Introduction Carah and Louw

Each week you will have a response paper assignment in which you submit a short paper that clearly and precisely demonstrates your understanding of the content of the reading.  To start you off, read the Introduction to your textbook:

Carah, N. & Louw, E. (2015). Introduction.  In N. Carah & E. Louw, Media and society: production, content and participation. Sage publications, Ltd. (pp.1-12). 

This chapter provides you with a clear overview of the textbook and many of the topics we will cover in this class. So, understanding this chapter is a good way to get a firm foundation for the work we will be taking in the coming weeks. Take notes using the format below and upload your assignment.  Once you have completed this assignment you will be taken to an A level version of the assignment. It is not the only way to complete this task, but I wanted to provide you with a strong example. 

Also read through the rubric

Actions for the assignment, even though I will not be using the rubric in this first version of the assignment (which is a practice run), the rubric will be used in upcoming assignments and so it also  provides you with insight as to how to successfully complete the work.

Note-taking

The note-taking method you are required to use in this class is, perhaps, different from how you have usually taken notes. I am not saying that it is better, I am saying that it is different. This method of note-taking is designed to help you engage fully with the text, understand it, seek clarification when necessary, and apply the concepts to different contexts that you might encounter.

DO NOT simply cut and paste quotations from the text to fulfill the requirements for taking notes for each subsection. You will not get any grade for simply cutting and pasting as  as this does not demonstrate your understanding. It only indicates that you can select quotations. Only use quotations in the manner indicated below, where the writers use particularly evocative language.

First contact

Scan the document

You will understand more if you do quickly scan the chapter. Read the questions that start the chapter, the writers’ objectives for the chapter (under the heading “In this chapter we”) and the conclusion. By reading these parts of the chapter you will understand the writers’ aims. You now have a map of the chapter that will help focus your thinking and evaluate what you are reading.  

Identify the main focus of the chapter

After we have read the Introductory chapter for the textbook, for each subsequent chapter, in two or three sentences explain clearly what is the main claim that the writer is trying to make in the chapter and how it seems to contribute to the objectives laid out in the introduction.

Focus on the claims and examples made under each subheading

Examine the subheadings the writers use as these will help you focus on the way in which the writers build the argument. Write each of the subheadings down.  Read each section of the text under the subheadings and make the following notes

• In one sentence identify the main claim being made in the subsection


• When the writers use an illustrative example in a subsection, in one or two sentences explain what the example is and what it is being used to illustrate


• If you find a quotation that you want to remember write Quotations I Wish to Remember and write the quotation including the page number

Apply your own lens to the content

Select something from the chapter that you found particularly evocative. Perhaps you found something particularly interesting, problematic, true or counter to your experience, true or counter to something you encountered in another class. Write a short paragraph of three or four sentences explaining what was evoked by reading this part of the text. Ensure that it is clear which part of the text you are referring to.

Ask questions of the content

In their book The miniature guide to the art of asking essential questions, Richard Paul and Linda Elder explain that questions are a fundamentally important part of our education. Asking questions generates greater understanding. They argue that if the reader is not asking questions of a text they are not really engaged in substantive learning. You are required to ask questions of each chapter using the following headings. 

• Clarifying Question(s)
  
  
  
  • If there is something that you do not understand, under the heading
  
  
  
  


• Conceptual Questions
  
  
  
  • Writers use concepts. Concepts are ideas that are less concrete. They are ideas we use in thinking. They provide people to create a mental map of the world. Through concepts we define situations and define our relationships to the world around us. This will become particularly clear after we read Chapter One of your textbook and so I will add to this definition after we read that chapter.