Academic Writing

A. Diary of media use – To give students an idea of their media consumption habits, students will record their media use over a 3-day period. A template is provided on the course Web site for the diary section. Students should record any media activities. Repeated use can be listed as a single entry (for example, you do not need to make a new entry for each text message). Pay close attention to media exposure around you, such as background music. Please type out your diary and include it. The second section (3- 4 pages) is a commentary about these findings. In this section, the following questions should all be analyzed: 1. Does these seem like a typical period to you (why or why not)? 2. How do you think this compares to others in your demographic (think about age, gender, educational status, class, race)? What is your demographic? 3. How do you think this compares to the media use of older generations? 4. Is there anything in your diary that surprised you? Or that you wish you would change? 5. What does this say about who you are? (Think about your identity and how you fit in the world) 6. Extrapolate from your own experience to reflect on the larger role of media in shaping our individual and collective lives. 1. Describe how the lack of a phone changed your media consumption habits 2. What did you miss most and what you did not miss at all? 3. How did your experience compare with your expectations prior to giving up your phone? 4. What does this reflection say about who you are? (Think about your identity and how you fit in the world) 5. Extrapolate from your own experience to reflect on the larger role of media in shaping our individual and collective lives.