analytic essay
Project description
In this third project you will read and evaluate the work of a social media researcher – danah boyd – and compare the results she reports with those of others (Pew researchers, for example) and your own. Along the way, you will learn to analyze and synthesize as well as properly attribute source material.
This project asks you to engage in academic research writing. You can do so, based on your work in the previous two projects, as a fellow (although less experienced) social media researcher. It may be helpful to think of yourself as participating in a kind of extended “dialogue” with other researchers.
Audience for this Paper
Your audience for this paper is comprised of other social media researchers and, specifically, Dr. danah boyd herself. We will construct a fictional but plausible scenario in which boyd has been asked to come to speak to university students. Prior to her visit, she’s asked you to prepare short written reports that respond to her research so that she can tailor her remarks to issues you care about.
Write an analytic essay for Dr. boyd that can also be shared with others on campus – students and faculty – who plan to attend her public lecture.
Your goal is to represent her work fairly and accurately, but also to raise issues that you believe need to be clarified, updated, or otherwise responded to by boyd when she arrives on campus.
Research for this Paper
Your inquiry process should include:
1. Careful reading and annotation of boyd’s chapter (http://www.danah.org/books/ItsComplicated.pdf).
2. Gather source material from secondary sources. Once again, I’ll recommend you start with information from the Pew Center for Internet & American Life. This center does original research and publishes reports on media use. But feel free also to look for sources by boyd and others that may represent updates to the original essay. Try using Google Scholar as a place to start.
3. Finally, you should incorporate your own primary source data from project 1 (your media diet and social networking habits) and 2 as well to help you draw contrasts and make comparisons.
Process
1. Read boyd’s chapter carefully. Highlight points in her report that seem to match your own observations, those of other researchers. Also highlight those that you have questions about – either because they seem out of date or because you’ve seen results that conflict with what boyd reports. Follow the guidelines in Krause’s Chapter 7 on Critique http://www.stevendkrause.com/tprw/chapter7.html.
2. Write a pre´cis of boyd’s chapter. A pre´cis is an extended summary that tries to accurately represent the argument as it has been made by the author. It should include a full citation at the beginning, and should present the reports’ thesis, methods used, major claims, and the evidence used to support the claims. Try to keep it no longer than 1 and a half pages in length, single spaced. Post your pre´cis to elireview.com.
3. Gather your secondary source research on the media practices, trends, and issues related to your the interview subject that you interested in profiling. Following guidelines in Krause’s Book chapter 6 on Annotated Bibliographies. http://www.stevendkrause.com/tprw/chapter6.html , prepare annotations of your secondary sources. Submit at least three annotated source entires for review on Eli.
4. Draft a line of argument for your analytic essay. (you may find it helpful to review Krause’s chapter 5 on “The working thesis”) Submit your line of argument for review on Eli.
5. Put it all together! Draft your essay. Krause offers some good advice in Chapter 10: http://www.stevendkrause.com/tprw/chapter10.html
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