“Sex Sells” Coordinated Studies class Grinley/Clapp 2015
Instructions for Reading Write-Ups

There are assigned readings from our course textbooks as well as the Reading Packet.For each reading, article, or chapter you are assigned, you need to complete a Write-Up. Before you begin your write-up, read carefully and thoroughly annotate the reading with notes and questions.

Most days there will be more than one reading due, and therefore there will be more than one Write-Up due as well. Please put all of your write-ups on the same sheet of paper, since they are so short. Write-Ups are due at 10:00 a.m. and are never taken via email or taken late. Write-ups are collected occasionally and without warning, so you need to be prepared. If you are asked to turn in your write-up and don’t have it ready, you will lose participation points. Here are the details:

1.A Write-Up is single spaced and typed (with 1” margins and in 12 pt. font). Put your name and the title, author, and the date at the top of each entry, flush-right.

2.Then, reread the article/chapter and select at least one quote that you found to be particularly enlightening, compelling, interesting, confusing, or otherwise noteworthy. Introduce the quote with the author/title and then write the quote down exactly as it appears in the text and include the page number, like this. Notice that the parenthetical citation goes after the quote mark at the end of the sentence, and the period is on the outside.

3.Finally, write two open-ended, complex, and critical discussion questions. These should not be simple questions like “Did you like this reading?” but instead be ones that connect to the text and promote careful and analytical thought. Label the questions.

A sample of what each entry should look like is below:

Isadora Ulysses Dench

“Individual’s Perspective” by James Potter
May 23, 2015

Quote:
James Potter, in his article “Individual’s Perspective,” says that, “The focus and methods of television studies had been remade as scholars considered the social, economic, philosophical, and political implications of a genre that makes claims to the Real, the ordinary, and the spectacular simultaneously” (43).

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do different types of media almost require different states of exposure? As in, a transported state seems appropriate for watching a movie, but does one really need to be self-reflexive when watching Wife Swap?
  2. Why are some people more naturally skilled at media literacy than others? If research were done, would there be findings that differentiate between circumstances such as class and age, or would it be a totally mixed bag?