Essay planning advice for sem2 students

1. MAC201
ASSESSMENT 1 ADVICE
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2. WEEK 3 NOW (AT THE
TIME I UPLOADED THIS!)
Nearly half way though this section of 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
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3. BY END OF WEEK 6
Students will have had around:
12 hours of lectures
5-6 hours of seminars
10+ hours of screenings
(+ any additional tutorial time arranged outside of class)
TOTAL ~28 hours of contact time
By this date it is expected students will have done:
60+ hours of independent research
i.e. 10+ hours per week of reading/watching/researching
TOTAL ~88 (28+60) hours of research
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4. BY END OF WEEK 6
TOTAL ~88 (28+60) hours of research
That leaves 12 hours for writing, editing, proof-reading and
redrafting your essay.
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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5. LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT
THE ASSESSMENT TASK
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6. 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 Television Texts section of 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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7. 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 Television Texts section of 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) There are other TV
– Documentary (eg The War You Don’t See) examples you can
draw from. These
– Reality television (eg The X-Factor)
are merely
– Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked) indicative. If in
doubt, consult the
module staff
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8. PUT SIMPLY
1 or 2 of these 1 of these
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC TELEVISION FORMATS
News values Broadcast news
Ideology
Political discussion shows
Impartiality
Current affairs
Public sphere
Talk shows
Plurality
Celebrity Documentary
Propaganda Reality television
Distortion Lifestyle television
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Discourse
Neoliberalism
Governmentality
Etc, etc
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9. PUT SIMPLY
1 or 2 of these 1 of these
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC TELEVISION FORMATS
News values Broadcast news
Ideology
Political discussion shows
Impartiality
Current affairs
Public sphere
Talk shows
Plurality
Celebrity Documentary
Propaganda Reality television
Distortion Lifestyle television
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
NB: you can use more than one
Discourse
example from a given genre, eg.,
Neoliberalism
Big Brother and X-Factor
Governmentality
Etc, etc
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10. PUT SIMPLY
1 or 2 of these 1 of these
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC TELEVISION FORMATS
News values Broadcast news
Ideology
Political discussion shows
Impartiality
Current affairs
Public sphere
Talk shows
Plurality
Celebrity Documentary
Propaganda Reality television
Distortion Lifestyle television
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Make sure you pick a concept that
Discourse
fits the format you are looking at.
Neoliberalism
For instance, news values can be
Governmentality
applied to broadcast news or
Etc, etc
current affairs content but less so
with reality TV
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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. FAQ BY STUDENTS
3) Can I use any television programme?
- Providing it is clearly defined as factual
television 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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16. SEE THE SAMPLE
ESSAYS
There are example essays on SunSpace
You might want to address a different television format, but it
should give you an idea of the level of quality required if you
expect to do well.
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17. 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 Time
or 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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18. 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
2000-2500 words is quite a small word limit 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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19. PLAN OF ACTION
Many students should have been reading extensively by the end of
week 4.
From then, you will have just 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 undertaken ~50 hours of
background reading already so are comfortable with most of the key
debates (it generally takes 60-90 minutes to read a journal
article, depending on 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)
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20. PLAN OF ACTION
Approx. 10-16 hours needed
Identify and Rough draft #2: Proof-reading:
gather resources: ~ writing 2 hours ~ 1 hour
~ reading 3 hours ~ redraft 1 hour
~ notes 2 hours
Sketch out Rough draft #1: Rough draft #3:
essay plan: ~ writing 2 hours ~ writing 2 hours
~ 500 words ~ redraft 1 hour ~ editing 1 hour
~ 1 hour
NOW SUBMISSION
(Wk4)
Cut-off point for
Week 5 advice from staff Week 6
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end end

21. 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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