MCOM 100 – Research Paper #1

Print Content Evaluation

Directions:

In this assignment you will be conducting an initial "literature review," which means searching for information (literature) about a topic of your choice. The topic should be relate to something about the media.  You will be working with this topic throughout the semester, so pick something you are interested in. (Other related assignment will also be about the same topic).

You will need to find 8 different sources from the following types of information:

• Two articles from Scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals (using EBSCO or another database).
• One book (or one chapter from a book - no textbooks)
• One article from trade journals (print, no online).
• One article from a popular magazine (print, no online). 
• Two articles from archived news sources (LexisNexis, no current news articles or web articles from google).
• One web site (or purely online publication, no print).
• ZERO sources from wikipedia or similar unreliable services.

First pick a research topic that you are interested in (i.e. media violence and children, copyright law and policy, stereotypes in television, international news coverage, women in media, covering war, etc…).  Then search for articles on this topic.  Please refer to the notes from the library search lecture. You can also ask a reference librarian or me if you are not sure.  (Your articles cannot be book reviews).

Second, read (skim) each of the articles you found and write a short summary about each (one paragraph). The summary should cover the following:

• What is the topic of the articles and what is the author trying to find?
• How did the author find the information or answer the questions he/she pursued? What "methods" did he/she use?
• How reliable, credible or trustworthy is the article? Do you believe, agree/disagree with what the author is saying? why?
• How will this article contribute to your "final project"? And how did it help you in understanding a certain issue, overall?

Third, combine all the short summaries into one coherent paper. Your paper should start with introducing your topic and why it is an important or worthwhile subject (one paragraph) and then move on to the summaries you wrote above (those should be written in a "literature review" format, or in a way that presents "what I found about this topic" or "what other people say about this topic." Don't forget to include your own evaluation for each source (as stated above).

Fourth, you need to create a "References" section at the end of the paper. Also, make sure you reference each of the articles in the appropriate way when you mention them in the narrative (using APA style). You will be graded on how closely you follow APA style in referencing.

Your paper should be 2-3 pages and follow normative guidelines for manuscripts – 12 point type, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, etc… 

Turn in your paper and make sure to keep a digital copy of it, since this will be part of your "final project" and other papers.

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