Television analysis paper

Using a diversity perspective, your paper will evaluate at least three episodes from a television show of your choosing to examine the role and significance of race/class/gender. Your paper may also address the roles of disability and sexuality.

The first step is to write the research question, which involves selecting the television show you will write about and the concept to which you will apply to that show.
The second step is to write the introduction to your paper.
The third step is to write the section titled “Concepts, Theories and Methods.”
The fourth step is to write “Analysis Part I” and “Analysis Part II.” (Detailed instructions and examples available on Canvas.)
The final step is to write the “Conclusion.”
I HIGHLY recommend that you email me drafts of each of these steps for my feedback you work on the paper. If you email me for feedback as you write each step and section (starting now), writing this final paper will be less daunting and will give you confidence that you are “on the right track.”

At the end of the semester, students will present their papers to the class by submitting a PowerPoint presentation to a designated discussion board.

PAPER CHECKLIST
 Do you have a title that states the title of the show analyzing and references the hegemonic concept you are using to analyze your show?
Introduction
 In the introduction, do you give the basic information about the show’s production, including network, years in production, showrunner and/or executive producer? If the show was based on a movie, book, or anything else (e.g. remake/spinoff of something), do you give the basic information about that as well?
 In the introduction, do you cite by author’s last name an article on gender in the show that relates to the concept you are using to analyze the show? Is your article from a source such as an academic journal article (an article you would find on Google Scholar), a newspaper (example: LA Times, New York Times, etc.) or a magazine/online commentary (examples: Flow TV, tv.avclub.com, remezcla.com, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, etc.)
 Do you briefly compare/contrast the argument in that article with the one you intend to make in your paper? (Provide a sentence or two stating why, from your own personal knowledge of the show, you either agree or disagree with what the article states. Example: “although Harris states that Breaking Bad provides a model of healthy masculinity, the violent behaviors exhibited by the main character suggest otherwise.”)
 At the end of the introduction, do you introduce and pose your research question in the proper format—for example:
Concepts, Theories and Methods
 Do you have a subtitle/section title for the Concepts, Theories, and Methods (CTM) section?
 In the CTM section, do you say which episodes or seasons you will use and how you collected information from the text?
 In the CTM section, do you define your approved concept or specific form of your concept and its elements from a legitimate source which you cite by author’s name? Do you include the elements of the concept? You must define your terms.
 In the CMT section, do you “set up” and preface your audience analysis by describing the show’s audience (demographic information such as number of viewers, age, sex, and race) Be specific here and cite a source(s).
 Do you state and how you collected information on audience response to your show (for example, audience responses on YouTube comments, fansites, wikis?) Be specific here and cite a source(s).
 After describing the audience in the above two ways, do you define and cite the “encoding/decoding” concept and its elements from Stuart Hall? Do you cite Stuart Hall as a source? Do you state you will be using Stuart Hall’s concept to analyze the audience’s response to the show?
How does (name your show) reinforce or challenge
hegemony associated with (name concept)?

Analysis
 Do you have a subtitle for the analysis section?
 In the analysis, do you give specific examples from episodes from your show and then
connect those examples to your concept and its elements?
 In your audience analysis, do you give examples from the show’s audience and link the examples to encoding/decoding (and its elements) to analyze audience response and participation?
Writing the Analysis
Analyzing Episodes (3-4 full paragraphs)
State the episode
Describe scenes from the episode that reflect the concept you have chosen to apply
Connect specific examples from those scenes to your concept and specific elements from your concept.
(You will do this 3-4 times, depending on how many episodes you have chosen to analyze). Analyzing Audience Response and Participation (2 paragraphs)
Choose and then state specific examples from the information you have gathered from your audience analysis source.
State what you believe the audience response to be (preferred, negotiated, oppositional) by linking those specific examples to encoding/decoding (and its elements)
Conclusion
 Do you have a subtitle for the Conclusion?
 In the conclusion, do you 1) first remind the reader of your research question, and then 2) answer that question by providing a summary of the results of your textual analysis and a summary of your analysis of the show’s audience?
 In the conclusion, do you briefly comment on what the results mean for gender and society?
 In the conclusion, do you briefly recommend an avenue for additional research?
 Do you list all sources cited in your list of Works Cited, and attempt to follow the format used in the example? If you use a chapter from the textbook, remember to cite by the last name of the chapter author in your essay, and list by this name in Works Cited.
 Did you proofread your paper for typos, grammar, punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure? (It’s a good idea to have someone else look at it, too).

 Did you italicize show titles in your title, subtitles, and the rest of the paper? Did you italicize book, newspaper/magazine, and movie titles and put quotation marks around episode and article titles? (Show titles within article titles can be italicized).
 Did you make sure that you gave credit to sources for both words and unique ideas that are not your own, quoting when there are three or more words in a row from another source, even if these words are within a sentence you wrote?
 Did you make sure that you did not use examples any article about gender in your show that you used for writing the paper. You must identify your own examples.