Media Response Papers

Social Inequalities

Spring 2008 – J. Kessler

The purpose of this assignment is to analyze recent course-related media reports using concepts, theories, and issues from your course readings.

Instructions:

·          Choose a recent printed media article (news, not commentary) relevant to course materials

·          Summarize the article in no more than 75 words (about 5 typewritten lines), then

·          Discuss how the issue or event on which the article is based relates to what you have learned through assigned course readings, citing relevant materials from your text and/or other assigned readings to support your arguments

Things to consider (this is not a to-do list):

·          Does the article emphasize a theme (or themes) discussed in your readings?

·          Does the event or issue tend to support one particular theory or perspective on social inequality?  Does it tend to contradict a particular theory or perspective?

·          Does the event or issue underscore patterns of social inequality discussed in the readings?

·          Does the article suggest strategies to correct an issue or problem of inequality?

Logistics:

·          Select your articles from mainstream major print media sources (for example, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, the Des Moines Register, the Sacramento Bee, the Boston Globe, Business Week, Newsweek, Time)

·          The article should be no older than 90 days - use news reports only; no commentaries or editorials (if you use a commentary or editorial, you will need to redo the paper with a news report)

·          The papers are to be typed, double-spaced, 11 or 12 point font, standard margins, stapled pages, and at least 1 page, but no more than 2 pages, long – I will stop reading when I reach 2 pages

·          This is a college-level writing assignment.  As such, it is expected that your thoughts will be well organized and your writing concise and clear, with close attention paid to proper grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling.

·          You must properly cite ideas and information from reading materials in APA style – if you are not sure how this is done, please see me or a writing tutor at Mellinger before you write your paper

·          No cover page – name and date at the top right-hand corner - use the "header" function

·          Attach a copy of the article to the paper

•   Submit the paper to turnitin.com first, then to me in hard copy