Analysis of Mental Illness Stigma in Criminal Minds

An Analysis of Mental Illness Stigma in Criminal Minds

Criticizing TV: Final Research Paper

This final paper should be a critical analysis of a specific topic, genre (other than reality TV), theme or any issue related to television production. A partial list of possible ideas follows:

Written assignment: The above list contains only suggestions. Think about the vast amount of television offerings and related subjects. This is your chance to be creative and select a topic that interests you! It is important to remember that this paper should not be a report; instead, it should act as critical inquiry into a specific area with a particular point of view, much like the authors we have encountered this semester.

Your final paper should have a body that is 6-8 pages in length (longer if needed) and follow all APA conventions (including a title page, body, and reference page). You may include links to digital media as supportive content. All evidence must be properly cited in-text and on the reference page. Please include at least four references (with at least one scholarly source outside of class materials)!

To prepare for your essay: • Decide on your subject: One of the most straightforward ways to decide on a subject would be to find a show, or a specific episode of a show, that you are passionate about, and then find a focused critical approach that will shed light on it. Alternately, you can think of some aspect of TV that interests you and then find a show or shows that will allow you to explore that interest and build an argument. Make this work relevant to you personally, or to your academic major, or both. • Focus your topic: Be specific, and narrow your topic both in terms of subject and in terms of the approach you will take to that subject. Then Focus your topic some more. Example of a title for a paper with an unfocused topic: “How False Realities are Created in ‘Reality’ Television.” Example of a paper title on a focused topic: “From Short Hair and Polo-Shirts to Long Beards and Camouflage: A Case Study of Constructed ‘Cajun’ White Male Identities in the Reality TV Show Duck Dynasty.” For the second title, imagine how much more pointed and specific the research questions would be. • Research your topic: Start to find what others have written about your topic, but also look for what has been written about specific aspects of your topic as well. • Turn in a Final Paper Proposal (Using the handout as a template): Please do not be late with this assignment, because I will comment on them and in some cases ask you to revise and resubmit based on how well your topic will set you up for success. Keep in mind the proposal does not lock you into the project: The handout is meant as a tool, both to get you to focus your topic and to allow me to help you to further focus your topic and guide you toward sources; your topic may change somewhat (or a lot) as you work on it. The final paper proposal is worth 5 points. • Research your topic some more: Based on your proposals, I will give you feedback both on the design of the paper itself, and on the kinds of research that you can do to support your argument. Refer to this feedback and the APA resources on Carmen to write your paper. Submit to the dropbox on Carmen.