This assignment is designed to assess your understanding of and ability to synthesize and apply course material covered during the first half of the course. Your goal is to write a 1,500-2,000 word essay (approximately 6-8 double-spaced pages, not including references) that articulates a clear point of view in response to one of the following topics:
- How do digital media and society interact? At the start of the semester we discussed several conceptual and theoretical tools for thinking about digital media’s influence on society (e.g., technological determinism, social construction of technology, affordances). Drawing on course material during the first half of the semester, argue in support of one of these theories (or propose your own!). Your paper should discuss your chosen approach, explain why it is the one that best encapsulates the relationship between digital media and society, and provide at least three examples that support it.
- In the past few years, there have been growing debates about the influence of digital media platforms (DMPs) on the public sphere(s) in democratic societies. Some commentators, including representatives of the platforms themselves, have argued that DMPs improve the public sphere by giving more people a voice to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and opinions. Others argue that the net effect of DMPs on the public sphere has been largely negative, due to the prevalence of hate speech, untrue information, insularity, etc. In your paper, consider this debate and take a position: on balance, do you think the advent and growth of DMPs have been mostly positive or mostly negative for the quality of the public sphere? To support your thesis, discuss at least three specific ways in which digital intermediaries, or “platform” companies, shape the contemporary public sphere. For example, you may consider questions such as: Who participates? What kind of public speech is allowed and prohibited? How are users’ information diets tailored to us? What is the quality of the information circulated? Are there particular actions that Facebook, Google, and other digital intermediaries could take to better foster a healthy democratic public sphere?
No matter which prompt you choose, you should write a persuasive, evidence-based essay, in which you actively and substantively draw upon specific course materials and class concepts to defend your analysis and arguments. You should approach the essay as if you are trying to convince your reader of something, and you should strive to provide an analysis of your topic that illuminates the subject in a compelling and persuasive way. Your essay should advance a clear argument, which you must support with evidence and examples from the readings, lecture, and class discussion.
You are not required to incorporate outside materials (though you are welcome to do so, and some topics may benefit from additional background sources). However, you are expected to make full use of appropriate sources from the syllabus, including lectures, readings, podcast episodes, documentaries, and so on. While there is no set number of sources you’re required to use, you should aim to incorporate at least 5-6 course materials into your essay. Draw from the materials that are most relevant to your essay topic, and make sure that your essay synthesizes (i.e., brings together) ideas across multiple course materials and weeks.
Organizing Your Paper
Your paper should be a well-structured, argumentative essay, containing the following:
- An introduction, from 1-3 paragraphs in length (approx. 1-1.5 pages). This section of your paper should draw the reader into your essay topic, offer a “preview” of your main argument, and set the stage for what follows. Keep in mind that although you are responding to an assigned essay question, a strong essay will be able to stand on its own independently of this question, such that a reader could make sense of your paper even if they hadn’t read the prompt. Thus, it’s important that your introduction makes clear exactly what you are writing about and why it is a significant topic.
- A main body (approx. 4-5 pages) in which you develop and flesh out your supporting arguments. Each line of argument should be supported with relevant points of evidence and examples from a mix of course materials and lecture (with citations!). If you haven’t already done so in the introduction, be sure to define and clearly explain the concepts that inform your arguments.
- A concluding section (approx. 1-1.5 pages) that wraps up your argument in a forceful way, underlines its significance, discusses its broader implications for understanding the role of digital media in society, and looks toward the future (e.g., do you expect the trends you’ve outlined to continue or change in the future? what questions still need to be answered? if you’ve highlighted problems or concerns in your essay, what are some potential solutions? etc.).
Paper Format and Citation Style
Your essay should be double-spaced, using 12-point font and 1-inch margins. Don’t forget to number your pages! Please save your essay as a Word document (LastName_Midterm.doc) and submit it on Canvas via the Assignments feature. Keep in mind that this is an academic essay and you should write in a formal style (i.e., no slang, abbreviations, etc.).
When drawing from course readings in your paper, it is important that you synthesize rather than merely summarize the material. Another way to think about this is that you are putting the readings into conversation with one another – in other words, grouping together similar ideas and themes from across the readings to build support for your argument.
This also means that you should not overly rely on direct quotations from the readings. Rather, describe or paraphrase the main ideas and arguments from the readings in your own words and use these arguments to support your overall thesis. If you must use a direct quotation, make sure it is brief and reserved for rare instances in which you cannot do justice to the authors’ ideas by paraphrasing.
Any information that you include in your essay that is not your original opinion or common knowledge (e.g., Earth is round) must be attributed to an appropriate source. This includes facts, statistics, research findings, definitions, arguments, theories, ideas, and opinions that come from the work or writing of another person. When in doubt, provide a citation. Unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism!
For more information on Rutgers’ Academic Integrity Policy, including information on how to avoid plagiarism, see: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/academic-integrity-at-rutgers.
References and citations should follow APA (American Psychological Association) style. This uses an author, date system for in-text citations. This means that you should not use footnotes or endnotes for citation of sources. For guidance on APA style, see http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx, or https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.
Here are two examples of APA in-text citation style:
- According to Pariser (2011), “personalization filters serve up a kind of invisible autopropaganda, indoctrinating us with our own ideas, amplifying our desire for things that are familiar and leaving us oblivious to the dangers lurking in the dark territory of the unknown” (p. 15). [Note: You must always include a page # when citing a direct quote.]
- In his research, Hindman (2008) found that the political web is highly concentrated, meaning that attention to political web sites is distributed according to a winners-take-all pattern.
List all of your references at the end of your paper (beginning on a new page labeled “References”), in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name, also following the general style recommended by the APA, as in the following example:
- Hindman, M. (2008). What is the online public sphere good for? In J. Turow & L. Tsui (Eds.), The Hyperlinked Society (pp. 268-288). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
- Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: How the new personalized web is changing what we read and how we think. New York: Penguin.
If necessary, you can cite my lectures, but please do so only if the information from my lectures is not available in the assigned or supplemental readings (for example, if you’re referring to Wardle’s definition of malinformation, you should cite her Scientific American article rather than my lecture).
Note that all sources listed in your bibliography must be referenced somewhere in the text of your paper. Likewise, all sources cited in the text of your paper must be listed in your bibliography.