Popular Press Reaction
Due: Wednesday, November 23rd in class
Please bring a hard copy to class on the due date. If you won’t be in class on the due date, you should bring a hard copy on 11/21.
Popular Press Reaction Paper cannot be made up without an official excuse.
You will do an online search and identify a recently published news article (not a journal article) that exemplifies / illustrates / applies / contradicts a specific technology-related issue we covered in class. You will write a reaction paper after reading and summarizing the news article. You should find an article that exemplifies or showcases concepts related to the topics from our class (e.g., technological determinism, online deception, Internet credibility, online privacy, online communities, etc.). In your reaction paper, you should take a “critical” approach to the arguments / events described in the news article and propose your own point of view.
Your paper should be structured as follows, and include all the below titles:
Introduction (must be the shortest section in the paper)
Briefly summarize the article and the main argument as it relates to your topic of choice. Include a preview of what you will do in the paper, and which concepts you will use to critically analyze the arguments made in the popular press article.
Conceptual Framework
You should briefly define and explain the concept that can be used as a framework / lens to discuss how this article exemplifies or showcases a technology-related issue in a real-life context. (For instance, if your article is about online deception, refer to some of the concepts we discussed to cover this topic such as feature-based model, warrants, cues heuristics)
You should cite at least one source while writing up this section.
Critical Analysis (must be the longest section in the paper)
You should take a “critical” approach to the arguments made / events described in the news article and propose your own point of view using what you have learned in this class.
Your critique should include your claims backed up by evidence you acquired from the class readings and other outside sources (For instance, if the article argues for the prevalence of deception online, discuss what evidence we have in the literature to support or debunk this argument. Take a stance for or against the argument made in the article – Do you agree with the central argument in the article? Do you disagree? Why? What is the basis of your stance?)
You should cite at least two sources while writing up this section. You should use at least one class reading, and can use one or more outside sources.
Requirements
The paper should use the format provided above with all the titles, length and content requirements.
Your news article should be from a reputable source (e.g., New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, etc.). Your source should not be a blog, book review or a tabloid article. News articles from these sources will not be accepted.
Publication date for your news article should not be older than 2012.
Include the link to the article at the end of your paper.
The length should be min 600, max 800 words (approximately 2-3 double-spaced pages with Times New Roman, 12 font). Points will be deducted from papers not meeting the length requirements.
The paper must be typed, and must display acceptable college level standards of grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, spelling, formatting etc. Be sure to proofread your paper before turning it in.
The citations should be in APA format. You can refer to the following website for APA citations: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/. Include a list of all references used in the text at the end of your paper in APA style.
Bring a hard copy to class on the due date. If you won’t be in class on the due date, bring a hard copy on 11/21.
Evaluation Criteria
Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
The paper meets all the requirements outlined above.
The paper demonstrates a thorough understanding of technology and human communication concepts and principles.
The paper effectively discusses how technology and human communication concepts and principles are illustrated / used / contradicted in a popular press article.
The paper provides an in-depth ‘critical analysis’ by providing evidence from scholarly articles.
……………………….Answer preview………………….
The Tinder Dating Pool Isn’t Completely Shallow” by Brooke Lea Foster http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/style/tinder-dating-relationships.html?_r=0.
Introduction
According to this article, Tinder dating application is responsible for a “dating apocalypse”. This is evidenced by the fact that several New York men in their 20s admitted to using the application to prowl for women to just have sex with. These men pride themselves by being able to get women to bed after a few texts……………………
APA
762 words