Advertising and consuming ideologies

Advertising and consuming ideologies

Term Paper and Proposal Assignment
For the major essay you are required to write an argumentative essay on a topic related to the focus of this course, communication (and/or networked communication) and
social change. This gives you a good deal of leeway, and numerous potential topic areas are listed below to get you going. Please remember that these topics are very
broad, so you’ll need to choose a specific aspect of the topic you want to explore.

What is an argumentative essay?
An argumentative essay is the most common form of essay in communication studies (and for many the most rewarding!). In this form of essay you will take a position on
a certain topic or issue related to communication and social change and develop an argument with respect to it (i.e. The legislation of intellectual property rights
goes against the freedom of expression and discourages creativities.). This form of essay requires that you know your topic and that you have a coherent argument with
respect to it. For this type of essay, you will provide a thesis or a topic sentence, explore several reasons (2-3) why your thesis or topic assertion is supported,
and then anticipate some reasons why some people may disagree with your position. You will have to refute these counterarguments, and then provide a strong conclusion
reiterating your position. You are encouraged to tackle unique subject areas that you feel strongly about, but make sure they relate to this course.

Section A: Essay Proposal and References
Worth: 5%.
Length: 1-2 pages, double spaced, plus a list of possible references.
Purpose: Introduce your topic, your research question and the way you plan to explore this with the references you have found to date.
Format: You must use APA citation style.
References: For your references you must have at least one academic book, at least 1 academic journal article directly related to the topic you wish to explore, and at
least a course reading. That is a total of 3 academic sources.

Note: Your paper will not be graded unless your proposal has been approved. Please keep your graded proposal for attaching to your term paper when you hand it in.
The essay proposal and bibliography is the first part of the major essay for this class.
Your proposal will make an exploratory type of topic statement and some research questions that you intend to answer. You need to fully research and understand your
topic before you can come to an opinion or thesis statement about it. NEVER start with an opinion or you are susceptible to ‘confirmation bias’ in your research –
looking for and finding only the research that supports your opinion and not considering research that does not. (Academic research is about finding what the evidence
suggests, even if it disagrees with your ‘gut feeling’ or anecdotal information. Even if you have remarkable insight concerning a topic it will not be worth much
unless you can logically and persuasively support it in the body of your essay. )

Your proposal has to be written in paragraphs. Choose a topic of your wish and formulate a title of your paper. You should give clear indication that you have settled
on a specific research question, and have found relevant academic resources. Your proposal should also indicate that you are familiar with the content of the
references you have found by providing some explanation for how these sources are useful for your paper. You need to also provide an explanation of the data bases you
used for finding your references.

The draft references must have a minimum of 3 references: from academic books or academic journal articles – one of the references must be a course reading. You may
use more references than 3; however all must be academic sources.

Potential Topics
Below is a list of potential topics. Depending on your approach, each could be the basis for an argumentative essay. Remember, you need to choose a specific aspect of
the topic, as each has many facets that could potentially be explored.

1. The implications of concentration of media ownership (media conglomerates such as Disney, News Corporation)
2. The role of media ownership in shaping media content
3. Media and the propaganda model
4. Advertising and consuming ideologies (you can take on the topics such as how alcohol, tobacco advertising affects on people’s consumption habits, the impact of
the fast food commercials on child obesity, or the Dove’s advertising campaign).
5. The implications of media deregulation and the Neo-liberalism media policies
6. Gender, race and the media (e.g. the representations of Muslim people/Asians/
Africa Americans in the media)
7. The New Media and social changes (in the forms of production, distribution and consumption of information or its social implications – has to be very specific)
8. The legislation of intellectual property rights

Procedure:
1. Identify the topic: be specific, clear, and relevant to our course content.
2. Do the research
3. Develop research questions/arguments (in coherent logic)

Section B: Final Essay
Worth: 25%

Length: 7 pages, 12pt font, double-spaced, not including cover page and references. Papers must include a word count on the cover page.

Format: Must be in APA or MLA style for citations and references.

Sources/References:
• You must have a minimum of 4 academic sources, and at least 1 from course readings.
• You may use UP TO 3 non-academic sources (for example, corporate or organizational websites, newspapers, trade books) in supplementary research, but these do not
count as your academic references. Non-academic (non-peer reviewed) sources CANNOT be your primary resource. Media sources (newspaper articles, letters to the editor,
TV clips, radio broadcasts, podcasts, etc.) are strongly encouraged – in fact, I expect you to use them – and must be cited fully and correctly. For anything you
access via the web, an access date must be provided.

• You are not allowed to use Wikipedia as your sources.

Notes:
• Do not wait to start your essay. Choose your topic early and stick with it.
• Students are responsible for keeping a copy of your paper and all of your research notes until the submission of the final grades to protect against misplacement of
assignments.

• For both assignments, late submissions will receive a penalty of 5 % deduction per day, unless a prior arrangement has been made or there is an emergency with
documentation. Any form of academic dishonesty would result in a zero grade on the assignment.
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