MI 101- SEC 730
FALL 2017
Assignment 2 - Media Effects Research
(20 points)
Due: October 18, 2017
Submit to dropbox for Assignment 2 in PDF FORMAT
Assignment 2 Rubric
Instructions:
The objective of this assignment is to further develop your media literacy skills. So far, we have
tackled the topic of media literacy in analyzing the way advertisements are constructed for
particular audiences. Another way to tackle media literacy is by versing yourself in how media
research is conducted. Therefore, you will find an article published in a p
eer-reviewed,
academic journal that addresses the topic of media effects. From there, you will write a brief
essay (450-500 words) regarding:
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The topic of the study (e.g. What media are being studied? What social/physical
phenomena are the researchers studying? What questions are the researchers trying to
answer?)
The method the researchers used (e.g. What did the researchers do to answer the
questions/hypotheses proposed? Was it a survey, an experiment, a content analysis?
What kind of data did the researchers use? Was data gathered from a sample of
people? How many people? Was data gathered from textual sources? What were those
sources (e.g. news articles, facebook posts, etc.)?).
The main findings of the research (e.g. Were the hypotheses supported or
unsupported? What do their findings mean for individuals and/or society? Why do their
findings matter as presented in their discussion section?)
Your overall assessment regarding the validity of the research (e.g. What are the
limitations of the study? Do you think the results the researchers found are accurate to
your own perceptions on the topic? Do you think anything was left out, or what could
have been incorporated to make the study more comprehensive?)
References (e.g. include a formal reference to the academic article you are writing
about after your essay).
Information about how media research is conducted will be covered more in depth in Module 4,
5, and 6. This assignment requires you to find a peer-reviewed, academic journal article.
Information on how to find these is included below in “resources”.
Requirements:
To receive full credit, the total word count of your responses must be 450-500 words (not
including the reference). Text must be in Times New Roman or Arial font, double spaced, and
12pt font. One inch margins are required. Essays must address each of the aforementioned
bullet points. Put your full name and student ID number at the top left corner of the page. Submit
your assignment as a PDF document. Include the word count at the bottom of your essay
before the references section. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. See rubric for specific criteria.
Resources:
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Media effects refers to scientific research that investigates the influence of media
messages on social attitudes and behaviors. For example, a media effects study may
investigate the influence of Facebook use on feelings of social connection or isolation.
Another example of media effects research is a study that investigates video game use
on attitudes and/or behaviors regarding team collaboration. There are many different
types of media, thus many different studies on the topic of media effects. However, all
studies on media effects focus on the influence of media messages on attitudes and
behaviors. Therefore, the research study you find for this assignment must fit this
definition.
Reading and Viewing Opportunities:
○ What is an academic journal?
■ Identifying an academic journal
○ Wikipedia - Influence of Mass Media
○ Psychology Today - Explaining Media Psychology in 2017
○ An animated introduction to social science research
○ Economic and Social Research Council - What is social science?
Peer-reviewed, academic journals are scientific journals that publish studies which are
reviewed by multiple members within the scientific community. In other words, these
studies have gone through a vetting process so that, once published, readers can trust
that the studies are theoretically and methodologically legitimate. If you would like more
information on the process of peer-review, please go h
ere. What this means for you, is
that you must find an academic article that fits the criteria of peer-review. To do so,
navigate to the digital directories via the MSU library homepage, and search for media
effects, research articles via one of the directories listed (e.g. ProQuest, EBSCOhost,
Web of Science). We will also accept studies from non-academic sources that follow the
scientific method, such as: the Pew Research Center, the Knight Foundation, or
PubMed. If you are uncertain about the credibility of a source, please email the TAs at
least 72 hrs prior to the assignment due date.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Review of MSU’s policy on plagiarism can be found
here. All assignments will be automatically checked for originality (i.e., plagiarism). You
will be able to see your own originality reports on D2L. If you have a high score when
you originally submit the paper (which suggests you have plagiarized another author),
then you should use the originality report and update your paper. After you have updated
the paper to decrease the appearance of plagiarism, you can resubmit the paper. You
can submit a paper multiple times on D2L. Excessive quotations (e.g., more than 60
words) will results in large grade deductions. And must be reported to the university
administration.
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References are a strong way to avoid risk of plagiarism as it is the activity of properly
attributing sources to the information provided in your writings. There are many different
styles for presenting your references. Most common within the discipline of
communication, media studies, and social science disciplines broadly are A
PA and the
Chicago Manual. All assignments must include proper citations. See the template below
for example.
Template for Assignment 2:
See rubric for specific criteria. (450-500 words).
The examples below are merely meant to be a guide for how you are to structure your essay
and are not meant to be exact word counts of each of your sections. Your entire essay, w
ithout
references, must be 450 to 500 words to receive full credit. You are allowed to exceed this
word limit, but you cannot fall below it.
NAME
STUDENT ID NUMBER
DATE
Assignment #2
Section 1: Introduction (50-100 words)
Concise summary of the article and major conclusion.
Section 2: Methods and Results (150-200 words)
Describe the research method used and the findings.
Section 3: Validity and Limitations (150-200 words)
Describe your assessment of the validity of the study and its limitations.
References: (not included in word limit)
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume
number(issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy
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