MAC201 essay advice

1. MAC201
ASSESSMENT 2 ESSAY ADVICE
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2. WEEK 8 ONWARDS
Nearly finished the module
By the time you complete your essay you should have hit the
100 hours point out of the 200 learning hours required for
this module
What follows is some generic advice for the essay…
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3. BY END OF WEEK 8
Students will have had around:
16 hours of lectures
8 hours of seminars
10+ hours of screenings
(+ any additional tutorial time arranged outside of class)
TOTAL ~36 hours of contact time
By this date it is expected students will have done:
80+ hours of independent research
i.e. 10+ hours per week of reading/watching/researching
TOTAL ~136 (36+80) hours of research
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4. BY END OF WEEK 8
TOTAL ~136 (36+80) hours of research
That leaves plenty time for writing, editing, proof-reading and
redrafting your essay. I recommend around 20 hours to write a
good piece of work.
This is the minimum effort expected of students on a degree
It is also an indication of the effort staff are expecting students
to have undertaken as part of their blended learning
Keep this in mind when it comes to your feedback
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5. LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT
THE ASSESSMENT TASK
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6. LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT
THE ASSESSMENT TASK
This assignment requires students to assess and critically
analyse one or two of the key issues, concepts or themes raised
in the module. The assignment must address the above by
paying specific reference to examples drawn from one of the
following formats (ie apply concept to textual example) :
– Broadcast news (eg The Channel 4 News)
– Political discussion show (eg Question Time)
– Current affairs (eg Newsnight)
– The talk show (eg The Jeremy Kyle Show)
– Documentary (eg The War You Don’t See)
– Reality television (eg The X-Factor)
– Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked)
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7. LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT
THE ASSESSMENT TASK
This assignment requires students to assess and critically
analyse one or two of the key issues, concepts or themes raised
in the module. The assignment must address the above by
paying specific reference to examples drawn from one of the
following formats (ie apply concept to textual example) :
– Broadcast news (eg The Channel 4 News)
– Political discussion show (eg Question Time)
– Current affairs (eg Newsnight)
– The talk show (eg The Jeremy Kyle Show)
– Documentary (eg The War You Don’t See)
– Reality television (eg The X-Factor)
– Lifestyle television (eg How to Look Good Naked)
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There are other TV
examples you can
draw from. These
are merely
indicative. If in
doubt, consult the
module staff

8. PUT SIMPLY
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC
News values
Ideology
Impartiality
Public sphere
Plurality
Celebrity
Propaganda
Distortion
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Discourse
Neoliberalism
Governmentality
Etc, etc
FORMATS
Broadcast news
Political discussion shows
Current affairs
Talk shows
Documentary
Reality television
Lifestyle television
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1 or 2 of these 1 of these

9. PUT SIMPLY
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC
News values
Ideology
Impartiality
Public sphere
Plurality
Celebrity
Propaganda
Distortion
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Discourse
Neoliberalism
Governmentality
Etc, etc
FORMATS
Broadcast news
Political discussion shows
Current affairs
Talk shows
Documentary
Reality television
Lifestyle television
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1 or 2 of these 1 of these
NB: you can use more than one
example from a given genre, eg.,
Big Brother and X-Factor

10. PUT SIMPLY
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC
News values
Ideology
Impartiality
Public sphere
Plurality
Celebrity
Propaganda
Distortion
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Discourse
Neoliberalism
Governmentality
Etc, etc
FORMATS
Broadcast news
Political discussion shows
Current affairs
Talk shows
Documentary
Reality television
Lifestyle television
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1 or 2 of these 1 of these
Make sure you pick a concept that
fits the format you are looking at.
For instance, news values can be
applied to broadcast news or
current affairs content but less so
with reality TV

11. PUT SIMPLY
IDEAS, CONCEPTS, ETC
News values
Ideology
Impartiality
Public sphere
Plurality
Celebrity
Propaganda
Distortion
‘Dumbing down’
Infotainment
Discourse
Neoliberalism
Governmentality
Etc, etc
FORMATS
Broadcast news
Political discussion shows
Current affairs
Talk shows
Documentary
Reality television
Lifestyle television
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1 or 2 of these 1 of these
You are free to discuss
interconnected ideas: as long as
you can apply your idea to an
example then you are on the right
track

12. FAQ BY STUDENTS
These questions emerged in 2011-12:
1. What is a concept?
2. What is the essay question?
3. Can I use any television programme?
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13. FAQ BY STUDENTS
1) What is a concept?
- A concept
- a general notion or idea; conception.
- an idea of something formed by mentally
combining all its characteristics or
particulars; a construct.
- a directly conceived or intuited object of
thought
- In this regard it might be one of the notions
or ideas that have been mentioned or raised
in the lectures or in the readings you have
encountered on the module
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14. FAQ BY STUDENTS
1) What is a concept?
- Have a look in the module guide for each
week and you’ll notice each week is
prefaced with ‘Keywords’ (also on
Sunspace in ‘Reading material’ section)
- You will be familiar with this terminology
from the academic journals you have been
recommended throughout the module
- Eg Harcup and O’Neill
- These keywords are not all encompassing
nor are they the only ideas addressed on
the module.
- If you have any doubts, ask a tutor
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15. FAQ BY STUDENTS
2) What is the essay question?
- There is no essay question; it’s an assessment
task
- This means you have to demonstrate you
understand the issue in question and can apply
it to an example
- This type of skill is a ‘step-up’ from Level 1 and
it requires successful students to be not only
knowledgeable, but evaluative and critical
through analysis
- If it makes is easier for you, try mentally
reframing the task, eg., what are ‘news values’
and what can they tell us about contemporary
broadcast news production? How have news
values changed over time and what’s the
impact of these changes? Or ‘To what extent is
the documentary style of Louis Theroux
ideological?’
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16. FAQ BY STUDENTS
3) Can I use any media text?
- Providing it is clearly defined as factual output
and fits the list in the assessment task
- It would be advisable to cover those national
formats you have access to (eg it is expected
that British students will be familiar with
British examples, but international
perspectives are welcome from overseas
students)
- There may be extra issues you will need to
take into account if you use examples from
another country
- Different broadcast codes or regulations
- Different cultural conventions
- Material taken out of context
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17. SEE THE SAMPLE
ESSAYS
There are example essays on SunSpace
They were all high scoring essays (but they were not
perfect!)
You might want to address a different format to the ones
discussed in these essays, but it should give you an idea of
the level of quality required if you expect to do well.
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18. AN EXAMPLE
One way to approach the assessment task is to do the following:
- Define a concept
- The public sphere was a concept coined by Jurgen Habermas in … It
has been employed to explain a number of issues …
- Discuss its application
- The historical trajectory of the concept and its current applications.
Where has it been used? Where has it been praised/critiqued? Who
has commented on this work previously?
- Attempt you own analysis/application
- Show how this idea can be applied to an example, eg Question Time
or The Wright Stuff etc. Be specific and detailed in the analysis
- Summarize the merits or limits of the idea
- Are there problems with the idea or its application? What does the
idea tell us about the contemporary media as a conduit for
democratic discussion?
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19. REMEMBER
We are looking for evidence that you understand the concept at
hand
The best essays will demonstrate evidence of wide ranging
knowledge (reading) and astute application of the concept to a
suitable example
2500 words is quite a tight word limit (500 of these will be your
intro/conclusion) so the challenge will be demonstrating that
you know the issue or idea well enough to not have to spend
large tracts listing obvious information
- E.g. there is no need for long lists of news values by Galtung &
Ruge. Rather, a more sophisticated essay will be able to identify
the salient points of their argument, perhaps by virtue of
explaining more current debates around the subject, whilst being
conscious of the criticisms and merits raised, while exploring this
in the analysis
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20. PLAN OF ACTION
Many students should have been reading extensively by the end of week 1.
Ideally, you should start prepping for the essay with over 2 weeks until
submission.
On the next slide I recommend you spend your time over that time period
The expectation here is that you have already undertaken ~80 hours of
background reading so are comfortable with most of the key debates (it
generally takes 60-90 minutes to read a journal article, depending on the
length).
I also expect you to be continuing on with your blended learning (it is a key
skill for employers that you can multitask, time manage, delegate
responsibilities, and work to concurrent deadlines). You will likely have to
juggle multiple assessment deadlines like centuries of students before you.
If you are struggling with time management – get in touch ASAP.
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21. PLAN OF ACTION
Approx. 15-20 hours needed
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NOW
(Wk10)
SUBMISSION
Week 11
end
Week 12
end
Sketch out
essay plan:
~ 500 words
~ 1 hour
Identify and
gather resources:
~ reading 3 hours
~ notes 3 hours
Rough draft #1:
~ writing 2 hours
~ redraft 2 hour
Rough draft #2:
~ writing 2 hours
~ redraft 2 hour
Rough draft #3:
~ writing 2 hours
~ editing 2 hour
Proof-reading:
~ 1 hour
Cut-off point for
advice from staff

22. ONE LAST THING…
Staff are willing to look at any essay plans/structures you
might have well in advance of the deadline
Students can expect staff to point them in the right direction
of relevant and appropriate reading material
Staff are not meant to be pre-marking rough drafts of essays
Staff are not obliged to look at any work that has been left to
the last minute (ie 3 days before submission)
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