This is the second in a series of three linked assignments for this course. It will consist of two versions of a research question, two 300-word primary source analyses (the primary source from assignment 1 and a primary source you have found elsewhere), and a 250-word summary of a peer-reviewed secondary source.

CMST 3HC3 Primary Source Analysis Worksheet: Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Use these boxes to record your observations about the source itself, to make connections to other sources and the document’s context, and to note any questions that arise. You will use these notes as a basis for your analysis of the primary source (newspaper or magazine article) for Assignment 2—but you will not submit it. As you work through the questions, you will probably find that description, interpretation, and evaluation overlap somewhat. This is okay; these approaches are not completely separate. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to respond to every question: not all of them will apply to your chosen source, and some may be more salient than others.

HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION

CMST 3HC3

WINTER 2020

Assignment 2: Primary source analysis and annotated secondary source 

Description from the Syllabus

Assignment 2: Primary source analysis and annotated secondary source (10% of final grade)

This is the second in a series of three linked assignments for this course. It will consist of two versions of a research question, two 300-word primary source analyses (the primary source from assignment 1 and a primary source you have found elsewhere), and a 250-word summary of a peer-reviewed secondary source. The new primary source and secondary source should relate directly to your historical research question. You should begin with a restatement of your research question from Assignment 1 and end with a revised version of the research question, reflecting what you learned in finding, analyzing, and reading your sources. Provide bibliographic citations following the Chicago Manual of Style for each source. We will cover how to find relevant primary sources and access high quality peer-reviewed research in lecture and tutorial. For more information on this assignment, please see the guidelines on Avenue. Electronic submission due to Avenue Dropbox by noon on Friday, 28 February; a hard copy of the assignment with a printout of the rubric attached is due at the start of your tutorial during the week of 2 March.

Objectives

The aim of this assignment is for you to develop your critical thinking and research skills by a) continuing to develop a good historical research question based on historical evidence; b) finding, analyzing, and interpreting primary sources that can give you insight into your question; and c) finding a relevant, high quality secondary source that can give you further historical insight into your question. You will also develop your reading comprehension and synthesis skills by writing brief, high quality summaries/analyses of your primary and secondary sources.

Instructions

Part I: Restate your research question

In this section, you should reproduce your research question from Assignment 1, Part II. Please also include the name of your chosen document group.

Part II: Finding and analysing primary sources

In this section, you will use the primary source analysis skills that you explored in assignment 1 and in tutorial.

1. 1.      Following the guidelines in the Finding Primary Sources document (on Avenue), find a newspaper or magazine article that, together with the primary document you chose for Assignment 1, will help you answer your research question. 
2. 2.      Conduct an initial analysis of your second primary source, using the “CMST 3HC3 Primary Source Analysis Worksheet: Newspaper and Magazine Articles” available on Avenue. 
3. Provide BIBLIOGRAPHIC citations for both your primary sources, according to the Chicago Manual of Style.
4. 4.      Write a 300-word analysis for the document. Your analysis should identify the title, artist/author, dates, locations, and (if possible) the probable audience. It should also address the following questions: 

• What was the historical, social, and/or cultural context for the document?
• What purpose did the document serve, and what points of view did it convey? How did it convey these goals and ideas through imagery, text, and tone?
• How can the source help you answer your research question? What is its significance?

You may draw on your secondary source to address questions of context or significance. If you directly reference your secondary sources (or course readings), then you should use a proper Chicago Style footnote or endnote to indicate this. (These citations will not count toward your word count.)

1. 5.      Write a 300-word analysis for the article. Your analysis should identify the author, publication date and location, and probable audience for the article. It should also address the following questions:

• What was the historical, social, and/or cultural context for the article?
• What purpose did the article serve, and what points of view did it convey? How did it convey these goals and ideas through text, tone, and (if applicable) imagery?
• How can the source help you answer your research question? What is its significance?

You may draw on your secondary source to address questions of context or significance. If you directly reference your secondary sources (or course readings), then you should use a proper Chicago Style footnote or endnote to indicate this—or a Chicago Style in-text citation. (These citations will not count toward your word count.)

Part III: Finding a relevant peer-reviewed secondary source

In this section, you will use the secondary source research skills we explored in lecture and tutorial.

1. 1.      Following the guidelines in the Finding Peer-Reviewed Secondary Sources document (on Avenue), find an academic journal article or book chapter that, together with your two primary sources, will help you answer your research question.
2. 2.      Provide a BIBLIOGRAPHIC citation for your source, according to the Chicago Manual of Style.
3. 3.      Read the article or book chapter, not just the abstract or whatever pages you can find online. Write a summary of the article or book chapter (250 words). Copying or paraphrasing the existing abstract is not acceptable. The summary should indicate the scope and topic of the article/book chapter, its sources and methodologies, and its main arguments. It should also briefly indicate how the article/book chapter relates to your historical research question. Your summary should mostly be in your own words and make sparing use of direct quotations from the article (aim for 40 or fewer words of direct quotation).
4. Any direct quotation of 3 or more words should be indicated with quotation marks. If you quote a sentence or phrase(s) but change or leave out a word or two, you should indicate what you have done in the following manner:

“Between 1948 and 1955, television was installed in nearly two-thirds of the nation’s homes, and the basic mechanisms the network oligopoly were set in motion” (Spigel 1992, 1).

becomes

 “Between 1948 and 1955, television was installed in nearly two-thirds of [U.S.] homes, and… the network oligopoly w[as] set in motion” (Spigel 1992, 1).

Failing to accurately indicate direct quotations is a form of academic dishonesty.

Part IV: Restate or revise your research question

1. Reflect upon what you have learned from the two primary sources that you found and analyzed, as well as the secondary source that you found, read, and summarized.
2. Has what you learned changed your thinking about your question? If so, revise it to reflect the change in your thinking. If not, restate your question.
3. In 1-3 sentences (60–100 words), explain your decision to revise or restate your research question.

Hints

1. One of the biggest challenges of this assignment for many students will be staying within the word count. Don’t go over: not only will you lose points, but you will lose a crucial opportunity to hone your prose and focus upon the most salient points in the analysis.
2. Give yourself plenty of time to find, examine, and think about your sources.
3. Analyze your second primary source using the relevant worksheet, and then put it away for a day or so. When you come back to the worksheet and begin to outline and write up your analysis, you will have a fresh perspective and some critical distance, which will help you in identifying the most salient themes.
4. Keep in mind that your research question should help you focus your primary source analysis.
5. Writing an excellent analysis takes time, especially given the 300-word limit. If you have conducted a thorough examination of your primary source, you will probably have plenty you want to say. Carefully outlining your analysis, thinking about your research question, and then giving yourself plenty of time to revise and cut will help you stay within the word count.
6. Writing an excellent summary takes time. You will need to read your source carefully and take notes. Part of what takes the time is that you are not just assembling a series of quotations but that you are paraphrasing the author’s arguments. Paraphrasing involves summary, interpretation, and clarification. It demonstrates more advanced critical reading and thinking skills than does simply assembling a series of quotations.
7. When taking notes, be careful to keep track of what is a direct quotation and what you are putting in your own words. This will mean that you will be accurate in your use of quotation marks when you paraphrase.
8. Read your analyses and summary aloud to yourself. This is a good way to catch silly mistakes and infelicitous turns of phrase.

Evaluation: This assignment is worth 10% of the final course mark. Here is the breakdown for evaluation (out of 100%):

5%      Assembly and formatting

• Are name, student number, course number, tutorial section, and TA name in upper right hand corner?
• Are all of the required elements included in the following order: part I (reproduction of research question, name of document group), part II (primary sources: 1st bibliographic entry, 1st 300-word analysis, 2nd bibliographic entry, 2nd 300-word analysis), part III (secondary source: bibliographic entry, 250-word summary), and part IV (revision or restatement of research question, 1-3 sentence explanation for revision or restatement of research question)
• Is the assignment formatted in double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, left justified, 1-inch margins? Do the bibliographic entries use hanging indents?
• Is a printout of the rubric attached securely to the back of the hard copy submission? (Please take care of this before you come to class: staplers or paperclips will NOT be available in tutorials.) (NOTE: please do not submit a copy of the rubric electronically)
• Is the electronic submission in Word or PDF format? Has it been submitted without the rubric?

15% Spelling, grammar, and quality of prose

• Do the part II analyses, part III summary, and part IV explanation use proper spelling and punctuation?
• Do the part II analyses, part III summary, and part IV explanation use proper grammar, including no run-on sentences or sentence fragments?
• Is the prose clear and easy to understand? Does it avoid wordiness, awkward phrases, and other barriers to comprehensibility?
• Are both analyses, the summary, and the explanation the correct length?

10% Citations

• Do the citations for all sources follow Chicago Manual of Style guidelines for bibliographic citations?
• Do citations of other sources within the analyses and summary follow Chicago Manual of Style guidelines for footnotes or endnotes—or for in-text citations?

Part II

20% Primary source 1 (document): Content

• Does the analysis identify the title, artist/author, dates, locations, and (if possible) the probable audience?
• Does the analysis explain relevant aspects of the historical, social, and/or cultural context for the document?
• Does the analysis identify what purpose the document served and the points of view it conveyed? Does it explain how these goals were conveyed through the document’s imagery, text, and tone?
• Does the analysis explain how the source can help answer the research question? Does it discuss what is significant about the source?
• If relevant, does the analysis reference appropriate secondary sources?

20% Primary source 2 (newspaper or magazine article): Content (Note: To receive credit, this primary source must meet the criteria explained in “Finding Primary Sources.” If it is not, it will receive zero credit.)

• Does the analysis identify the author, publication date and location, and probable audience for the article?
• Does the analysis explain relevant aspects of the historical, social, and/or cultural context for the article?
• Does the analysis identify what purpose the article served and the points of view it conveyed? Does it explain how these goals were conveyed through the article’s text, tone, and (if applicable) imagery?
• Does the analysis explain how the source can help answer the research question? Does it discuss what is significant about the source?
• If relevant, does the analysis reference appropriate secondary sources?

Part III (Note: To receive credit, a secondary source must meet the criteria explained in “Finding Peer-Reviewed Secondary Sources.” If it is not, it will receive zero credit.)

20% Secondary source: Content

• Does the summary specify the scope and topic of the secondary source?
• Does the summary indicate what sources and methodologies the author uses?
• Does the summary specify the main arguments of the secondary source?
• Does the summary indicate how the article relates to the research question?
• Does the summary use 40 or fewer words of direct quotation? Does it make effective use of paraphrasing?
• Are all direct quotations from the source of 3 or more words indicated with quotation marks?

Part IV

10% Restatement/revision of research question and explanation

• If revised, does the new research question fulfil the criteria of being clear, focused, appropriately complex, and responsive to the chosen primary and secondary sources?
• Does the explanation clearly justify the choice of whether to revise or restate the research question from Part I?
• Does the explanation (briefly) make a connection between the restated or revised research question and the two primary sources that are summarized?
• Does the explanation (briefly) make a connection between the restated or revised research question and the secondary source that is summarized?

Part I:

CMST 3HC3 Primary Source Analysis Worksheet