The Assignments are designed to help you think through complex ethical issues and the case studies we'll focus on during class. Each assignment should use scholarly sources and your own observations. There are two project this semester broken up over the course of five assignments.
Major Assignment
The class project is to design and build a creator account on a social media channel. This may be TikTok, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook or a podcast (if there’s a different media type you’d like to explore, let me know! For example, some students may prefer to start a Subreddit). You’ll be asked to generate content for your account and write a critique for both the Mid Term and the Final. The content for your account will come from weekly peer interviews and our in-class readings.
Here are some channel ideas (based on our topic this semester). I encourage you to choose any topic that is interesting to you so long as it’s related to the class. The channel ideas below are simply to get you started thinking along the right path.
Weekly Assignment
Each week, you’ll be asked to turn in your notes on reading and interviews for the week. These comprise the grades of your
Assignments
Grading Scales & Rubrics
| A Work | B Work | C Work | D & F |
|---|---|---|---|
Your writing is clear, but needs a little polish. You're missing one requirement. | Your writing isn't entirely clear and you're missing more than one requirement. | We should discuss your grade | |
A few more rounds of editing and you'll be ready to publish | Work on the structure and developing a clear thesis to improve | Let's set up some time to talk |
Qualities of an A Paper
- Essay controlled by a clear, precise, well-defined thesis: is sophisticated in both statement and insight
- Explicitly connects the prompt insightfully to context
- Cogent analysis
- Shows command of interpretive and conceptual tasks required by assignment and course materials
- Ideas are original and insightful
- Building on discussion, lecture, and reading assignments
- Persuasive reasoning develops and support thesis
- Examines the topic and its context deeply and carefully in order to inform thoughtful analysis
- Well-chosen examples from assigned readings support development of thesis
- You're showing, not telling
- Clear introduction and conclusion paragraphs
- Arrangement of paragraphs seems particularly apt
- Appropriate, clear and smooth transitions
- Excellent use of topic sentences
- Avoids "absolutes" in statements and defaults to accurate phrases
- Uses sophisticated sentences effectively (not necessarily long or complex sentences)
- Usually chooses words aptly
- Observe conventions of written English
- Few minor or technical errors
- Using active verbs as opposed to adverbs
- Use active sentences as opposed to passive sentences
Tips
I expect all papers and essays to follow academic and professional best practices. We'll discuss these practices at length during class, but this means that you should be writing in a formal tone (think Pew Research or Data & Society as opposed to Reddit or Buzzfeed).
Please remember to:
- Use Active Sentences
- Refrain from the second person (no "you" in your papers)
- Write in complete sentences and paragraphs
- Limit your use of meaningless adjectives and adverbs
- Do Not add filler just to hit the word count (I don't want to read it and you don't want to write it). Filler is painfully obvious to everyone involved.
Formatting Basics
- 12 Point Font
- Times New Roman
- MS Word or Google Docs
- MLA Citation or Chicago
Online Resources for Writers