Expo E-25 | Academic Writing and Critical Reading

This research guide has been designed for students in the Fall 2025 Expository Writing class, Academic Writing and Critical Reading, taught online by Sarah Ahrens. The resources and strategies described on this page are specifically targeted: they represent our first best guesses at where you might find the information you'll need to execute Essay 3 successfully.

See them simply as starting points for your research into current critical responses to one of the films you'll be considering: Persepolis, Moonlight, or Lady Bird.

Remember that good research is often about following up on hunches, testing out a hypothesis and then seeing where else (or to what else) it leads.

Language will be essential to the effort.  You may need to try several combinations of search terms, in fact, before you strike gold.

Let me know how I can help as your work on Essay 3 gets underway. We can triage by email or set up a time to meet on Zoom (my calendar is here) for a longer talk about your project.

• The Get Research Help webpage offers various resources, including finding subject specialists, which is a good idea for degree-candidates working towards a thesis. 
• The Ask a Librarian webpage offers an online chat service, an email form if you are unsure about who to ask for subject-expertise help, and a form to request a research appointment.
• Email Mary Frances Angelini, Research Librarian for the Extension School angelini@fas.harvard.edu, or Jonathan Paulo, Research Librarian for the Extension School jonathan_paulo@harvard.edu.