Coursework Tutorials

You will be each be receiving a crucial one-to-one tutorial with your Media teacher during January 2011. However, you must have completed all the Xmas blog tasks to be eligible for this so these need to be done by the lesson we return after Christmas (Tuesday 04-01-11). Also, when you attend the tutorial you must bring your fully organised research folder with you (containing notes, plans, highlighted/annotated photocopies, etc.) so get those in order now if you haven't done already.

Finally, the deadline for the completed first draft of the Critical Investigation is...

• Monday 31st January '11 (Tuesday 1st for 13C1)

This means that if you have a tutorial towards the end of the January exam period you will only have a few days to get all 2000 words done (with footnotes and a full bibliography for it to be accepted) so the advice would be to get in early for a tutorial so you can start the essay as soon as possible.

Available times & confirmed appointments will be posted below for each class, so watch this space and make sure you book early to avoid disappointment...

MEST 4 Xmas Task #6

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

INTRODUCTION & FIRST PARAGRAPH

Type out the full title of your Critical Investigation, highlighting what you consider to be the keywords in a different colour.

Then write out the first paragraph and post it on your blog. This is usually the hardest in any essay (along with the last one!) Obviously, it must be a clear introduction that makes reference to the keywords in the title and outlines the various areas that you will be exploring in the course of the essay. It may introduce a hypothesis (something that you will seek to test/prove during the next 2000 words). For example, you may be arguing that your contemporary textual examples demonstrate a change in the representation of a particular social group. It's a bit like a debate in this sense - you are putting forward a proposition and making points that will back it up (although you will also be given credit here for considering both sides of the argument too).

Then, write the next paragraph and post it on your blog. Remember that you're looking to include at least one quote/reference per paragraph and often considerably more. It may help to look at some of the best essays from last year, from 2009, from 2008, from 2007, and from 2006 (all top grades, although all except 2010's are from a different specification, don't forget) to get an idea of the style and format required. But take care - plagiarism will always be found out so don't even consider copying from others...best to look on a day when you won't be writing as other people's work can sometimes be a bit disabling.

Good luck with everything here - yes, you're going to be very busy but you want to get the top grades and get into top universities so this is what's required!

If anyone needs help over the holiday then please email us and we'll try to get back to you asap.

MEST 4 Xmas Task #5

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

ESSAY PLAN

Produce a detailed essay plan for your independent study, covering everything that you hope to include in your submission. Break your ideas and research down into sections and paragraphs with headings, summaries and a list of references that you hope to include at each step. You can see some decent ones from previous years by clicking on Jaleesa or Manjoth or Jatinder or Avneet or Madenah.

Make sure that you label each point you hope to include by linking it to Key Concepts (MIGRAIN) and Wider Contexts (SHEP). (You could just include the initial letter in brackets). This way you can see whether you have covered everything that you need to in an even way. Also, ensure that you think about where you will include theories/theorists, issues/debates and media keywords. (Keep the 'Essential Word Dictionary' handy).

This will make writing your essay so much easier. However, it is a big task as it requires you to read through all your research very carefully and browse through each other's blogs as there may be some overlapping areas of research you could share with each other.

You may want to produce this plan as a straightforward series of bullet points or as a more complex mindmap. If it's the latter you may have to do it by hand and then scan it in before posting it up on your blog. Or you may want to try out an online mind-mapping tool like bubbl.us.

MEST 4 Xmas Task #4

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

ADDITIONAL WEB RESEARCH

Although books carry more authority, the internet is an excellent resource and you should be searching regularly to identify additional ideas and references related to your Critical Investigation.

In particular, you will find up-to-the-minute, current information and opinion about your topic and this always scores highly with the examiners so it's important to continue online research all the way through until you hand in your final essay. A crucial platform that you really ought to cover - New Media and Digital Technology is always changing, for instance. Key places to keep track of this are...

• A Level Media Studies subscription sites - we have paid for you to have free access to both the MediaMagazine (search the archive or browse through past copies), and MediaEdu (spend time, in particular, looking at the theory, new media and key concepts resources)...both are excellent and contain information pitched just right at your level of understanding. (NB: You have been emailed the passwords for these sites but contact us if you're still not able to access them);

• broadsheet newspaper sites, especially MediaGuardian (it's essential you get into the habit of reading this every week, preferably on a Monday), and the Independent Media;

• media education sites - the biggest and best is MCS; but there's also Media Literacy, Film Education, Screen Online, and hundreds more...browse through the Macguffin Delicious Links (hand-selected by us over the years) and you'll find lots of other relevant sites;

• film review sites like IMDb (use the 'external reviews' link on the sidebar whenever you're on a chosen film) and Rotten Tomatoes;

• film magazines online like Sight & Sound, GuardianFilm, Empire, and Senses of Cinema;

• Wikipedia, naturally: a useful starting point for any web search, but make sure you avoid referencing this directly...it makes you look like a beginner. Provides, however, a good overview and. essentially, a list of 'References' and 'External Links' at the end of each entry;

• the best student essays from last year, from 2009, from 2008, from 2007, and from 2006 : in particular, look at their quotes (usually highlighted by a footnote number) and bibliographies (at the end of each essay) as they will have often identified some of the best quotes for your topic. But, as ever, be wary of the temptation to plagiarise - you should only 'borrow' a few quotes from each person's essay!

Over the holiday, continue with your internet research, using the Google Search Tips you've been shown to help you refine your searches and, of course, the Google academic search engine: Google Scholar.

Post up AT LEAST 20 additional quotes, with full article titles (and hyperlinked web addresses) and an explanation about each one saying how it's linked to your study.

MEST 4 Xmas Task #3

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

HISTORICAL TEXT ANALYSIS & RESEARCH

Research a historical text that you can use to compare with your contemporary one (that is the main focus of your investigation). By 'historical' it is meant anything pre-2000 but the 40s, 50s, 60s or even 70s might be more fruitful because they pre-date many of the important changes that have occurred more recently (such as the gains for women as a result of feminism; or greater equality for ethnic minorities now that we are - arguably - a more inclusive and multi-cultural society; or the ground-breaking developments in new media/digital technology). The purpose here is to be able to demonstrate...

• how society has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts, or - to put it another way...
• how popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist

Ideally, you will watch at least one film/TV programme/video game/music video from the past, make notes on it and research it in Media/Film Studies textbooks and on the internet. The best option is to watch/play the whole text on DVD/online or otherwise you might be able to see extracts on YouTube.

• How is it similar/different to your text?
• How does this show how the genre/society has changed?

A highly recommended text here (if you're focussing on film) is 'The Cinema Book', edited by Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink and available in the school library. If you follow the link here you can read the contents page and index online and this will be useful.

Through this you will become aware of developments in the genre you are researching - look for a range of titles (at least five) that you can refer to in your essay - and you should be able to link them to the wider contexts that were present at the time. It's also worth noting that you will be rewarded for considering your topic across different platforms.

If you can't get hold of the text it's not the end of the world - you are stuck with doing just secondary research instead of this and primary research. Just make sure you do plenty of it.

List your media texts, research, analysis and links/bibliography in a detailed blog post.

MEST 4 Xmas Task #2

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

ADDITIONAL BOOK READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY (SO FAR)

As you know, a detailed bibliography is crucial for the top grades in the coursework. Please refer to the Essential Reading List which contains titles of 45 of the most important books for the Critical Investigation, all of which are either in the school library or media suite.

Those underlined are the twenty most important but, obviously, not all of the texts on this list will be directly relevant for you...you'll need to spend a fair amount of time searching through them (especially the contents and indexes) to find the key quotes and ideas that will impress the examiners.

You must include references to quite a few of these books if you want an A or B so borrow/buy these books and read them over Christmas: one/person from the Media Suite and you MUST sign them out with Mr Babu and you MUST bring them back the day we return after the holiday).

Then please include the following in a blog posting...

• Author-Year-Title-Place-Publisher info;
• Quotes (+ Page References) from the book that can be linked to your study;
• A short explanation of each one explaining how it is relevant to you.

Finally, post up on your blog a Complete Bibliography (So Far) to include ALL the books you currently have quotes from. It MUST contain at least TEN different books.

Use this 'Guide to writing bibliographies' to help or try this really useful bibliography creator: 'BibMe'.

MEST 4 Xmas Task #1

The following needs to be done by all Year 13s and completed by the day we return after the holiday: 4th January 2010...

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Carry out a close textual analysis of a chosen scene from your main text and post it up on your blog.

The scene should be able to exemplify some of the key points you wish to make in your Critical Investigation and link with some of the following key areas raised by your text...

• issues and debates

Representation and stereotyping; Media effects; Reality TV; News Values; Moral Panics; Post 9/11 and the media; Ownership and control; Regulation and censorship; Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century; The effect of globalisation on the media

• theories

Semiotics; Structuralism and post-structuralism; Postmodernism and its critiques; Gender and ethnicity; Marxism and hegemony; Liberal Pluralism; Colonialism and Post-colonialism; Audience theories; Genre theories

Make sure it is a scene you haven't analysed before (and, if at all possible, NOT a trailer) and embed the YouTube link in your posting if you can.

Think of the task as like a MEST 3 exam analysis but with one text instead of two - so you need to cover MIGRAIN and SHEP and you are advised to watch the scene several times and to make detailed notes before embarking on the write-up, which should be in essay format (NOT in note form).

Also, use the Key Concepts Glossary to help you think about terminology to use. You should be including as many of these keywords and ideas as possible in your analysis (where relevant...this won't always be the case), along with ideas you've picked up from the Media Keywords A-Z.

13A - case study HW due 16/12/10

Post the following research for your represention case study to your blog by 16/12/10:

1. Which group are you are studying? Why?
2. How is the group represented in at least 4 different media texts? Include a range of cross platform texts e.g.magazine images, news stories,clips from films/ TV programmes, links to websites etc.)
3. Which theories will you apply? How?
4. Wider contextual factors - apply SHEP to your group/texts e.g. how has the representation of your group/place changed over time and why?

13C - Work for 8/12/10

Find at least 5 quotes from academic writing to include in your Critical Investigation presentation.
Post these quotes to your blog and explain their relevance.
Include the quotes in your presentation.
Email your presentation to lwigley@greenford.ealing.sch.uk today (even if you have already presented - with more quotes!)
Be ready to deliver your presentation tomorrow (9/12/10)

Buddy Mentor List

YR13 - MENTOR	YR12 - BUDDY
Vardan	Aftab & Farhan
Ranjot	Ramita & Kevin
Sejal	Shna
Megan & Osman	Jehpal & Sonam
Fuad	Herprit
Bianca & Raminder	Uzair
Anaam	Lalit & Sivagowsi
Raheam	Tanveer
Sonia	Shukri
Kalbir	Mark
Madhia	Sital
Videk	Masud
Joel	Ameet
Jason	Natalie
Amardeep	Shahid
Herprit	Farhiyo
Dilwinder	Zainab
Manpreet	Prabhmeet
Mariam	Rabia
Parminder	Hardepp
Nikki	Nida
Ricki	Pavan
Sonal	Jason
Bilaal	Amar
Yusra	Naomi
Ahmed	Waqas
Asha	Kulsoom
Hassan	Harpreet
Shaurav	Olivia

13C - Theory Presentation HW - Due 9/12/10

Prepare a 2 minute presentation on the theory/issue/debate you chose in class.
Include short quotes.
Explain whether the theory/issue/debate is relevant to your Critical Investigation
Email your powerpoint/word doc to me before the lesson on Thursday 9/12/10

13C (MEST3) UGC HW

For Tue 7/12, p5/6...

1. Finish reading/summarising the Media Magazine article...

Is reality becoming more real? The rise and rise of UGC

Make notes on the following...

a. examples
b. theory (audience reception etc.)
c. benefits to institutions
d. benefits to audience
e. wider issues and debates
f. SHEP

2. Answer the following questions on your MEST3 blog...

a. What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
b. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
c. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
d. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
e. What is a gatekeeper?
f. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
g. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

3. Use the MediaMagazine website to do research for your representation case study (and for your Critical Investigation if you have the time).

Post up quotes/summaries from at least THREE online articles.