Critical Investigation: Task #8

Critical Investigation - First Draft

The following needs to be completed by...

• Your first lesson back in January

• This is it: complete the first draft of your Critical Investigation.


• It must be a word processed 2,000 word essay (PLUS quotes - with a precise total word count including quotes but excluding bibliography at the end of the essay). Aim for around 2,500 including quotes and you will be in the right ballpark.


• Also, include correctly set out references, quotes and footnotes. Footnotes should take the following form - Author Surname, Author First Name Initial (Year of Publication), Page Number(s). e.g...Lacey, N. (2009). p. 122. They should not appear all together at the end of the essay but at the foot of the page where they appear.


• Where the next reference is from the same text and the same page use ibid. (in italics). This means 'in the same place' in Latin. If it's from the same text but a different page you include the new page reference too. e.g. ibid. p23.


• A full bibliography must be submitted at the end of the essay (this is NOT included in your word count). (See Critical Investigation Task #2 for help with this). Books should be listed in alphabetical order, by author's surname. If you're using the referencing system in Microsoft Word then all this will be done for you. Alternatively, you can use BibMe to help you do this correctly, using the APA format for books. e.g. Lacey, N. (2009). Image and Representation (2nd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Here's a good example of a bibliography inspired by BibMe and this is an A* bibliography using Microsoft Word.


• Two copies are necessary. Hand in a hard copy (on paper) on the deadline day, and this needs to have 1.5 line spacing. Also paste it up (including footnotes and biblography) on your blog.

If you're in any doubt about what this all should look like then please check out some of the finished grade A/A* essays from 2016 (you can find top essays from 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 on the blog too).

They will be helpful when thinking about how to write your essay (what to include in the introduction and conclusion, how to structure the work, how to set out quotes, the correct tone, and how much research to include - they each contain between 20 and 40 footnotes - you should aim for at least 30.)

But please ensure that all writing is done in your own words. Plagiarism is a very serious business and anyone found simply copying from other sources (either students or books/websites) will be in serious trouble. And you will be found out if you do! We're not stupid - we know how you write, and we know very well what was in the previous students' work (and there are numerous online checkers, or simply Google, that we can feed your work into to see if it has been plagiarised). 

Students guilty of plagiarism will be placed before the Greenford Plagiarism Panel made up of three senior teachers in the school - and students may be asked to leave the school.

This is the big one so no excuses and good luck!

Critical Investigation: Task #7

Up-to-the-minute 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 AQA so it's important to continue online research all the way through until you hand in your final essay. Remember, one of the key media debates that you should look to cover at some point in your essay - New Media and Digital Technology - is constantly changing and you're already finding stories for that topic weekly for the exam too!

Remember, key places to keep track of this are...

• A Level Media Studies subscription sites - we have paid for you to have free access to Media Magazine (our online pdf archive is here), and MediaEdu (spend time, in particular, looking at the theory, new media and key concepts resources)...both are excellent and contain information pitched for Media students and teachers. Log in details for Media Edu have been emailed to you on your school email address.
• 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 - e.g. A Level Media blog, Media Literacy, Film Education, Screen Online...
• 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. It 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 2016, 2015, from 2014, from 2013, from 2012, from 2011, and from 2010: 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 can only 'borrow' a key quote from another person's essay if you go and research the source yourself and make it part of your bibliography. Remember: it is incredibly easy to tell when an essay takes a sentence or paragraph from another writer and Greenford High School has a plagiarism committee made up of senior teachers in the school to deal with cases of deliberate cheating.

Continue your internet research over the holiday and into January using all the fantastic online resources outlined above.

Task: Post up AT LEAST 20 additional quotes, with full article titles (and hyperlinked web addresses) added to your Notes & Quotes document (AND bibliography) along with a brief explanation about which section of your essay plan it could fit into. 

Due: January (20 quotes) but then ongoing to Easter.

NDM News: end-of-term indexes

We have learned a huge amount this term on news and new/digital media - alongside plenty of crucial A2 Media theory. 

We now need to update our index posts for both the news case study and our weekly new/digital news stories to ensure we are up-to-date with everything. After Christmas, you will have your January assessment where we'll be able to see the progress you are making towards the vital MEST3 exam in the summer.  

NDM News index

In today's lesson you need to create an index of all of your work for New/Digital Media and News. 

This process is an excellent start to your revision for the MEST3 Section B January assessment (not to mention the exam in the summer) and will also highlight if you've missed anything through absence or trips. Your index should include the following:

1) Institution: the impact of Google on the newspaper industry
2) Ofcom report: how news consumption has changed
3) Baseline assessment: learner response
4) The future of newspapers: Build The Wall analysis
5) The decline of newspapers: the effect of online technology
6) The decline of newspapers: Media Magazine case studies
7) The future of journalism: John Oliver and Clay Shirky
8) Citizen journalism and hyper-reality
9) Galtung & Ruge: News Values
10) Marxism & Pluralism: MM article ('Web 2.0: Participation or Hegemony')
11) Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the News
12) NDM News: full Section B essay on blog ('consumption and production')
13) Globalisation: MM article and Factsheet questions
14) Globalisation and fake news: articles and questions
15) News on the Tweet: Newsworks report
16) A case study in news and social media - Factsheet questions
17) Blog essay feedback and learner response

For your index, the text should link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work on each aspect of the case study quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can catch up with the work and notes and won't underperform in the assessment due to gaps in your knowledge.



NDM story index

You also need to update your separate index of ALL of your NDM stories so far. This homework was originally set on Monday 11 September which means you should have a minimum of 26 stories in your index this week. 

Your index should have the story number (starting with your first story back in September as #1), the headline and a link to YOUR blog post for that story - guidance for the original task from September (with top-level examples from previous years) is here.

Remember, every story you post needs to be on a separate blogpost and the link in the index should go to YOUR blog post on that story, not the original article itself.

If you're missing a couple of stories, go back through our Twitter feed for links to good new/digital media stories from the last few weeks. Remember, we do this homework for you every week!

Index due date: anything you don't complete in the lesson needs to be posted by your last lesson before Christmas.

NDM blog essay: feedback and learner response

Well done on completing your new/digital media essays on your blog - they already show huge progress from the baseline assessment. 

We now need to use what we've learned from this process to prepare for the January assessment in the first week back. We're not necessarily expecting an A/A* response in that assessment but we DO want to see significant progress from the baseline assessment and good use of all the case study material we have covered.

NDM essay: learner response

Create a new blog post called 'NDM essay feedback and learner response' and read your feedback email from your teacher carefully. Then, complete the following tasks:

1) Copy and paste the email feedback (WWW/EBI/LR) into your blogpost.

2) Identify your strongest section. Which part of the case study do you know best - Marxism and Hegemony? Pluralism? The decline in the newspaper industry?

3) Identify your weakest section or any missing sections. Which part of the case study do you need to revise - News values? Baudrillard's hyper-reality? Alain de Botton's news as social control? Clay Shirky's news as social good?

4) Complete the LR task specified in your feedback - usually to re-write a certain section and then create a revision list for the January assessment. Please complete these LR tasks within this blogpost - don't go back and edit your original essay at this point.

If you do not finish this learner response in the lesson, this needs to be completed at home by your first lesson back after Christmas.

Christmas homework: revise for January assessment

Your Christmas homework on the exam side is simple: revise everything you've learned for your January assessment.

This assessment will be in the first week back and like your baseline assessment it will be a MEST3 Section B essay. Revise everything from your index and also look over your learner response for both the recent blog essay and your baseline assessment in September. That feedback will be important in identifying how you will improve in the upcoming assessment.

Christmas homework - additional revision/resources

There are plenty of resources out there to help you prepare for your MEST3 Section B assessment in January AND write your critical investigation first draft.

You will obviously be looking over your two indexes of our News case study work AND all the NDM stories that you have collected over the last term. However, there is plenty more out there. Anything you read in our Media Magazine archive will help to give you a wider perspective on media debates and every issue has several articles with a new/digital media focus. We also have an archive of 160+  A Level Media Studies Factsheets that we have subscribed to - in fact, these are brilliant for both critical investigations and the exam topic.

You'll find our Media Magazine archive here and the Media Factsheets are available on the M: Media Shared drive > Resources > A Level > Media Factsheets.

In particular, the following Factsheets will be useful for the exam:

050 'We-Media' and Democracy

053 Journalism in the New Media Age: The effect of online technology

071 Citizen Journalism: from Producer to Audience

088 The Impact of New Media on Politics

104 Audiences in the Digital Age

131 Social Media and the News Agenda

There are plenty for you to look through for your Critical Investigation too - horror film, gender, post-9/11 Hollywood and more. Plus one that we could all use for both MEST3 Section B essays AND our critical investigations:

060 How to Write Academic Essays

Remember: these resources are all for you - the more you use them, the better you will do!

NDM News: A case study in News and Social Media

To finish off our comprehensive case study on the impact of New and Digital Media on News, we will look again at the impact of social media on traditional news institutions.

This helpfully revises some of the work we have done over the last 14 weeks as well as adding a few extra examples, quotes and statistics that will be invaluable in a MEST3 Section B essay. Complete the following tasks to complete your case study:

Blog task: Factsheet #134 - Press, Prominence and Persuasion – A Case Study in News and Social Media

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 134: Press, Prominence and Persuasion – A Case Study in News and Social Media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What does Guardian journalist and academic Emily Bell say has happened to the print news industry on page 1 of the factsheet?

2) How do news stories become prominent on social media?

3) What is EdgeRank and how does it work?

4) Why was the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri (after the shooting of Michael Brown) an interesting example of how Facebook's news algorithm works?

5) How did the news of Osama Bin Laden's death break?

6) How does news spread on Twitter?

7) What is YOUR opinion on editorial control at tech giants like Facebook and Twitter? Are they neutral or should they play an active role (such as blocking and deleting ISIS beheading videos)?

8) Spend some time exploring First Look Media. Is this a realistic future for quality journalism?

9) Read the About page for First Look Media. What are they trying to achieve and do you think they will be successful?

10) Finally, take a good look at The Intercept. Explain how The Intercept started and list three interesting stories on there from the last 12 months.

Complete this for homework - due next lesson.

Critical Investigation: Task #6

Write the introduction to your Critical Investigation essay.

This should clearly introduce your primary text, the media issue or debate you are addressing and what angle your essay will use to approach the question. It needs to engage the reader, pose some questions and give a clear indication of what direction the essay will take. The word count will vary but you want to aim for around 200-250 words.

You may find this brief Powerpoint guide to academic writing useful in approaching this task and can certainly refer to it for the rest of your first draft over Christmas.

This is a strong example of an opening paragraph from a previous year:

Do recent Hollywood films such as the Wolf of Wall Street suggest that audiences are still being influenced by negative gender stereotypes?

Despite the gains made by feminism over the last 30 years, Hollywood films still offer too many negative gender stereotypes. This is particularly clear in Martin Scorsese’s highly successful biopic of Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street (2012). In Scorsese’s film, women are presented as sex objects, prostitutes or housewives and there for the pleasure of the male characters (and arguably male audience). It is evident that negative gender stereotypes are still present in modern Hollywood films and it is hard to argue that audiences are not influenced by these representations. We can also see this in historical, successful Hollywood films such as Scarface, the original Wall Street and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Despite the fact that the gender gap between males and females has started to close – more so recently with respected activists such as Emma Watson speaking out publicly on behalf of the UN gender campaign – negative gender stereotypes in film show that the gap is still an issue in society. Hollywood films that are based around the idea of 'power' often portray negative stereotypes of women. The idea of power and riches appeals to a mass audience as Richard Havis explores in an interview with Scorsese about The Wolf Of Wall Street: "Look at young people and what the American Dream means to them. It's all about accumulating more, and doing what is best for you, in spite of how it affects anyone else.”  This essay will explore the negative gender stereotypes in Hollywood productions and the influence such films have on the audience.

Your introductory paragraph needs to be approved by your teacher along with your essay plan before you write your first draft. Due: Wednesday 20 December.

NDM News: News on the Tweet

Our case study on news has focused heavily on the decline of traditional brands and the rise of social media. But do these two competing platforms actually need each other to be successful?

News on the Tweet is a report from Newsworks (a marketing organisation representing newspapers) and Twitter designed to show the positive impact new and digital media can have on traditional media.

Read the report and answer the questions on your blog. Include the News on the Tweet infographic above in your blogpost.

1. Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?
2. Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?
3. The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?
4. On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to 'gossip' or 'banter'. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 
5. Do you think the increasing amount of 'gossip' or 'banter' is harming the reputation of news and journalists?
6. What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?
7. Do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?
8. Finally, how can we link this report to the vital current debate regarding fake news and Facebook? Do traditional news brands need protecting to ensure there are sources we can trust?

Finish for homework if you don't get it finished in the lesson - due next week.

NDM News: Globalisation and fake news

The recent phenomenon of 'fake news' is a great example of the crossover between globalisation and the news industry. 

It has been linked with a range of political events across the world - from Brexit here in the UK to Trump's election in the USA. Many European countries are now worried fake news will influence future elections and interfere with democracy. 

Fake news: blog tasks

The Guardian & the global problem of fake news

1) Read this Guardian feature - Fake news: an insidious trend that's fast becoming a global problem 

2) What similarities do you notice between the different countries outlined in the article and their problems with fake news?

3) Is fake news an inevitable consequence of the "culture of freedom and innovation" that the internet has brought with it? Is there a way to stop it?


New York Times and the creation of fake news

1) Read this New York Times feature - Inside a Fake News Sausage Factory: ‘This Is All About Income’

2) Which fake news stories were particularly successful for Beqa Latsabidze, the 22-year-old student in Tbilisi, Georgia, who tried to make money from web articles on Trump? 

3) How much can Facebook and Google be blamed for this global rise in fake news?


Complete for homework if you don't finish in the lesson - due in your exam lesson next week Thursday/Friday.

Media Magazine Conference - trip details

The Media Magazine conference is always a great opportunity to see academics, journalists and media professionals speak about key media issues.

The trip briefing sheet with map and meeting details is here.

Trip date: Wednesday 6 December
Meeting place: Outside the venue - Friends House, Euston
Meeting time: 9.45am

Remember to bring pens and paper to make notes during the lectures. This is also great preparation for university!

NDM News: Globalisation

One of the topics that we need to cover in A2 Media is Globalisation - which has huge relevance to digital media, news and beyond.

You should have read the notes on Globalisation in class - the handout is here if you need an electronic copy.

Globalisation and news: blog tasks

Having discussed these issues in class in relation to our news case study, we now need to develop our own opinions on this issue before exploring the wider implications of globalisation.


Class debate: key opinions on globalisation

Firstly, answer the following questions on your blog to develop your own opinions on these issues:

1) Is our news influenced by American cultural imperialism? Give some examples arguing for or against this perspective.

2) Has the increased globalisation of news improved the audience experience? How? Why?

3) Has globalisation benefited or damaged major news institutions? How? Why?

Media Magazine: Globalisation case study

Now we need to explore some of the wider issues linked to globalisation and media - including capitalism, privacy, 'big data', and techno-panics. These are crucial issues that are likely to come up in Section A of your MEST3 exam - as well as being relevant to your independent case studies for Section B.

Go to our Media Magazine archive and click on MM47 - the case study issue. You need to find page 31 and the Google Glass feature: a case study in Globalisation.

Read the article and answer the following questions:

1) Why was Google Glass controversial?

2) What are the positive elements to Globalisation that the article highlights?

3) What are potential negatives to Globalisation?

4) What is a techno-panic? How does it link to moral panics?

5) What is your opinion on the privacy debate and major corporations being able to access large quantities of personal data?


Media Factsheet: Globalisation and capitalism


Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 92: Globalisation. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) Who coined the phrase 'a global village' and what multinational companies illustrate this?

2) What role does Slavoj Zizek suggest the media plays in global capitalism? How can you link this to our previous work on Marxism and Hegemony? 

3) What does 'capitalism with a conscience' mean? 

4) What is the (PRODUCT) RED campaign? 

5) Based on what you've read in the Factsheet, what is YOUR opinion of the (PRODUCT) RED brand? Is it a positive force helping to fight AIDS in Africa or a cynical attempt to make multinational companies look more ethical than they actually are? 

There is a lot of work here - you'll need to finish it for homework if you don't complete it during this week's lessons - due date set by your exam teacher.

Critical Investigation: Task #5

Essay plan

Produce a detailed essay plan for your critical investigation, covering everything that you hope to include in your first draft over Christmas. 

Break your ideas and research down into sections and paragraphs with headings, summaries and a list of quotes/references that you hope to include at each step. You may also want to plan a rough word count for each section, remembering you are aiming for around 2,000 words (not including quotes - probably around 2,500 with quotes). You can see some excellent examples from previous years by clicking on Navneet's or, going back further, Sonam or Jaleesa.

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). You may find that the tasks we have completed recently such as textual analysis and your historical text research help you to plan certain sections too.

This will make writing your essay MUCH easier. However, it is a big task as it requires you to read through all your research very carefully and plan what you should include and what isn't relevant. This is the key academic skill that universities teach - expect it to be difficult and take time! 

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.

Deadline: Friday 8 December

Note: You must get your essay plan approved by your teacher before Christmas so you are able to write the draft over the holidays.

Critical Investigation: Task #4

Online research sources

The next step for our critical investigation research is searching the archives of Media Magazine and other online sources. Although these may not be quite as credible or weighty as academic books and journals they can still add a huge amount to your critical investigation research.

By now, you should have over 4,500 words in your Notes and Quotes document and will still have a huge amount to read and watch - particularly the crucial ongoing academic research and bibliography that made up critical investigation task #2. Don't forget the historical text analysis that made up task #3, too. 

Today, we’re going to focus on another brilliant resource for our research: the online archives of various magazines and websites that you have exclusive access to.

Media Magazine archive

We have the last 30 issues of Media Magazine in pdf format and also in the archive is a Word document with the contents for each issue. This means it will be easy to go through all 30 issues and identify articles that could help with your topic.

Once you’ve identified the articles, you can then read and research them to add to your Notes and Quotes document.


Media Edu

Another online resource that contains a large number of case studies and articles on key media issues is mediaedu.

Click on the top right box 'Login' and use our Greenford Media that will be emailed to you. Once logged in, you may need to search for a few different aspects of your topic but you will find some excellent case studies, theories and more on this website.



e-Jump Cut online media journal

Jump Cut is an online contemporary Media journal with an archive dating back 40 years. It is published every year and each issue offers around 50 articles on aspects of film and media, often looking at controversial or niche topics. The current issue is available here and the archive can be found here.

It's definitely worth searching the e-Jump Cut archive for articles on your chosen topic – there are hundreds to choose from. This could be particularly useful for your historical text analysis from task #3. Note: you don't need a log-in for Jump Cut, the material is available for free online. 


Notes & Quotes: 6,000 words

You need to search all three archives and make notes/quotes from at least ONE article or page from each. However, you need at least FIVE new sources in total - and if you can't find five between the three sites you are not looking hard enough. You should be looking to add another 500+ words to your N&Q document helping you towards the next milestone which is 6,000 words.

Deadline: task completed and 6,000 words in your Notes & Quotes document by Wednesday 6 December.

If you have a problem with any of the links or log-ins then please let me know.

NDM News: MEST3 essay on blog

We have covered a phenomenal amount of content on our News case study since sitting the baseline assessment in September. Now it's time to put that to use on a MEST3 Section B essay.

A reminder of the question we've been looking at in lesson:

The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

We need to make sure we can write well developed paragraphs answering the question we are given. Remember what we said made for a good paragraph:

• Focus on the question
• Application of theories, issues/debates, wider contexts
• Detailed evidence/statistics; range of examples
• Well structured; clearly expressed

For the Marxist perspective, we looked at the following exemplar paragraph:

A Marxist perspective would argue that the so-called “information revolution” has done little to benefit audiences or to subvert the established power structures in society. Far from being a “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) as many have claimed, it has merely helped to reinforce the status quo by promoting dominant ideologies. The most popular news website in the UK by a considerable margin is the ‘Mail Online’, which receives more than 8 million hits every month and is continuing to expand rapidly – with forecasts that it will make £100 million or more in digital revenues in the next three years. Similar to its tabloid print edition, the website takes a Conservative, right-wing perspective on key issues around gender, sexuality and race and audiences appear to passively accept what the Marxist theorist, Gramsci, called a hegemonic view. When one of their chief columnists, Jan Moir, wrote a homophobic article about the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 there were Twitter and Facebook protests but, ultimately, they did not change the editorial direction of the gatekeepers controlling the newspaper.

This includes plenty of excellent points, quotes, examples and uses of media language that help raise this to Level 4:

• Marxist perspective 
• “information revolution” 
• “great leveller” (Krotoski, 2012) 
• promoting dominant ideologies
• ‘Mail Online’, 8 million hits/month 
• £100 million in the next three years
• Conservative, right-wing 
• Gramsci, hegemonic view
• Jan Moir, homophobic - death of Stephen Gately, 2009
• gatekeepers

You now need to write a similar paragraph using the Pluralist perspective.

The key aspects of Pluralism we discussed in lesson included:

• Pluralist perspective
• audiences: “conform, accommodate or reject” (Gurevitch)
• uses and gratifications theory
• Castells “culture of freedom” 
• “The Great Leveller”; “Paradigm shift” (Krotoski)
• Ferguson protests (tweets/hashtag); Tomlinson case (G20)
• Arab Spring, protests
• UGC, citizen journalism, blogs
• democratization
• “mutualisation of news” (Rushbridger, The Guardian)

Homework

If you don't finish the paragraph on Pluralism in class, ensure this is on your blog by next lesson.

Your main homework is to write a full essay answering the question we have been working on in lesson. Write this essay on your blog:

The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

This must be a complete response including everything we have learned in the unit so far: the decline of newspapers, how news consumption has changed (Ofcom report), paywalls and the future of journalism, citizen journalism, hyperreality and UGC, news values and finally Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony. 

Use the quotes you have been given wherever possible and a wide range of examples from across the news industry and beyond (this is where your regular NDM stories should be useful).

Due: next week Thursday (13C) / Friday (13D) 

BFI Library trip details

The BFI Library trip is a phenomenal opportunity to add university-level research to your critical investigation coursework.

The trip briefing sheet with map and meeting details is here.

Trip date: Monday 27 November
Meeting place: BFI Southbank foyer
Meeting time: 10am

Remember to bring pens and paper plus a USB if you have one.

Make the most of this opportunity - we have exclusive use of the library and the staff there have prepared a pack for you that is customised to your text and topic!

Critical Investigation: Task #3

Historical text analysis and research

Research a historical text that you can use to compare with your contemporary, primary text. 

By 'historical' we mean anything pre-2000 but the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s 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 and the issue you are investigating 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. Answer the following questions:

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

Through this you will become aware of developments in the genre you are researching. This task is designed to make sure you have a range of texts to refer to in your critical investigation essay (you'll need at least five including your main text and the historical text you analyse in this task). Remember: you should be able to link them to the wider contexts that were/are 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 an original copy of the text it's not the end of the world - you will be stuck doing secondary research. Just make sure you do plenty of it and find out information from a few different sources.

As ever, add your historical text(s) research, textual analysis and links/bibliography to your Notes and Quotes document. Also, remember that Task #2 and the latest Notes & Quotes word count is due this week!

Task #3 deadline: Wednesday 29 November

NDM News: Marxism & Pluralism - Alain de Botton on the news

We are currently doing some excellent work on the News and Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony.

As part of this work, we've watched a couple of fascinating videos featuring philosopher and Media theorist Alain de Botton and his views on the news as a form of social control. In order to further explore this so we can refer to it in an essay, we have some additional homework on Alain de Botton's and the news.

Here are the two videos we watched in class this week - you may want to watch them again (particularly the first one).




Now watch this lecture by Alain de Botton presenting his views on the News:



Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?

2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?

3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?

4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control. 

Due: for your single exam lesson next week

Critical Investigation: Task #2

Academic research and bibliography

As you know, a detailed bibliography is crucial to reach the top grades in your coursework. Most of you have already started researching using books or journal article PDFs so this is simply an opportunity to pull it all together.

New Notes and Quotes minimum word count: 4,500 words by Wednesday 22 November.

We've now got a superb selection of academic texts in DF07 - many only added this year. These include the following:

• Media, Gender and Identity by David Gauntlett
• Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks
• Feminist Media Studies by Liesbet van Zoonen
• Gender Trouble by Judith Butler 
• After Empire by Paul Gilroy 
• There Ain't No Black In The Union Jack Paul Gilroy
• Media Regulation by Lunt and Livingstone
• Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
• Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky
• Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices Edited by Stuart Hall 
• Power without Responsibility: Press, Broadcasting and the Internet in Britain by James Curran
• The Contradictions of Media Power by Des Freedman
• The Cultural Industries by David Hesmondhalgh
• Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide by Henry Jenkins
• Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World by Jonathan Gray
• The Internet is Not the Answer by Andrew Keen
• Misunderstanding the Internet by James Curran, Natalie Fenton, Des Freedman

You can also refer to our historical Essential Reading List which contains titles of 45 of the most important books for the Critical Investigation, most of which are either in the school library or DF07. If you haven't used any of these yet, make sure you take advantage of these excellent resources this week.

In the essential reading list, those underlined are the twenty most important or useful in previous years but, obviously, not all of the texts on this list will be directly relevant for you. Whichever book you choose, you'll need to spend a fair amount of time searching through it (especially the contents page and, particularly, the index) to find the key words, quotes and ideas that will impress the examiners.

Finally, you should definitely look at our archive of PDF journal articles available on the Media Shared drive. These are considered at the same level as academic books and there is likely to be something that relates to your topic. If not, you can use Google Scholar to look for PDF journal articles that do cover your text or media debate. You'll find our PDF archive at: M: > Resources > A Level > Critical Investigation

For absolutely everything you quote or refer to you in your essay (i.e direct quotes, specific references to theories/statistics/reports etc.), you must include references. Crucially, you'll need to reference quite a few of these recommended books and journal articles if you want an A or B grade. These will be footnoted in your essay (this is called a citation). The more academic sources you have, the stronger your essay will be - so borrow them from the library, look at them in lesson or make a note of them for the trip to the BFI Library. If the book belongs to the Media department, you will have to do your research in class or in DF06 during a free period - the books can't leave school unfortunately.

Task #2 is to pull this information together in an updated Notes and Quotes blog posting of all your notes and quotes so far INCLUDING a complete bibliography of your research so far. 

Make sure you include the following:

• 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/your topic, any notes, ideas or reflections that occur to you when reading. Does it reinforce your argument? Does it challenge your hypothesis? Is it what you were expecting?
• 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 academic books or journals as well as all your online and Media Magazine sources.
• Note: your FINAL bibliography will be much more extensive than this - we are simply looking for a minimum of 10 academic sources from your research so far.

Most people find formatting a bibliography very difficult the first time - there are quite specific rules that you need to follow and universities are very fussy about how it is presented. Use this 'Guide to writing bibliographies' to help or try this really useful bibliography formatting and creation tool: 'BibMe'. Personally, I recommend using the Microsoft Word referencing feature to make managing your bibliography as simple as possible.

Task #2 deadline: Wednesday 22 November

Blade Runner 2049 Film Trip - Details & Homework

The briefing sheet with the map, meeting time/place, contact number, etc. can be found here.

The homework, after watching the film, is to read the following five star reviews...

Blade Runner 2049 review – a gigantic spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness

Blade Runner 2049 review – a future classic

And to read this article that links the film to wider contexts and the theoretical writings of Baudrillard...

‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe’: what Blade Runner 2049’s dystopia tells us about 2017
Also read a selection of the hundreds of reader comments 'below-the-line' after each article. 

Then, for each article, write your own comment in response to each article (minimum of fifty words each) and publish them in a blog post on your Media 4 (coursework) blog, entitled 'Blade Runner 2049 Reviews'. And feel free to post your comments on the actual articles themselves (you'll need to set up an account to do this).

Please complete by Monday 20/11.