3
Media Communication and Society
JAMS 661
Prof. David Backes
Spring 2015
In this section of Mass Communication and Society, we’ll start out talking about how to do research, and then you will take the dominant role in determining the content and quality of the course.
I’ll put together a class-by-class schedule after we choose the topics. What I can tell you at the moment is that your grade will be based on leading class sessions, on a research paper, and on participation. A brief description of each follows.
LEADING CLASS SESSIONS
Each of you will be part of a group of students that will, on three occasions, take over control of the class and lead discussion on your group’s topic.
Be creative! Feel free to use a mixture of video, lecture, skit, debate, etc., during your session. It’s also okay to have us spend some class time reading a short article or two that you think will help launch the discussion. Remember to ask questions of the class to encourage conversation.
Your presentation grade is an individual grade, not a group grade, and will be based largely on how well-prepared and organized you were (in my estimation), as well as on your communication skills. To help me evaluate your preparation, you will turn in to me the following:
1. An essay describing and evaluating the research you did. This is not a term paper. It is an essay about your research process. You should tell me how you approached the topic: What were you trying to do with your session (your goal), and how did this relate to the course? With this goal in mind, what kind of source material did you look for, and why? How did you go about searching for this material? And don’t just say, “I did a library search”—tell me exactly what you looked for, and how.
The essential point is this: don’t let me think you just haphazardly found your material and therefore haphazardly came to any conclusions you may have presented during your session, but show me that 1) you looked at an appropriate sample of the key sources of information relevant to your topic, 2) you had a logical method for analyzing the information, and 3) when a topic is one that involves an issue with a variety of viewpoints, your essay about the research you did—and also your bibliography—should make it clear that you familiarized yourself with all of the major views, rather than just one side’s perspective.
2. An evaluation of your research. In addition to your essay, I want you to write a self-evaluation. What grade do you think you deserve for this project, and why? Take this part of your assignment just as seriously as the above—it’s good practice for a work world that often demands self-evaluations as well as supervisor evaluations. Don’t just tell me you deserve an A because you worked hard—sometimes hard work still doesn’t produce a quality product. If you deserve an A, it will be due to a combination of hard work (think of each of your sessions as a major research paper or take-home essay exam), astute judgment about the sources you used, a creative approach to your session that draws good class participation, and excellent organization. I want you to critique yourself in all these areas when proposing the grade you think you deserve. The grade I ultimately give you depends in part on how realistically you evaluate yourself.
3. The notes you used for the session. To earn a high grade, you need to prepare real notes—don’t just read to your classmates from photocopies or printouts. (It is okay to read one or two quotes from photocopies, just don’t go overboard.) Also, make sure your notes focus on your topic, and don’t get off track. Finally, do enough work! Sessions that end far too early indicate a lack of preparation and/or poor questions.
4. Some questions you prepared to help get the discussion going. Make sure the questions can’t be answered “yes” or “no”—that doesn’t produce discussion. (Questions that begin with “Do you think that” or “Have you ever” are examples of questions that can be answered yes or no and do not encourage discussion.) And don’t ask exam-type questions, such as “What are the main causes of……?” If you gave the answer in your presentation, this doesn’t produce any additional discussion. And if you didn’t give the answer, how can you expect your classmates to know it? The highest grades will go to people whose questions are provocative and don’t have one correct answer. One approach that often leads to great discussion is to set up a hypothetical situation and ask your audience members what they would do.
5. A bibliography of the source material you found during your research. Books and articles should be arranged alphabetically by author’s last name, web sites alphabetically by the site’s title. Give complete identification: for web sites this means the full URL of the index page or of the first page in the section of the web site that you used. To earn a high grade you must use a variety of excellent sources appropriate to your topic.
Important!
1. Your reports are due at the end of class on the day you are scheduled to present.
2. You must put all of the material into either a folder with pockets, or a manila envelope or similar container (or, if you can staple it all together, that’s fine, too). If you hand it in loose or bound with a clip, I will deduct one full letter grade.
RESEARCH PAPER
This course satisfies the College of Letters and Science research requirement by having you conduct original research and present it to the class. At least one of your topics during the semester must be based on original research, and you will develop it (or another piece of original research, if you wish) into a research paper that you will email to me by the assigned date/time at the end of the semester.
PARTICIPATION
This course is based on discussion, so your full participation is vital to everyone’s learning experience. First, of course, is attendance. I will start out with a foundational score based on your attendance. Each day that you miss out of our presentation days, or arrive late, will drop this foundational score by one letter grade. If you can provide appropriate documentation showing that you suffered from a significant health problem or encountered some type of emergency, I won’t count it against you. Participation is so important to the overall course that if your foundational grade as outlined above is a D or F, I will increase its weight to 50 percent of your overall grade.
If you consistently participate in discussions at a high-quality level, I will raise your participation grade to at least the next level above what you otherwise would have received. Likewise, if you consistently don’t take part in discussions, or contribute at a poor level, I will lower your participation grade to at least the next level below what you would have received. Good participation also means showing respect to others. I reserve the right to lower your participation grade if you are interfering with a healthy learning environment by, for example, carrying on side conversations when someone else is speaking; disrupting class when the topic is controversial; using the internet, smart phones, cell phones, etc. during class. As the use of personal technology has become an increasingly compulsive temptation, I will treat its use during class as the equivalent of an absence, meaning it has the potential to dramatically impact your final grade.
OVERALL GRADE BREAKDOWN
Leading Class Discussions: 60 percent (20 percent each time)
Research Paper: 20 percent
Participation: 20 percent (although this can increase to 50%, as described above)
How to contact me: Send me e-mail at .
Office Hours: 12:30-1:30 p.m. MW, or by appointment
Miscellaneous:
I reserve the right to change anything in this syllabus and the class schedule at any time. I will announce any changes during class.
Other Policies:
UWM has a number of blanket policies regarding accommodation of religious observances and disabilities, along with policies about such issues as harassment and plagiarism. Please familiarize yourself with them by checking out this web page: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf .