You’ve now researched a publication that was impactful in your life. For this next assignment, I want you to do the same thing for a different publication (ideally quite different from the first so you get exposure to a new aspect of the publishing world).
After doing this assignment myself and seeing how you all engaged with assignment one, I want to emphasize the importance of articulating questions in your post that you want to be able to answer, even if you’re not yet sure how you’ll answer them. I have provided some example questions for each section below, but the goal of the assignment is for you to devise your own questions and figure out how to find answers. This means that even your revised draft might include a question that you haven’t been able to answer (sometimes, the information you would need just isn’t accessible!). It is not a bad thing to have a question that you’re not able to answer. It is a very good thing!
Your Experience of the Publication
First, describe your experience of the publication. How did you find it, how did you read it, and how has it impacted your life?
Financial Structure
Who invested in the production of this publication? Was it an investment of money or labor? If labor, what kind of labor? (physical typesetting, digital programming/encoding, creation of ideas/story to be published, etc.). How were each of these investors compensated?
Editorial Structure
How was this publication edited? Who were the editors and how did they interact with the author/s?
Production Structure
Who was the publisher and how did they actually make the publication? Is it print, digital, or both? Are these technologies still around today?
Marketing Structure
How was this publication marketed to its audience? Who likely read it? Did those readers pay for access? If not, who paid to make it available to them for free?
The Parts of This Assignment
Part 1: Chronicle Your Interest and Research
- Describe your experiences with the text
- Describe the financial structure you were able to uncover
- Describe the production structure you were able to uncover
- Describe the editorial structure you were able to uncover
- Describe the marketing structure you were able to uncover
- Save your sources in a folder in our Zotero library
Part 2: Create a Post on Course Website
- Title
- Featured Image (most likely a book cover or website logo)
- Complete media file details for featured image
- “caption” field should include an attribution statement (TASL guidance here)
- “alternative text” field should provide a summary of what is in the image
- “description” field should include the URL for the image file you downloaded
- Content with any sources clearly cited (hyperlinks for online sources and in-text citations for print sources) with a list of works cited at the end.
- Attribution Statement at the bottom of the document
FAQs
- Do I have to share my post with the class? You can choose to share your post with classmates or share it only with me (set your post to “private” if you only want me to see it).
- So, this isn’t a typical “English paper”? No, it isn’t. There is no requirement to have a single argument or claim. You are not required to find peer-reviewed sources to support or contextualize what you want to say. There is no requirement to be original. I want you to let your interests guide you and share your experiences, questions, and theories with me (and your classmates!).
- Can you share an example of what a finished product is supposed to look like? Yes! The post I shared is my attempt to do this assignment. Yours does not need to look like mine, but I offer it as an example in case you find it useful.
- How will you grade this? This assignment is graded on a pass/fail basis. If you engage with the task and turn in a project, you will get 100%. This sort of project is likely new to you, so things will be confusing! Do your best and I will give you feedback so you understand the expectations going forward.
