SEC - the building blocks for critical thought

Everything sensible that you will say in discussions and essays (or, come to think of it, life) will, more or less, use a structure based around the statement, evidence, and comment method (SEC) in some form or other.

- You make a statement
- Back it up with evidence
- Then, and this is the crucial part, link the two by commenting on both.

For example;

Make a statement

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation

Back it up with evidence

For example, they will often use banjos and sampling in the same song

Comment on how the evidence helps to support your statement

The use of traditional instruments like banjos shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: a technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

Now just put all the bits together:

I think that Sparklehorse have re-invented country music for a new generation. For example, they will often use banjos and sampling in the same song. The use of traditional instruments like banjos shows that they are indebted to the country music heritage. Yet, they re-vitalise a very traditional genre of music by their incorporation of samples: technique that is associated with cutting-edge music.

The paragraph above looks like the type of paragraph that you would expect to see in an essay.

Your essays and discussions should follow the SEC method throughout.

The statement-evidence-comment method is not just something that you should learn and then quickly forget for this course. All academic essays will require you to use this method in some form or other. As you progress in your education you will find that what changes (or should) is the level of sophistication and subtlety of your statements, evidence and comments.

Indeed, SEC is something that we do at every level of “argument”.

Take the scenario of a mother reading her favourite story from her childhood to her child, again:

Young child: This is boring! (Statement)
Mother Why do you say that?
Young child Because we’ve read it lots of time before. (Evidence)
Mother And?
Young child And I’m bored of reading the same thing over and over again. You like it, but I don’t. (Comment – neatly linking statement and evidence)

Once you look, you start to see SEC everywhere.

A final point. You may have noticed that the comment bit is the most challenging. It is quite easy for us to make statements. Think about people you know who react to a new film, a book, or a band with the comment "that's crap". When you ask them why they say that (ie. you want them to provide evidence and comment) they will often struggle and, eventually, merely provide you with the rather juvenile and completely unsatisfactory answer "because it just is". Then they'll possibly provide you with another range of negative statements (ie. "it's really crap; "I hate it", etc.). What they are struggling to do is to analyse and evaluate through evidence and comment. If they could provide evidence and convincing comment for their statement ("that's crap"), then we'd start to take their opinion seriously.

Enough of that. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy some ............ Sparklehorse

Documentary on Trainspotting

Today we consolidated some our own opinions and feelings about the film by looking at a documentary on the film.

I thought this was quite interesting as it showed the importance of the production team (led by producer Andrew MacDonald, writer John Hodge, and director Danny Boyle) in making the project of the film a success.

It also gave some interesting background into casting decisions – in particular the fact that actor who was to play Spud in the film (Ewen Bremner) was mildly disappointed as he had successfully played Renton in the stage version which preceded the film.

I think that what was also interesting was the role of the marketing and PR machine in the selling of the film.

Again, the issue about the degree to which the film glamourises came up: film critic Barry Norman claimed that “not to condemn was to condone” drug abuse.

But Ewen Bremner, on the other hand, claims that it was the first film to break the taboo about heroin addicts by portraying them as human beings.

If anyone has anything to add based on the documentary, please have your say …

Continuing with viewing of film

Today we completed viewing of Trainspotting.

We started by comparing and contrasting the opening sequences of this film with the other big film of 1996, "Braveheart" (despite the moans). We've been talking a bit about representations of Scotland so it was useful to have a look at these two very different portrayals of Scottishness. However, there are some similarities: both films set the scene and atmosphere in the opening minutes through music and voice over.

As we continued watching Trainspotting there were quite a few voices who claimed that, although it might have glamourised drugs in the first half, the second half of the film portrays the tragedy and pain associated with heroin abuse.

There was some talk about the degree to which the film reflected reality. Logan mentioned that the film was surreal. This surreal (dream-like) quality is a good phrase to use to describe the style of this film.

We just managed to complete the viewing of the whole film by the end of the class. I am very interested to hear and see what everyone thinks about this film. I asked everyone to write down their thoughts about any aspect of the film which they thought was memorable, engaging or interesting.

Please feel free to use the comment function below as a space to write down your observations on the film. In fact, this is a good way to do it as it extends the classroom discussions into the murky realms of the internet ...

Thinking about film - introducing Trainspotting

Today we started off by considering aspects which you folks decided contribute to a good film. There were lots of ideas. There was a sense that a good story (or narrative) was very important. Of course, that begs the question "what makes a good story?" - some suggestions touched on the answer to this by saying that things like climax/anti-climax are important (these are parts of the story/narrative structure).

Another important aspect was a good cast and crew and soundtrack.

Other elements which contributed to a good film that were mentioned were good location, style before substance, comedy ....

This led into our viewing of the first hour or so of "Trainspotting". We paused it here and there for some discussion and talked about things like the representation of Scotland (Braveheart came out that same year); representation of drugs; an evaluation of Renton; how realistic the film is; the use of colour and music; references to other films ...

The class finished with everyone writing down there initial thoughts on the film so far. Again, it your ability to communicate in written words and in discussion that interests me.

We'll continue with the film and the discussion next week.

First day and initial thoughts

We had our first class today. It was good to meet you all - even if it felt a bit cramped.

As we waited for everyone to arrive, I asked everyone to nominate three films which they felt everyone should watch. The result was an eclectic bunch of the good, the bad and the ugly of cinema. And here they are:

1. Highlander
2. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
3. Snatch
4. Silent Hill
5. The Hangover
6. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
7. Love Actually
8. EIF (?)
9. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
10. The Night of the Hunter
11. Hannah Montana the Movie
12. The Wedding Singer
13. The Lord of the Rings
14. Tropic Thunder
15. Moon
16. The Third Man
17. Shrek
18. Martyrs
19. Brazil
20. Pulp Fiction
21. Role Models
22. In the Loop
23. The Conversation
24. Plan 9 from Outer Space
25. Trainspotting
26. Cabin Fever
27. Reservoir Dogs
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Schindler's List
30. Rush Hour 3
31. 17 Again
32. Anchorman
33. Dead Man’s Shoes
34. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
35. Marley and Me
36. In the valley of Elah
37. No country for old men
38. Into the wild
39. Scream
40. Idiocracy
41. Napoleon Dynamite
42. Saving Private Ryan
43. Labyrinth
44. The Godfather
45. Mamma Mia
46. The Lion King
47. Indiana Jones
48. The Life of Brian
49. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
50. Wedding Crashers
51. Superbad
52. Monty Python and the Flying Circus
53. The Shawshank Redemption


Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting were the most popular films. Use this list to expand your own cinematic horizons. Just for fun, I threw in a few films as well.

If you'd like to investigate these more, you can look them up on a film resource site like http://www.imdb.com/

After this we did a script-development exercise. This was a bit of fun and it was interesting to see how group discussions developed characters and relationships. There's obviously a lot of creative energy in the class. If you enjoyed this activity, why not get together with some class mates and develop ideas, characters, stories for future projects.

Finally, I asked everyone to write a short summary and evaluation of one of the films they recommended. The ability to express your knowledge and feelings about a film (or any text) is a fundamental skill which we will focus in this course. We will work on your oral and written communication skills.

Again, great to meet you all - you seem like a decent bunch. Hopefully, we'll all learn something (and have a laugh or two) over the next couple of months.