CA 322 Park University Media Analysis and Criticism Essay

“When you make the finding yourself – even if you’re the last person on Earth to see the light – you’ll never forget it.” – Carl Sagan

The objectives for this assignment are 1) to help you understand your chosen media topic (look for articles that relate to your topic for your final piece of media criticism– this often means the method chosen or the genre of artifact you are looking at) and 2) to reinforce your library research skills.

For this assignment, you must select a communication article using journals that can be found in Communication Source or Sage Premiere databases in Park’s library. 

Your should not attempt to do this assignment with an article you found online at a website that is not linked to from the Park University library website. Failure to abide by these rules will result in a zero on the assignment.

There are a number of communication journals that are the critical journals in the field—they publish the key research in the discipline.  What do you notice about the list below?  

1. Quarterly Journal of Speech
2. Communication Monographs
3. Critical Studies in Mass Communication
4. Southern Communication Journal
5. Western Journal of Speech Communication
6. Journal of Applied Communication Research
7. Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Communication. 

Did you figure out that they pretty much all have the word “communication” in the title?  If you find an article that is perfect but the title of the journal doesn’t have communication in the title, email the journal title and the abstract to your instructor to be sure it will work for the assignment.

Directions

1. Find an article that presents research about the mass media in a current communication journal and read it. The most important things to look for to find a research-based article are either numbers or examples/quotations. It is a good idea for you to email your proposed article abstract and citation information to your instructor for approval early in the unit since the assignment is due at the end of the unit.
2. Read the article.
3. Once you understand the article, answer the following questions in a two page review: 
   1. What is the general argument presented in the article?
   2. What are the major sections in the article (hint– look for headings)?
   3. Summarize briefly each section of the article.
   4. Do you have any questions the article did not answer?
   5. Evaluate the article’s clarity and usefulness (was it easy to understand and did it help you understand the concept and research about which it was written)?