Major Essay
Length: 1500 Words +/-10%
Weighting: 40 Marks
Assessment Context
Applying academic theory is a crucial part of your academic studies. This assessment will provide you with an opportunity to learn how to incorporate theory into your writing and use it to explain how and why a phenomena is occurring. In this longer piece of academic writing, you will have the opportunity to incorporate your earlier feedback into your work and address any areas of concern.
Task Instructions
Choose a question from the list below to answer. You must include theory and empirical research in your essay. See essay tips below for more info.
Choose a blockbuster film or TV franchise and analyse it in terms of gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, disability or class representation. What does this media text tell us about society?Do contemporary music videos represent socially progressive ideas, or do they uphold traditional inequalities? Discuss in relation to gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, disability or class. Focus your discussion on one or two music videos.Is reality TV real? Draw on the concept of hyperreality in answering this question. You should focus on only one or two reality TV shows in your response.How does consumerism affect our sense of self?Does new media undercut the power of traditional media?Was the internet a bad idea or has it been good for society?Should popular culture be regulated? Why or why not?While we encourage you to use readings from the unit, this assessment will require you to do additional independent research to find academic sources. You will be assessed on your ability to critically evaluate your chosen theory and its application to a piece of popular culture.
Essay Tips
Your essay must:
Answer the question – You must present an argument for this essay. Your argument the answer to the question and what you are trying to convince the reader of. It should be clearly stated in the introduction and connected back to through the body of the essay. Narrowing the focus of your essay will help you to create a more robust argument.Have a clear structure – ­Your essay should lead to a conclusion which follows the premises. You need to have an introduction (10% of word count), body paragraphs (250-350 words each; using TEEL) and conclusion (10% of word count).Use theory and concepts – In order for your essay to move beyond descriptions, you need to apply theory and concepts from the unit. Remember to also define all key terms for your reader.­Consider the context – An essay must be situated in the academic conversation which it comes from. You must read around the literature to understand what the main ideas and debates are on the topic. This unit is looking at social understandings of popular culture, so you should be consulting sources that are from these fields of study. That means empirical research from sociology, media studies, gender studies, cultural studies and the humanities more broadly. Do not use sources that are from psychology or business.­Rely on evidence – An essay must use evidence and examples from academic sources to support your main claims. That means much of your essay will have citations throughout. Independent research and good referencing are a must.
Referencing and Formatting
All claims need to be substantiated and supported with academic evidence. As such, you must use at least 8 academic sources (remember websites and dictionaries are not academic references). This is the minimum – feel free to use more than this, but avoid having more than 1 per 100 words.
Sources should be acknowledged with in-text citations through your essay and a correctly formatted reference list (on a new page at the end of the essay) using Swinburne Harvard.
Use size 12 font, Arial or Times New Roman, 1.5 spacing.
Include a title at the start of your essay. There is no need for the use of subheadings, images, charts, or graphs.
Penalties for plagiarism range from a formal caution to expulsion from the university, and are detailed in the Student Academic Misconduct Regulations 2012. You can also read more about plagiarism here.Place Your Question Here