TERM PAPER — MASS COMM 72

The paper counts for 25 percent of the course grade. It will be between 12 and 15 typewritten, double-spaced pages of text (not counting title page, endnotes and bibliography, tables or figures, photocopied articles, etc.).  It is due on Monday, November 17 at the beginning of class.  Any papers turned in after that time will not be accepted and you will receive a zero on the assignment. 

You will e-mail in a one-page term paper topic proposal October 1 (or earlier).  This needs to be nothing more than a couple of paragraphs about the topic you've chosen to write about, but can include any information on sources or other details you may have in mind.  The topic can change later, but this gives you a chance to get some early feedback on your topic.  There is no need to print a copy — e-mailing it to me allows me to respond easily.  You will also be expected to e-mail in a one-page synopsis of sources for your paper on Friday, October 24 (or earlier).  This is simply an early list of some of the materials you plan to use as sources for the paper. 

The paper should follow one of three approaches:

1. Examine the media coverage of a CURRENT news story from the list below as it develops, comparing the content of two different media outlets — one national and one local. Discuss the themes you find within the coverage, and explore the differences between the content of national and local media and how the outlets aim to serve their very different audiences. Also discuss the coverage in terms of how the given media organization fulfilled its mission to inform the public, and the degree to which the organization served society as a whole.  You might also touch on how in the process the organization may have engaged in the other functions mentioned in class — entertaining and persuading — as well, but only if it's appropriate to the case you've studied.

   For this assignment, you may choose from the following stories:
   (1) The 2008 race for president (particularly the historic candidates from both major parties)
   (2) Increased global warming concern in the wake of An Inconvenient Truth
   (3) The Internet: Is it a resource or a threat, or both?
   (4) The debate over gay marriage
   (5) Any other current topic approved by Prof. Craig

   NOTE: Please refrain from writing about the war in Iraq. There is so much information on it, and so much can change so quickly, that it would probably be unwise to tackle it as a paper topic.
    

2. Examine a PAST news story from the list below as covered by one national media outlet (i.e. New York Times, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, or TV network news), discuss the themes and patterns within the coverage and look at the degree to which that organization's coverage fulfilled its mission to inform the public, how it may or may not have served society, and how it may also have engaged in any or all of the other functions mentioned in class (again, only if they're appropriate to the case you've studied).

   For this assignment, you may choose from the following stories:
   (1) The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska
   (2) The Atlanta Olympic Park bombing (and the naming of Richard Jewell as a suspect)
   (3) The Columbia Space Shuttle explosion
   (4) The California gubernatorial recall election
   (5) Any other past topic approved by Prof. Craig

   NOTE: I'd prefer you refrain from the Sept. 11 attacks or the O.J. Simpson investigation and trial.  I've read waaaaay too many papers about these topics, so unless you have a really fresh angle, it's best to avoid them.
    

3. Examine coverage of any one of the cases mentioned in the two questions above from the point of view of Social Responsibility theory, as will be detailed in class and outlined in an excerpt from the book Four Theories of the Press. Choose one media outlet (or at most two) and focus on how its coverage of this case reflected a variety of viewpoints on the issue, how it kept to high journalistic standards, how it fulfilled its obligations to society, and how it fulfilled other obligations within the Social Responsibility model.

If you have an idea for a term paper that doesn't conveniently fit into any of these formats, please feel free to check it out with me.

The best papers are usually those that integrate both information you gather through research with concepts and examples found in readings and lecture. Show us you know how some of the ideas from this class relate to the subject you've chosen. This needn't dominate the paper, but in general the terms and concepts you learn in this class come in very handy when analyzing the information you've found.

One more thing: This may not be a writing class, but if your writing, grammar or spelling are so bad as to make your paper hard to understand, it will hurt your grade.  Papers that are well written and easy to understand almost always get better grades than ones that are full of bad spelling and grammar. 

All Papers:

1. Papers will be typed or word-processed, double-spaced, on 8½ x 11" paper, and don't enlarge the margins or bump up the type size. The instructor takes a very dim view of such efforts. Please proofread and/or spell-check your final version. There is no need to place your paper in a binder; a staple in the upper left corner is fine.
2. Any photos, graphics or illustrations you choose to include should be placed at the end of the paper as appendices. You may refer to them in the text (i.e. "See Appendix 1"). These do not count toward the final number of pages.
3. This is a research paper.  That means that you need to go out and find information about the topic and report your findings in the paper.  It means you look at a significant body of material — usually 25-50 articles or 10-15 books, depending on the topic — and analyze what you find.  It does not mean you read a couple of articles and write the paper off the top of your head.  Papers that demonstrate the author's hard work receive better grades than those that reflect minimal effort.
4. The biggest mistakes you can make are: 
       (1) Jumping to conclusions without backing them up with research.  
       (2) Getting facts wrong — misspelling names, misstating dates or making any other factual errors. 
       (3) Relying too heavily on one source — your paper ends up replicating another author and reflecting all the same points of view (and the same flaws).  
       (4) Plagiarizing — representing someone else's words as your own.  When in doubt, cite the source.
5. Do not use Wikipedia as a source for your paper.  It's not that all the information there is wrong — it just contains too many user-submitted mistakes to have true credibility for a research paper.  Students also sometimes use it as a crutch, listing multiple entries as though they are different sources.  If you can't help it, use the site to help lead you to more credible sources.  It's a great jumping-off point, but not a credible source by itself.
6. I do require both a bibliography and footnoting/endnoting in my papers. Any standard citation/footnote/endnote system is fine (i.e. Chicago Manual of Style, Strunk & White, etc.), but stick to the one style throughout. If you're quoting someone directly, please attribute the quote in the text in addition to footnoting. (As in, "In his 2006 State of the Union message, President Bush said, 'We need to pull together...'") Don't just place the quote in with a footnote at the end. That leaves all kinds of unnecessary questions for the reader to answer. If you're simply alluding to information from a source, without directly quoting it, a footnote is generally fine, although it's usually helpful to give the reader some idea of who the source is and if they have a political ax to grind on the topic in question.
7. You are required to number your pages. If you can't figure out how to make your word processor do this, number them by hand before you turn your paper in.
8. You are required to keep a photocopy or electronic copy of your paper. If the paper did not print clearly enough to read easily, make a clear photocopy and turn that in. You are also required to keep all your notes, research materials and rough drafts until the papers are returned. Both of these are to protect you in case of any question about plagiarism, duplication, fabrication or missing work. See the course syllabus supplement if you are unclear on what constitutes plagiarism and/or fabrication.
9. Omitting any required element (i.e. bibliography, footnoting/endnoting, page numbering) will cost you a letter grade.  
10. Extensions will be granted only with an extremely good and well-documented reason (i.e. extreme emergency explained to Prof. Craig before the due date). Any unexcused papers turned in after class on the due date will not be accepted.
11. Most importantly, if you have any questions or problems involving paper topics, research materials or methods, or anything else, please ask me before or after class or during office hours.