Essay 2- Media research

Unit 2: The Argumentative Research Essay (30% of the course grade)

Important Dates:

Topic & Discovery Draft:	Monday, 6/17 by 11:59PM
Rough Draft due on Turnitin:	Thursday, 6/20 by 11:59PM
Peer Review due on Turnitin:	Friday, 6/21 by 11:59PM
Final Draft due on Turnitin:	Sunday, 6/23 by 11:59PM

Length and Format:

1000-1200 words; Standard MLA format, PLUS a works cited page; Failure to meet page and/or formatting requirements will result in ten points each deducted from your essay grade. Failure to include a works cited page will result in an immediate 30 point deduction. The use of anything other than MLA 8th Edition will result in a ten point penalty on your essay grade.

Source Requirement:

You must use at least three sources in your essay. All sources must be academically credible and documented in the text when used [including paraphrase, summary, and direct quotation]; bibliographical citations for the sources should be listed on a Works Cited page at the end of your essay. You will lose 10 points for each missing source.

Constraints: Third Person POV; Inclusion of a minimum of 3 sources; Use of MLA 8

Examples to read for inspiration:

· Honey, I Warped the Kids

· How Much Will Social Media Really Affect the U.S. Election?

· Paint or Paint App? Value of Creating Digital Vs. Traditional Art

· Example Student Essay

Grading: English Research Rubric

Guidelines:

Write an argumentative essay on some aspect of "the media."

The topic here is free-range within the field of "media." Of course, one of the first things to consider is, what is media? Media includes books, magazines, newspapers, and other printed materials; radio, television, DVDs, VODs, Video Games, and other electronic communication devices intended to reach a wide audience; and, of course, the Internet and other online services such as social media. The key thing about media seems to be that it is a way of communicating (or miscommunicating, as the case may be) with large groups of people; hence, a telephone conversation (targeted to a single person) generally is not considered media-related.

Next, you need to narrow your focus. "Media" is such a broad topic that it is impossible to deal adequately with it in an essay of any length; even books cannot individually cope with any degree of depth with the subject of media. Therefore, you should choose an argumentative focus on some smaller aspect related to media.

Among the vast areas in which you could write your essay are the following. (A few example topics follow each area):

· Politics: the electronic communications bill, deregulation of telecommunications companies, media's effects on elections, media as shaper of public policy and/or opinion, SOPA/PIPA bills, media’s effect on divisive issues

· Sociology: parasocial relationships, relationship to sense of "community," does media cause an overload of information

· Culture: does media erode interest in more traditional arts, what are the aesthetics of media programs, does the media help or hurt other art forms, can electronic media and more traditional media coexist/work together

· Education: does media enhance education, has it affected students' attention spans or ability to learn, does it replace reading or other intellectual activities among children

· News/Current Affairs: does media lead to a well-informed public, do media news outlets report the news people need to know, are news shows too interested in entertainment rather than information, are some subjects no longer "newsworthy"

· Technology: are new technologies emerging that will render broadcast media (television and radio) as we know it obsolete, does better media technology have a lasting effect on quality of life, how have technological advances made media more/less accessible, do V-Chip and parental controls work

These, of course, are just a few of the possibilities open to you. Note, too, that whatever topic you choose, you need to be specific in application--that is, you will need to refine the parameters of what is meant by the word "media."

These topics are OFF LIMITS. DO NOT USE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS (if you do, you’ll get a zero):

· Abortion

· Animal Rights/Cruelty

· Capital Punishment (i.e. the death penalty)

· Cyberbullying

· Gay Marriage

· Gun Control/Gun Legislation

· Immigration

· Legalizing Marijuana

· Lowering the Drinking Age

· Political Party-Specific Discourse (i.e. Republicans OR Democrats are ___________ )

· Social Media’s Effect on Communication

· Violent Media or Violence in Media’s Affect on Children

You will formulate a thesis that states your opinion on whatever aspect of the media you’ve selected to work with. The body of your essay will provide specific evidence from your source material to back up your thesis.

Your intended readers are intellectual (college-educated) people with an interest in media. (If you'd like, you may refine your audience further; for example, you may say to yourself "I'm writing for Facebook users").

Follow these steps to proceed with this assignment:

Select your topic. Spend some time thinking about what aspects of the media interest you and/or how the media impacts/affects your life or worldview. Come up with a question that you can research and answer.

Pre-writing/Planning. Do a five minute pre-write on your topic. For your pre-write, you may do brainstorming, free-writing, clustering, or the alternate strategy of your choice. Be sure to consider the question you plan on answering in the essay and think about organization and the way you will shape your essay. Create and submit your Discovery Draft at this point.

Conduct Preliminary Research. Using the tools learned in class, find source material that can help you answer your research question.

Outline Your Essay. Based on your prewriting preliminary research, type up a quick outline (formal or informal) that provides an overall organizational plan for your essay. Your outline should also contain your essay’s thesis.

Write Your Rough Draft. In the same document you typed your outline, compose the rough draft of your argument. Be sure to include your research in your essay and on a works cited page.

Participate in Peer Review and Revision. After submitting your outline and rough draft, complete the Peer Mark assignment. Once Peer Mark is complete begin revising, editing, and proofreading your essay.

Submit Your Final Draft. Your final draft should be properly formatted and fully documented.

Checklist

Before you turn in your essay, make sure you can answer “yes” to the following questions.

▢ Does your essay have a specific title (other than Essay 2)?

▢ Does your introduction capture the reader’s attention?

▢ Do you include a well-constructed thesis statement at the end of the introduction?

▢ Does each body paragraph contain a topic sentence?

▢ Does each body paragraph contain specific evidence from your research to support your opinion?

▢ Does each body paragraph contain a reason (i.e. commentary) for your opinion?

▢ Does your conclusion reiterate your overall claim about the topic?

▢ Does your concluding paragraph bring your essay to a satisfying close?

▢ Does each paragraph transition from one to the next?

▢ Is the essay written in third person?

▢ Is your essay formatted correctly? (See MLA information on eCampus)

▢ Is your essay appropriately documented in MLA 8?

▢ Is your essay free of grammatical errors?

▢ Is essay at least 1,000 words?

▢ Does your final draft contain only the essay and works cited page?