You will be required to write two 2-page reading responses throughout the course of the semester on one of the primary sources we read during the semester.
1) A brief one-paragraph summary of the author’s argument in the reading you are responding to. What is their line of reasoning? Re-construct their position in your own words.
2) Your critical reaction to the reading, i.e. your thought process and engagement with the reading itself. It should demonstrate that you’ve engaged carefully with the reading and developed connections between the reading and concepts we’ve talked about in class. This should comprise the bulk of your response paper. Some questions you can consider here include :
a. What does the text have to do with media studies/communications and what kind of concepts/ideas does it contribute to the field? How might it engage with other concepts we’ve talked about in the class?
b. How did you feel about what you read, and why do you think the text provoked this response in you?
c. Did the reading reflect or challenge your own values and assumptions, and how so?
3) Interwoven throughout your response, an example of how the text’s argument might or might not apply to a contemporary example of media/communication taken from your own environment. E.g. Does Anderson’s argument about nationalism hold up with regard to modern Internet culture? Why or why not?
