death,dying,bereavement

SSCI 315 – Death, Dying and Bereavement Writing Assignments #1 & #2 (50% of your grade)

Professor Matthew P. Binkewicz, MA, FT

TOPIC: Learning about death through television

Among the ironies of the modern age is this: most of us have much less personal experience with death than did our grandparents, but most of us have seen more “deaths” than our grandparents. How is this possible? Television! The regular fare of TV includes murders, suicides and stories of fatal illnesses. Some are fictionalized in TV drams, others are covered in the news, and yet others appear in animated shows. For most of us, television is where we learn about death, but what do we learn?

PREPARING TO WRITE:

1) Review this information, your Paper Grading Rubric and the syllabus information in BLACKBOARD.

2) Read Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in the class textbook.

3) Schedule yourself to watch and take notes on 2 types of American media.

· One hour of news on television. This one hour MUST include a story about death. If the newscast you watch does not have any stories about death, you MUST watch more news until there is a story.

· One hour of a fictional drama on television. Pick a drama that includes a death in it. If the episode you watch does not have any deaths, you MUST find a drama that does (e.g., NCIS).

4) Watch the video in Blackboard featuring Melissa Manchester from the SUNY Canton Writing Center and Kaitlyn Patenaude from the Southworth Library on how to cite and reference and how to find legitimate research resources.

5) Consider meeting with someone from the Writing Center and library to help you.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING ASSIGNMENTS #1 and #2 (50% of course grade)

· WRITE AN INTRODUCTION (1 page or less). Tell your reader what you learned. Include a brief summary of what you watched, answering “who, what, when, where, how and why.” For example, explain how the deaths occurred, how they were portrayed, the reactions of characters, etc. Do NOT waste time and space with a verbatim script of each show you watched.

· COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE PORTRAYAL OF DEATH IN EACH FORMAT (1 page or less). Demonstrate to the reader how you came to learn what you learned. If you need space, shorten your introduction and/or your conclusion. Remember to cite any sources you use (including the class textbook) in the body of the paper.

· COMPARE AND CONTRAST WHAT YOU’VE SEEN ON THE SHOWS WITH WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING ABOUT DEATH IN YOUR CLASS MATERIALS, WITH YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF DEATH AND INFORMATION FROM A SCHOLARLY SOURCE (See above). (1 page or less). Consider how the target audience(s) for the show, the show’s sponsors and whether because the show appears on cable television or on “regular” television might impact the depiction of death. Are there any other reasons you can think of that might impact how death is depicted in each format? You should be concentrating most on this part of the paper.

· WRITE YOUR CONCLUSION (1 page or less). End your paper with a strong conclusion.

· PROVIDE YOUR FINAL REFERENCE LIST IN CORRECT APA FORMAT (not counted in the page count). This is on a new page following the end of your paper.

Every citation you use in the body of your paper must have full referencing information here. If you read something but did not cite it in the body of your paper, it does NOT get referenced at the end of your paper. If you DID cite something in your paper, you MUST reference it here.

Writing Assignment #2 (Final Paper, final citations and final reference list) due by Wednesday, June 26, 2019, 11:59 pm. Writing Assignment #2 has the same requirements as Writing Assignment #1: Rough Draft, but you must have corrected the mistakes pointed out to you in the Rough Draft and taken the time to review the paper using Grammarly.com, consulting with the Writing Center, and doing a careful review. Do not simply re-submit your uncorrected rough draft. This will be considered a non-submission and you will receive a “0” for this assignment.

How can you tell if you are using a legitimate source?

Generally, sites that end with .gov or .edu tend to be acceptable. Government sites end with .gov. College and university sites end with .edu (e.g. www.canton.edu). Work done through colleges and universities CAN be acceptable. Be careful because some college websites include sections where anybody can post anything and some of it is just for fun. Information officially posted by the college and its professors are considered acceptable.

You may find decent online resources ending with .org, designating a not-for-profit organization. However, many of these sites tend to be a bit superficial and geared towards a layperson’s perspective rather than an academic or scientific one. Do not just use such sources.

Peer-reviewed journals (ex. professionals who review work by other professionals) or professional journal articles are generally acceptable.

Each department at SUNY Canton also has a designated librarian in Southworth Library who can help you look for good resources and review what you’ve found. Our specific librarian is named Kaitlyn Patenaude. Please feel free to contact her at patenaudek@canton.edu or at (315) 386-7057. If Ms. Patenaude is not available, please contact another librarian at (315) 386-7228.

Ms. Patenaude recently participated in the filming of a video demonstrating how to find good resources – this video is in Blackboard for you to use. Ms. Patenaude shows you how to use the SUNY Canton database system, which actually identifies what is an academic resource!

Regardless of what source you use, evaluate the information critically. As professional and educated as the authors might be, they’re human too and you might spot flaws in their arguments.

NOT ACCEPTABLE – If you use these sites, they will NOT be counted for your paper!

· Wikipedia or any other such site where pretty much anybody can submit information and it isn’t verified (even the founder of Wikipedia says don’t use Wikipedia)!

· Blogs or generally any other source that is predominantly unsupported opinions;

· Biased sources – Generally, as you are reading, evaluate whether the author is acknowledging other perspectives and looking at both sides of an issue. Extremely conservative and some evangelistic sites may not necessarily offer an unbiased view. Sources that are trying to sell you a service or product are usually biased or questionable.

WHAT TO WRITE AND SUBMIT: Both writing assignments are required and both together are worth 50% of your overall course grade.

For Writing Assignment #2 (Final Paper): Worth 35% of course grade).

Using Writing Assignment #1 and feedback on those assignments from the instructor and the Writing Center (if used), and the information below, compose your final paper. On a new page, generate your final reference list, making sure that every citation in the paper has a full reference on the reference list and every full reference is cited in the body of the paper.

Students are encouraged to also submit drafts into the free Grammarly service (www.grammarly.com) to check for plagiarism and grammatical problems. Please go through SUNY Canton’s license to access Grammarly so that it will be free. If you go directly to Grammarly, you will be charged a fee.

Submit the completed final version of your paper electronically into the designated dropbox in Blackboard.

FINAL PAPER FORMAT: All papers for Writing Assignment #2 MUST include the following formatting requirements. Students who do not comply risk their paper being rejected or at the minimum, having points deducted.

· 4 pages maximum (NOT including the title page, reference page, or appendices (if any). Do NOT go over the maximum number of pages for the body of the paper or the entire paper may be rejected. Write concisely and avoid repetitiveness.

· Use 1.5 spacing, 12 point font size, Ariel, Calibri, or Times New Roman font style, and 1” margins all around. See also syllabus and writing assignment information posted in Blackboard for additional requirements.

· Composed in Microsoft Word and saved as a .doc or .docx ONLY. If you submit your paper as a pdf or in a format that the instructor can’t open for editing, your paper will be considered late at a minimum.

· The electronic file title should be titled with your last name first, accompanied by your first initial, and then the name of the paper (ex. Smith_A_Televised_Death).

· Presented professionally, to include:

· Title page with the title of your paper, your name, the name and semester of the class, email address, and your telephone number.

· Complete and correct reference list following APA formatting and matching all citations in the body of the paper.

· All pages except for the title page numbered at the top OR bottom. No page number on the title page.

· The use of scholarly language, NOT colloquialisms (slang), emoticons/emojis, abbreviations, profanity, etc. that are more suitable to texting, tweeting, and the like, unless it is being used to demonstrate a point AND explained.

· Strong attention to standard, college-level grammar, punctuation, other writing mechanics and possible plagiarism. Students are expected to proofread, spellcheck, use Grammarly and to request help from services such as from the Writing Center if needed and recommended.

· Graphics, cartoons, tables and figures are to be used judiciously and only to illustrate an important point. If used, they are to be put into an appendix or appendices at the end of the paper and are NOT counted in the page count. Please do not use these items merely to “decorate” your paper.

· Black ink only. Do not use colors, shadings, special effects, animations, etc.

· If you use examples from your personal or professional life, ensure that you maintain strict confidentiality of other people you may talk about.

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