All assignments are to be submitted through Canvas.
Participation (Every Class Meeting)
You must participate thoughtfully during class discussions. Merely showing up will not get you participation credit—you must speak. If you’re not in class, you can’t receive credit, so your participation grade will be affected. Thoughtful participation means that you engage critically in our discussions or ask engaging questions about the subject.
Please see me ASAP if you’re concerned about your participation grade because you’re shy or if you don’t understand these requirements. Telling me at the end of April that you didn’t participate because you’re the quiet type or because you didn’t understand what “thoughtful” meant will be too late.
03/16/2021: Update on Participation
Remember, Participation was 150 points and is now 250 points, 25% of your grade. I dropped the Leading Class Discussion assignment and mentioned the following:
- If you aren’t talking in class, I assume you aren’t reading carefully enough.
- If you’re not in class, you can’t receive credit for this.
Some of you are doing very well with participation, and I believe you know who you are. I also believe you know if you aren’t. You have to contribute. I realize you haven’t watched everything I have (and vice versa), but I assume you’ve consumed a variety of media. You must find a way to discuss this media in relation to our readings. You don’t have to have THE answer, but you need to have a contribution to class.
For those of you who haven’t had me, I need you to know that I don’t just give participation credit. If you don’t talk, you get no credit. You must speak. We are halfway through the semester, and you should have ways of bringing up topics in relation to the reading. Questions are just as good as comments–but you need to talk. Participation is the cornerstone of intellectual development and has been for at least 2,500 years. Yes, I really believe that.
Canvas Posts (Weekly–15 total)
In order to facilitate beyond-the-classroom-reflection, I’ll ask you to go to Canvas and respond to the prompt for that week. These should be at least 250 words. There’s no right or wrong answer, but I do expect you to be inspired by the course material.
Make sure you do these posts by 11:00 pm on Fridays. Remember, the first two were due the first full week of class.
Critical Analysis of Culture Essay (due 3/09)
As you read and participate in class discussions, consider the values that are important for a culture (but we’re thinking of American Culture or cultures mostly in this class). I want you to choose an important cultural value and describe how it is present in the society from which it comes—be that American, Western, Industrial, etc. You shouldn’t think of this as “Your view of what the values of a culture should be.” As we’ve discussed, values aren’t always valued. Racism and sexism are American/Western values. You must describe (make an argument for) why you feel those values are part of a culture, so point to (new media, perhaps) examples of how these values are carried out. Although we might all agree that a particular value (e.g., individualism) is an American value, you must offer support for such a claim—you can’t just state it.
I do not expect you to go into a tremendous amount of research for this, but you should cite at least three (3) of our readings.
After you identify and describe the values, you must describe how those values are embodied in the culture at large, an artifact (such as a technology), a text, etc. You may use “I” and even bring in personal examples, but you have to defend your reasons for arguing the way you do. Below are the format logistics (I don’t take off for formatting, but I am always asked about formatting so…):
- Typed, double spaced (except heading), 12 pt font
- 1-inch margins all around
- Page numbers (anywhere)
- A title other than “Critical Analysis of a Culture Essay“
- At least six (6) pages but no more than eight (8) pages (again, I’m not expecting a COMPLETE analysis)
- In-text citations: you must cite at least three (3) sources from the course reading and, if you choose, outside reading
- But do not summarize those sources or your supporting texts (films, shows, videos, etc.)
- Works Cited/References page (I don’t care which style–MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.–you use for your paper, but please choose one)
If you have an early draft, you could easily ask questions in class for more information. Please don’t e-mail me a draft and say “look at this.” Instead, schedule a Zoom conference with me well before the due date. If you’re wondering if one particular value over another would be better suited, please ask, and I’ll offer some advice.
Before you turn in your Critical Analysis of Culture Essay, make sure you can identify or answer the following:
- Can you easily identify the American (or just cultural) value?
- Is the value appropriate for the culture?
- Is there a common example that I can refer to in order to help identify the value?
- Is there enough support to claim it’s an American value?
- Can you identify where you explain how the media choice, technology, practice, etc. embodies the value?
- Are the examples (media choice, technology, practice, etc.) appropriate for the value?
- Are the arguments (proof) presented valid…do they make sense?
- Do you have appropriate quotations? Do you have any? You’re supposed to use in-text citations and quote from the class reading.
Critical Media Analysis Essay (due 4/13)
Consider this your big semester paper. This is a rhetorical analysis of how a media segment conveys a message. Of course, there’s always text and subtext in any message, so you have lots to work with. I prefer this analysis to be on an electronically delivered segment (TV, Cable, Film, Internet) rather than print. After all, Mervin pointed out that print is superior, so using a newspaper would be stacking the deck in your favor…Anyway, explain how the segment carries meaning. You’ll be looking for obvious rhetoric–persuasive phrases and images–but you should also look for a priori meaning–the values, attitudes, myths, and ideas–built into or associated with the segment’s topic. Review this discussion on rhetoric as building meaning into a text, artifact, or idea.
Ideally, I’d like you to focus on a shorter message and explain the many rhetorical “layers” you find as opposed to analyzing a longer piece and covering just one or two layers.
Below are the format logistics:
- Typed, double spaced (except heading), 12 pt font
- 1-inch margins all around
- Page numbers (anywhere)
- A title other than “Critical Analysis of the Media Essay”
- At least eight (8) pages and the Works Cited/References page doesn’t count towards that 8-page requirement
- In-text citations: you must cite at least five (5) sources from the course reading AND incorporate outside reading
- But do not summarize those sources or your supporting texts (films, shows, videos, etc.)
- Works Cited/References page (I don’t care which style–MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.–you use for your paper, but please choose one)
Start thinking about the rhetoric of media segments you watch on TV or the Web. If you have an early draft, you could easily ask questions in class for more information. Please don’t e-mail me a draft and say “look at this.” Instead, schedule a Zoom conference with me well before the due date. If you’re wondering if one particular value over another would be better suited, please ask, and I’ll offer some advice.
Leading Class Discussion
I’ve decided to drop this assignment, but I’m including this blurb because the assignment is on the syllabus. Instead of having you lead class discussions on a reading for 15-20 minutes, I’m going to ask you weekly questions, so I’ll turn this grade into a participation grade. You’ll notice on the syllabus this assignment was 100 points and Participation is 150 points. Now, Participation will be 250 points, 25% of your grade.
- If you aren’t talking in class, I assume you aren’t reading carefully enough.
- If you’re not in class, you can’t receive credit for this.
Multimodal Project (due 5/11)
I think this is going to be wrapped together with the presentation for 150 points total. You ready to wow me? Great! That’s the can-do attitude we’re looking for here!
As I mentioned at the beginning of the semester, this assignment is in flux. In the past, we would have privileged creating your very own video with you using visuals, video, text, and audio to create a project that reflects or is inspired by something from this course. In my experience, one can spend an awful lot of time tweaking multimodal/new media assignments and miss that we’re here for critical thinking and not software tutorial.
The main thing about this assignment is that it has a presentation. You could adapt your other work to present to the class, or you could critically analyze–your fan status is irrelevant here–a media segment or series of texts to identify how it conveys meaning. I hope you take risks and experiment. Your previous assignment is the major work; this assignment is more open and fluid depending on your skills.
You don’t need to be an editing guru to do this. You can easily create a project using a program like Movie Maker, which was a standard program for Microsoft Windows (if you have a Mac, you most likely have iMovie). Using text, images, videos, and effects, make an argument. If you’re really ambitious, try Adobe Premiere Pro. That program is available to faculty, but, if you’re resourceful, you can find a trial version.
Below are the format logistics:
- Just make sure you can play the project in class, and please have citations (URLs and such) for the material you get online. I recommend signing up for a YouTube Channel where you can post videos.
- Begin with something that presents your theoretical lens, the lens with which you interpret your subject.
Presentation (Due 5/11)
Your Final Presentation will be to present your final (multimodal) project. Because of our class size, you cannot go over 10 min. I will stop you after 10 min, so make sure you time yourself. Don’t forget to show that you’ve been in class and have read our material: I expect you’ll reference several of our theorists’ perspectives to analyze media. This can be related to a topic in your other assignments. In fact, I expect it will be. I just want you to present your work to the class in an efficient, cogent manner.