Synthesis Papers Your midterm paper would synthesize concepts from the first half of the course, specifically the Foundations of gender and communication and your final paper would synthesize concepts from the second half of the course, specifically in regards to Institutions and how they relate to gender and communication. If you frame your papers this way, you will want to choose several concepts from each half of the course, define them, give examples, and explain how they interconnect or contradict one another. This is very similar to the Unit Paper option (see rubric on Canvas), but would require you to think about more concepts and broader themes.
Topic Papers If you frame your papers as topic papers, you would come up with a research topic/topic of interest and then apply concepts from either the first or second half of the semester to that topic to help explain, illustrate, and/or complicate it. For example, if you are interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, you could use various concepts from the first half of the semester such as intersectionality, marked terms, and talking back and apply those concepts to Black Lives Matter to understand and explain the movement from a new, more complex, academic perspective in relation to gender and communication. Examples of topics you might write about could include: your favorite TV show, something that happened in the news recently, or a new trend. You could write about the same topic for both papers since you would be using all new concepts, or you could write about two different topicsthe choice is yours.
Come talk to me in office hours if you have a different idea/vision for what you want your midterm and final papers to look like.
Regardless of how you frame your papers, they will need to meet the following guidelines for focus, breadth, depth, and research:
Focus: Your midterm paper should focus on concepts from the first half of class (Units 1-5) and your final paper should focus on concepts from the second half (Units 6-12). This ensures that your papers dont get too unwieldly and that they stay within the 5-7 page length requirement.
Breadth: Though you will need to ensure that you focus your papers on their respective units, be sure to use concepts from throughout the entire unit in order to talk across concepts and address major themes. In other words, do not only use concepts from a single chapter in either papereach paper should include concepts from at least three different chapters within that unit.
Depth: Be sure to spend careful time and consideration with each concept you incorporate into each of your papers. 5-7 pages seems long but, when youre working with multiple complex concepts, it can be difficult to explain, illustrate, and apply each concept in a deep way. Make sure you develop each concept with appropriate depth, which means including examples and addressing interconnections.
Research: Each paper will have a research component, which requires you to incorporate at least 4 outside academic sources beyond the textbook/supplemental readings. These academic sources should be used to support your synthesis and/or application.
please use the study guides in order to write the paper so you know what we learned in class.
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