JRN108-730 – INFORMATION SHEET FOR FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

The goal of the final assignment is to integrate what you are learning about mass media into a research report on a specific topic. It is important for you to do significant research and also to make sure you cite your sources accurately and clearly. I am looking for evidence of serious scholarship, so please be thoughtful. I am eager to hear your opinions but they must be supported by your research.

BEWARE OF THE DANGER OF PLAGIARISM – You must cite the sources for your information and rewrite the material in your own words. You may quote a sentence or two directly from a report, but the bulk of the writing must be your analysis, in your own words.

Topics – Please develop a topic that fits into one of the categories listed below:

 #1- ASSESSING MEDIA – Which media do you trust and why? How can you assess online sources for trustworthiness – what criteria should you use?

 #2 – ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA – How does social media shape your life? What function do various social media play? What are the benefits and drawbacks of participating in various social media?

 #3 – MEDIA HISTORY – You may also do a historical report on a media-related topic. You can produce a biography on a media personality, such as a famous reporter. Or you could write about the history of the ebook or the history of cable TV. Or you could do a report on a topic such as the use of cartoons as propaganda in World War II.

 #4 – GLOBAL MEDIA – We live in a global media environment. You might want to do a report on how films in China differ from those in the United States. You could talk about how various media around the world cover the same event (perhaps war in the Middle East).

 #5 – MEDIA IMPACT ON GROUPS – How do fashion magazines (or Disney movies) influence women’s body image? How does coverage of police shootings in the United States impact race relations? How are various groups portrayed by the media and what could be done to make reporting more accurate?

Research Requirements:

 NUMBER OF CITATIONS: Your paper must include a minimum of three (3) citations and each must be from a different source. Appropriate sources can include: our textbook (Media Now), scholarly research (use https://scholar.google.com/) or online newspaper, magazine or website sources.

 FORMAT: You may use APA or MLA style for your research citations, but please pick only one style for your work. I would also appreciate it if you would use the “insert hotlink” function in the discussion forum to add a hotlink to online sources.

Length: Minimum 500 words

Posting: To ensure we can read your report, we are asking you to paste it into the Final Research Paper Discussion Forum.