Media Studies Paper

Media Studies 321w: News Analysis Spring 2018 Lab 3 Report: Semiotic Analysis Due via BlackBoard on Sunday, March 25th latest by 4:30 PM, worth 5 points 1. Finalize your sample of six news stories – three from mainstream and three from alternative news sources. Making any necessary adjustments to the code sheet categories, fill in all the data points. You should have six completed code sheets, one for each news story in your sample. 2. Assess the coded data thoughtfully to draw out significant points of similarities as well as differences between mainstream and alternative news stories in your sample. Allow the code sheets to lead you toward important and interesting insights about –

- patterns in preferred meanings across mainstream and alternative news sources; - patterns across mainstream and alternative news sources in stakeholders whom the

preferred meanings favor and those they marginalize or silence; - patterns across mainstream and alternative news sources in cultural beliefs, attitudes, and

myths that are confirmed or amplified by the preferred meanings; - patterns across mainstream and alternative news sources in underlying truths that render

the preferred meanings normal and/or natural; - patterns across mainstream and alternative news sources in truths that are rendered

abnormal, strange, and/or extreme. 3. Prepare a detailed and well-organized outline that summarizes your semiotic analysis, and which runs roughly 750 words (typed, double-spaced, using 12-point font, and one-inch margins). Please do not write out the complete analysis. Instead, following the template provided in class, submit a clear and well-documented outline of the analysis as follows –

(i) State a clear and thoughtful thesis or argument at the top of the outline and tells the reader what your comparison of mainstream and alternative news stories found about the ideological power of news coverage to shape what emerges as “true” in society. Engaging with relevant course readings, briefly explain why the thesis or argument is important.

(ii) Summarize the plan for your analysis. (iii) Use numbered points to organize two or three major points of evidence that show the

reader why your thesis or argument is valid. Organize the evidence thematically, that is, do not proceed from one news story to the next. Instead, give each numbered point a clear sub- heading that highlights a key point of interpretation and/or comparison that contributes to proving your thesis or argument.

(iv) Use the code sheets (as well as the news stories themselves) to summarize each point of evidence. Organize these summaries carefully so that all of the evidence that fits a specific sub-heading – and nothing but – appears under it. Engage with specific concepts and/or theories from the course readings as you lay out the evidence.

(v) End with a clear summary of how your analysis clarifies and/or refutes specific concepts and/or theories from the course readings.

Attach all the code sheets and a complete bibliography of all your sources.

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GRADING CRITERIA • Have you included all of the required identifying information on the first page? • Do you state a clear and bold thesis that that tells the reader what your analysis found? • Does the outline explain the significance of the thesis? • Does the outline include a summary of the plan? • Have you organized the evidence thematically (using helpful sub-headings)? • Are summaries under each point of evidence clear? Are they effective in proving your thesis? • Have you included the code sheets and a complete bibliography? • Have you proofread the document, correcting all syntax, vocabulary, and spelling mistakes? • Are your pages numbered?