Essay Instructions

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General Instructions on Smarts Essays

Three pages (1,200-1,500 words), 12-point Times (or equivalent), double-spaced, one-inch margins, emailed to Dr. Ted as a Word attachment. Dr. Ted will post essays on the class blog so everyone can see what you’ve come up with.

Writing Guidelines
1. Intro: Summarize, but not everything! What’s the most startling, most interesting “news” from your study? What are your key findings? (In news-talk, what’s the “lead” of your story. See The Fred Rule)
2. The Central Message: What is the overall message conveyed in the Fox news stories about your topic? How is the issue framed by Stewart and/or Colbert? In other words, how are audiences encouraged to think about the issue?
3. What are the facts? Based on our research on the online fact-checking sources, is the way the issue is framed by Fox and Stewart/Colbert true or truthy? Compare the facts from your research to the specific examples of coverage of the topic you examined.
4. News Media Performance: How’s they do? How well were the Fox and Comedy Central fact-claims supported by evidence? Were any fact-claims erroneous? Was important information omitted, distorted, or taken out of context? Specific examples needed.
5. Bias? Was the coverage partisan, biased, or incomplete/inacccurate?
6. Examples: What terms are used to describe frame the issues? Are the terms “;oaded” in any way? How?
7. Assess: Based on what you know from reading coses of journalistic ethics and the Hutchins standards for a socially responsible press, how fair and balanced or “truthy” was the coverage? Be specific.
8. Apply Mass Comm Theories in evaluating the media performance. What agendas were being set, what info got through the news “gate” and what didn’t? How was your issue framed? What kinds of attitudes might audiences cultivate from the coverage?
9. Conclusions: How are audiences encouraged to “think” about this topic/issue?
10. References: Include a reference page listing all sources and URLs (MLA or APA style).

Notes:
• All web sources are NOT created equal. That means no Wikipedia. Click here for info on how to determine the reliability of online sources. The sources teams use for this assignment need to be from reliable news sources, academic articles or books and nonpartisan “fact-check” online sources listed on project directions.
• This is NOT an opinion essay. This is a critical analysis using documented sources.
• Writing counts. One usage issue: “Media” is a plural noun and requires a plural verb. Correct: “The media are completely screwed up.” Incorrect: “The media is completely unbiased.”
• Grading: Essays will be graded on the basis of the instructor’s assessment of a) the quality of your argument(s); b) how well and how completely you address the central questions; c) the content of your essay; d) writing and mechanics (e.g., spelling, grammar, syntax, organization, etc.); and e) whether your conclusions are supported by your data.
• Help? Let me know if you have questions regarding the goals/focus/content/direction of the project.
• Have fun.
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