. Basically, what these people say~ You talk about it as if it is any other source and then just be careful with your wording. You could quote the film and then you cite it like a written source or you describe the scene like 'A scene demonstrates that (for example) the Nazi officers were standing to attention holding flags as Hilter spoke, and this shows how the Nazi propaganda machine created a militaristic atmosphere in the political arena' ...or something. IT can be intimidating to think omg it is a film but it isn't so different overall. The biggest thing is to remember that films have an agenda that are not always as obvious as written texts and sometimes more obvious and yeah, be aware of that but I'd say if you're doing propaganda you will be aware. :)

Does that help?Any other questions? I'm happy to try help.

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Thanks, your comment helps a lot. My primary source is actually Triumph of the Will, so your example is really helpful, though my topic is more about how the Nazis made their own image more "appealing" to Germans after they gained power in 1933. Still, it helps.

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