MAC201

ASSESSMENT 2 ESSAY ADVICE

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WEEK 8 ONWARDS

Nearly finished the module

By the time you complete your essay you should have hit the

100 hours point out of the 200 learning hours required for

this module

What follows is some generic advice for the essay…

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BY END OF WEEK 8

Students will have had around:

16 hours of lectures

8 hours of seminars

10+ hours of screenings

(+ any additional tutorial time arranged outside of class)

TOTAL ~36 hours of contact time

By this date it is expected students will have done:

80+ hours of independent research

i.e. 10+ hours per week of reading/watching/researching

TOTAL ~136 (36+80) hours of research

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BY END OF WEEK 8

TOTAL ~136 (36+80) hours of research

That leaves plenty time for writing, editing, proof-reading and redrafting your essay. I recommend around 20 hours to write a good piece of work.

This is the minimum effort expected of students on a degree

It is also an indication of the effort staff are expecting students to have undertaken as part of their blended learning

Keep this in mind when it comes to your feedback

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LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT

THE ASSESSMENT TASK

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LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT

THE ASSESSMENT TASK

This assignment requires students to assess and critically

analyse one or two of the key issues, concepts or themes raised

in the module. The assignment must address the above by

paying specific reference to examples drawn from one of the

following formats (ie apply concept to textual example) :

– Broadcast news (eg The Channel 4 News)

– Political discussion show (eg Question Time)

– Current affairs (eg Newsnight)

– The talk show (eg The Jeremy Kyle Show)

– Documentary (eg The War You Don’t See)

– Reality television (eg The X-Factor)

– Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked)

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LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT

THE ASSESSMENT TASK

This assignment requires students to assess and critically

analyse one or two of the key issues, concepts or themes raised

in the module. The assignment must address the above by

paying specific reference to examples drawn from one of the

following formats (ie apply concept to textual example) :

– Broadcast news (eg The Channel 4 News)

– Political discussion show (eg Question Time)

– Current affairs (eg Newsnight)

– The talk show (eg The Jeremy Kyle Show)

– Documentary (eg The War You Don’t See)

– Reality television (eg The X-Factor)

– Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked)

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There are other TV

examples you can

draw from. These

are merely

indicative. If in

doubt, consult the

module staff

PUT SIMPLY

IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC

News values

Ideology

Impartiality

Public sphere

Plurality

Celebrity

Propaganda

Distortion

‘Dumbing down’

Infotainment

Discourse

Neoliberalism

Governmentality

Etc, etc

FORMATS

Broadcast news

Political discussion shows

Current affairs

Talk shows

Documentary

Reality television

Lifestyle television

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1 or 2 of these 1 of these

PUT SIMPLY

IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC

News values

Ideology

Impartiality

Public sphere

Plurality

Celebrity

Propaganda

Distortion

‘Dumbing down’

Infotainment

Discourse

Neoliberalism

Governmentality

Etc, etc

FORMATS

Broadcast news

Political discussion shows

Current affairs

Talk shows

Documentary

Reality television

Lifestyle television

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1 or 2 of these 1 of these

NB: you can use more than one

example from a given genre, eg.,

Big Brother and X-Factor

PUT SIMPLY

IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC

News values

Ideology

Impartiality

Public sphere

Plurality

Celebrity

Propaganda

Distortion

‘Dumbing down’

Infotainment

Discourse

Neoliberalism

Governmentality

Etc, etc

FORMATS

Broadcast news

Political discussion shows

Current affairs

Talk shows

Documentary

Reality television

Lifestyle television

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1 or 2 of these 1 of these

Make sure you pick a concept that

fits the format you are looking at.

For instance, news values can be

applied to broadcast news or

current affairs content but less so

with reality TV

PUT SIMPLY

IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC

News values

Ideology

Impartiality

Public sphere

Plurality

Celebrity

Propaganda

Distortion

‘Dumbing down’

Infotainment

Discourse

Neoliberalism

Governmentality

Etc, etc

FORMATS

Broadcast news

Political discussion shows

Current affairs

Talk shows

Documentary

Reality television

Lifestyle television

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1 or 2 of these 1 of these

You are free to discuss

interconnected ideas: as long as

you can apply your idea to an

example then you are on the right

track

FAQ BY STUDENTS

These questions emerged in 2011-12:

1. What is a concept?

2. What is the essay question?

3. Can I use any television programme?

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FAQ BY STUDENTS

1) What is a concept?

- A concept

- a general notion or idea; conception.

- an idea of something formed by mentally

combining all its characteristics or

particulars; a construct.

- a directly conceived or intuited object of

thought

- In this regard it might be one of the notions

or ideas that have been mentioned or raised

in the lectures or in the readings you have

encountered on the module

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FAQ BY STUDENTS

1) What is a concept?

- Have a look in the module guide for each week and you’ll notice each week is prefaced with ‘Keywords’ (also on Sunspace in ‘Reading material’ section)

- You will be familiar with this terminology from the academic journals you have been recommended throughout the module

- Eg Harcup and O’Neill

- These keywords are not all encompassing nor are they the only ideas addressed on the module.

- If you have any doubts, ask a tutor

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FAQ BY STUDENTS

2) What is the essay question?

- There is no essay question; it’s an assessment task

- This means you have to demonstrate you understand the issue in question and can apply it to an example

- This type of skill is a ‘step-up’ from Level 1 and it requires successful students to be not only knowledgeable, but evaluative and critical through analysis

- If it makes is easier for you, try mentally reframing the task, eg., what are ‘news values’ and what can they tell us about contemporary broadcast news production? How have news values changed over time and what’s the impact of these changes? Or ‘To what extent is the documentary style of Louis Theroux ideological?’

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FAQ BY STUDENTS

3) Can I use any media text?

- Providing it is clearly defined as factual output and fits the list in the assessment task

- It would be advisable to cover those national formats you have access to (eg it is expected that British students will be familiar with British examples, but international perspectives are welcome from overseas students)

- There may be extra issues you will need to take into account if you use examples from another country

- Different broadcast codes or regulations

- Different cultural conventions

- Material taken out of context

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SEE THE SAMPLE

ESSAYS

There are example essays on SunSpace

They were all high scoring essays (but they were not

perfect!)

You might want to address a different format to the ones

discussed in these essays, but it should give you an idea of

the level of quality required if you expect to do well.

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AN EXAMPLE

One way to approach the assessment task is to do the following:

- Define a concept

- The public sphere was a concept coined by Jurgen Habermas in … It has been employed to explain a number of issues …

- Discuss its application

- The historical trajectory of the concept and its current applications. Where has it been used? Where has it been praised/critiqued? Who has commented on this work previously?

- Attempt you own analysis/application

- Show how this idea can be applied to an example, eg Question Timeor The Wright Stuff etc. Be specific and detailed in the analysis

- Summarize the merits or limits of the idea

- Are there problems with the idea or its application? What does the idea tell us about the contemporary media as a conduit for democratic discussion?

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REMEMBER

We are looking for evidence that you understand the concept at hand

The best essays will demonstrate evidence of wide ranging knowledge (reading) and astute application of the concept to a suitable example

2500 words is quite a tight word limit (500 of these will be your intro/conclusion) so the challenge will be demonstrating that you know the issue or idea well enough to not have to spend large tracts listing obvious information

- E.g. there is no need for long lists of news values by Galtung & Ruge. Rather, a more sophisticated essay will be able to identify the salient points of their argument, perhaps by virtue of explaining more current debates around the subject, whilst being conscious of the criticisms and merits raised, while exploring this in the analysis

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PLAN OF ACTION

Many students should have been reading extensively by the end of week 1.

Ideally, you should start prepping for the essay with over 2 weeks until submission.

On the next slide I recommend you spend your time over that time period

The expectation here is that you have already undertaken ~80 hours of background reading so are comfortable with most of the key debates (it generally takes 60-90 minutes to read a journal article, depending on the length).

I also expect you to be continuing on with your blended learning (it is a key skill for employers that you can multitask, time manage, delegate responsibilities, and work to concurrent deadlines). You will likely have to juggle multiple assessment deadlines like centuries of students before you. If you are struggling with time management – get in touch ASAP.

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PLAN OF ACTION

Approx. 15-20 hours needed

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NOW

(Wk10)

SUBMISSION

Week 11

end

Week 12

end

Sketch out

essay plan:

~ 500 words

~ 1 hour

Identify and

gather resources:

~ reading 3 hours

~ notes 3 hours

Rough draft #1:

~ writing 2 hours

~ redraft 2 hour

Rough draft #2:

~ writing 2 hours

~ redraft 2 hour

Rough draft #3:

~ writing 2 hours

~ editing 2 hour

Proof-reading:

~ 1 hour

Cut-off point for

advice from staff

ONE LAST THING…

Staff are willing to look at any essay plans/structures you

might have well in advance of the deadline

Students can expect staff to point them in the right direction

of relevant and appropriate reading material

Staff are not meant to be pre-marking rough drafts of essays

Staff are not obliged to look at any work that has been left to

the last minute (ie 3 days before submission)

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