The midterm exam will be held in class the week of October 20. Please take the exam on the date for which you've signed up. The exams each day will differ somewhat to keep people from cheating, but I will take great care to assure that they're of similar difficulty.
Rule 1: Show up on time. You will have the entire class period to complete the exam, though you may not need that long. The exam will consist of three parts -- multiple choice, identifications, and short answers.
You are responsible for Campbell, Chapters 1, 3-10 and 14, and all material covered in lecture.
Points stressed both in lecture and readings are generally more likely to appear on the exam than those mentioned only in readings. Points only from lecture probably fall somewhere in the middle.
There will be 100 points total on the exam, which will be divided roughly evenly among three parts. Multiple choice (20 points -- you will be given 12 to choose from and will answer 10); identifications (30 points -- again, you will be given 12 to choose from and will answer 10) and short answer (50 points -- you will be given six to choose from and will answer five). Short answers should run about three or four sentences in length, though this will vary from question to question.
Please bring a couple of ballpoint pens or soft lead pencils, preferably the former, to write with. As with the quizzes, you will fill in all answers on the exam sheet. We will not use scan-trons or exam books.
Below are some example questions of each type. Their presence does not necessarily mean they will, or will not, be on the exam; they are intended only as examples.
I. Multiple Choice: (Choose only one unless otherwise
noted):
1. A device for moving information through space or time is called
a/an
a. info mover.
b. medium
c. tracer.
d. imprint.
2. Yellow journalism is said to have acquired its name because
of
a. the yellowish newsprint
used by the papers of the time.
b. the cowardly nature of
many editors.
c. the Yellow Kid, a comic
strip character.
d. the sensational nature
of many news stories of the time.
3. As a result of government intervention in 1950, movie studios
were
a. forced to face more
competition from television.
b. able to stop the trend
toward conglomerate ownership of studios.
c. required to relinquish
or sell off the theater chains that they owned.
d. required to form
independent production studios.
II. Identifications:
1. Early TV news shows were only ___________ minutes in length.
2. A.C. Nielsen Inc. measures ___________ for television shows.
3. In response to the popularity of television, both magazines and radio had to ___________ to regain market share.
4. Radio programs required listeners to use their ___________ more than television does.
III. Short Answer:
1. Describe some of the factors that led to cable television's explosion in popularity in the 1970s and '80s.
2. Give some examples of how magazines have helped promote the sale of books over the years.
3. Why are young people the primary market for movies?
4. How did the introduction of television affect radio?