| Lec # | Topics | key dates |
|---|---|---|
| Unit One: First Essay - Writing Focus: Living In the Age of the Image; Close Textual Reading | ||
| 1 | Introduction to the Class as a Writing Community And to the Academic Study of Mass Media | Distribute writer's letter assignment Distribute reader/writer notebook assignment |
| 2 | Image Culture and Media Artifacts Advertising, Media Literacy and Close Reading Discussion: Notebook Assignment | Distribute essay 1 Distribute exercise 1.1 Distribute "Reading Print Advertisements" Handout Writer's letter due |
| 3 | Writing as Process: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising Advertising: A Case Study of Mass Media | Exercise 1.1 due: small groups |
| 4 | Strategies of Close Reading: Ads as Representative Texts: Finding Patterns | |
| 5 | Strategies of Close Reading: Constructing Arguments About Advertising Texts Living in Consumer Culture Theories of Social Control and Social Reflection | Essay 1 introduction due (3 copies) Small group workshops: introductions due Essay 1 draft due one day after Lec 5 |
| 6 | Writing Workshop: Peer Review of Drafts | |
| 7 | Using Secondary Sources: Library Workshop | Description of choice of interview subject by email to the instructor |
| Unit Two: Second Essay - Writing Focus: Working with Primary and Secondary Sources; Crafting Individual and Group Identities in the Age of Mass Media and Consumer Culture | ||
| 8 | The Individual in the TV Age: Working With Primary Source Data: Interviews, Letters, etc. The Art of Interviewing | Essay 1 revision due (2 copies with revision cover letter) |
| 9 | The Individual in the Media Age: Growing Up on TV (cont.) | Distribute essay 2 Distribute exercise 2.1 Notebook assignment due |
| 10 | The Individual in the Media Age: The Interview Transcript as Primary Source Identifying Key Passages | Exercise 2.1 due: small groups Prewriting strategies due |
| 11 | The Individual in the Age of Television and Mass Media: Interpreting Interview Material Within the Context of Secondary Sources | |
| 12 | The Individual in the "Digital Revolution" Discuss: Assigned Readings Managing and Citing Sources Issues of Structure Bookending: Intros and Conclusion | |
| 13 | Generating Hypotheses from Case Studies: From Individual Lives to Social Patterns Hypothesis Exercise Television Analyses | Essay 2 draft due |
| 14 | Workshop, Draft, Essay 2 | |
| Unit Three: Writing Focus: Comparative Analysis: Print Into Film | ||
| 15 | From Print to Film: Thinking Critically About the Potentialities of Different Media for Storytelling Literature, Film and the Depiction of Madness | |
| 16 | From Print to Film: Questions of Comparative Analysis Discuss: Susanna Kaysen. Girl, Interrupted | Distribute "Reading Films Critically" Handout Distribute essay 3 assignment sheet Distribute exercise 3.1 Essay 2 revision due |
| 17 | Film Showing: Girl, Interrupted (James Mangold, 1999) | |
| 18 | From Print to Film Discuss: Novel and Film, Girl, Interrupted | Exercise 3.1 due: small groups |
| 19 | Writing About Film Film as Language Discuss: "Reading Films Critically" | |
| 20 | Incorporating Secondary Sources on Film and Print-to-film Adaptation Types of Writing About Film Small Groups: Scene Analysis Exercise | Essay 3 draft due one day after Lec 20 (2 copies) |
| 21 | Workshop: Draft, Essay 3 Revision Strategies | |
| 22 | Advanced Revision: The Potential of Publication Discuss: Assigned Readings | |
| 23 | Course Evaluations Portfolio Preparation | |
| 24 | Advanced Revision Workshop: Essay 1, Essay 2 | |
| 25 | Student Readings Course Overview | |
| 26 | Final Class Student Readings Submission of Portfolios | Essay 3 revision due (with final portfolio) |