WHAT
For your final assignment, you're expected to synthesize what we've learned about the study of television in a 6- page paper that draws on course texts to analyze a TV-related artifact of your choice (e.g. an episode, a program, a video, a promotion, a website, a device, or a phenomenon). You're encouraged to expand your work in one of your blog posts or video responses to produce an essay in the typical academic style. The professor will meet with you individually to help you develop your argument.
HOW
You’ll be signing up for an individual conference with the professor on Friday, December 3. Please come with:
- A plan for which blog post you’ll expand (or another topic).
- A specific digital artifact or related artifacts to analyze (if different from your blog post).
- Some idea of your overall argument.
- A list of two or three course texts that you could cite to support your argument.
- A rough outline of how you will organize your paper.
WHEN
Your essays are due by email to jlrusso@stanford.edu by midnight on December 10. Unauthorized late work will result in grade penalties. If you'd like to include links, illustrations, or other web-based elements (although this isn't required), you may post the essay to our course blog (just email me by the deadline to let me know). You're also invited to upload your essay under Files on the website in order to share it with your classmates.
REMEMBER
Academic writing makes an argument: it never simply summarizes or restates. A thesis is something with which someone could disagree. It makes a claim to something -- it offers a reading, an interpretation, a disagreement, a recasting. Ideally, your thesis says "what" you're going to say, and also "how" you're going to get there.
Find a balance between summarizing theorists, quoting from them, and analyzing them (i.e. examining them in relation to internal logic, larger debates, considering examples in relation to their model, and/or evaluating their claims). Use your own thoughts and readings to support your theoretical points.
You can find further information and resources at Stanford's Hume Writing Center http:/
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. For more information on avoiding plagiarism and the rest of Stanford's Honor Code, seehttp:/
CONTENTS [provided by email]
1. A sample student paper (from television studies), with annotations. This is an example of A-level work.
2. Two single-page handouts that offer tips on analyzing media texts.
3. "Organization," a handout that details approaches to constructing and revising a strong essay.
