• Essay Topics
Please choose one of the topics listed below and write an essay of 1,500 words.
(students may go over or under the limit by 10%).
1) Compare and contrast the concepts of ‘mediation’ and ‘mediatization’. Use examples to illustrate your answer.
2) Assess the proposition that the media frame social reality. Discuss this proposition in relation to one recent event reported by the press.
3) Examine the concepts of ‘performance’ and ‘ritual’ in relation to ONE current reality TV show of your choice.
4) ‘The Frankfurt School’s contention is that media and culture have been incorporated into an all-encompassing socio-economic system dominated by instrumentality, rationality and objectification’ (Hodkinson). Comment.
5) Examine the proposition that the media and communication research have found audiences to play an active role in distributing and decoding messages. Give examples to illustrate your answer.
6) How do audiences adapt, resist and oppose media output? Give examples to illustrate your answer.
7) Contrast Stuart Hall’s model of encoding/decoding to previous models of communication. Give examples that exemplify the differences.
8) Can we have a ‘value free’ press? Discuss this hypothesis with reference to gatekeeping, agenda setting, priming, and framing.
9) Critically examine that relationship between media and social anxieties. Give examples of how media can amplify social anxieties.
10) Discuss the representation of gender in the media. Focus either on advertising, film, television or on the political coverage.
Assessment Criteria
Essays will be assessed on a variety of criteria. These include:
• the extent to which the course aims and learning outcomes have been achieved;
• the use of evidence from the work of scholars to make clear arguments;
• critical engagement with the works of scholars covered on the course;
• the use of good referencing, reflected in citations, ideas, and arguments (which are correctly referenced and integrated into the text);
• the accuracy of the expression (it is important that all coursework is proofread several times before submission);
• imagination and originality (the extent to which you have been able to synthesise the works of others and develop your own view of their work).
WORD LIMIT
The word limit for the essays is 1,500 words (students may go over or under the limit by 10%).
The word limit runs from the Introduction to the Conclusion of the assignment and includes quotes and footnotes/endnotes which appear in the body of the assignment. The word limit does not include the following: diagrams, graphs, images, or bibliography.
The lecturer will mark an assignment only up to the word limit. The part of the assignment which exceeds this limit will not be marked. Feedback will be provided, and it will be explained that the penalty has been applied.
Where you have included a lot of material outside the module scope in your bibliography or where other aspects of your assignment lead to suspicion of academic misconduct, including ‘ghosting’, you may be required to attend a meeting to confirm your authorship.
PRESENTATION OF COURSEWORK
Submitted work must be well presented, legible and, where appropriate, in good, standard English. The use of word processing and spell checking is essential in producing written work. As a rule of thumb, work should be presented in Times New Roman font, point 12, double-spaced or in Arial font, point 11, double-spaced with a 2.5 cm margin on either side of the page. You should always include your student number and module code in the header of the essay and the page number in the footer.