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University of Ontario Institute of Technology

COMM 2210U: Communication and Culture


Fall 2014

Proposal (10%)
Due date: November 27, 2014, 11:59PM. Late submissions will be penalized 3% for each day
(including Saturdays and Sundays) that they are overdue. Assignments that are seven or more
days late (i.e., after November 27) will not be accepted, and will receive a 0%.
Length requirements: 500-750 words, including the title and bibliography/works cited pages.
For every 100 words under or over the word count, papers will be penalized 2%, e.g., a 400-word
paper will incur a 2% penalty, while a 975-word paper will be levied a 4% penalty.
Formatting requirements: Double-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman/Arial/Cambria.
APA citation style, with a bibliography or works cited page and a cover page that includes
student name, number, and course information, along with Proposal as the title. Students
should upload their assignment to Blackboard as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
Files should be named as follows: Surname-FirstName-StudentNumber, e.g., Shin-Dale123456789.docx
Turnitin: Students can upload papers to Turnitin through the module on Blackboard (under
Assignments). For their paper to be accepted for grading, students must produce a similarity
index score lower than 20%. Papers submitted with a score of 20% or higher will not be graded,
and will be considered late after the due date, until they are resubmitted with a satisfactory score.
Assignments can be resubmitted as many times as necessary in order to produce a satisfactory
score. Note: students may opt out of Turnitin by signing and submitting a waiver form, either by
e-mail or in person; the form is available on the home page of Blackboard. Those who decline
use of Turnitin will be required to submit their notes and drafts along with their assignment.
General instructions: The purpose of this exercise is to have the student specify a particular
topic or controversy in communication ethics that they will commit to examining in greater detail
in the term paper; and to formulate some provisional research questions to inform their
subsequent efforts. Note: the proposal is not a final or definitive prospectus, as students will be
allowed to adjust, revise, or even abandon their proposed topic; it is meant, rather, simply to
induce students to start thinking about a topic for their paper and strategizing towards its
completion.
Students can choose one of the themes in communication and culture from the course (and, for
that matter, one of the examples from the presentations). Some examples include:

the use of social media in the Jian Ghomeshi scandal, by both accused and accusers (new
media)
news coverage of the Ottawa war memorial shooting (news media)
Netflix hearings before the CRTC (concentration of news media)

In the paper itself, and in lieu of a traditional thesis statement, students will compare the
popular discourse that has surrounded their topic with the academic literature on the subject, in
order to compare and contrast the two ways of thinking about communication and culture (i.e.,

University of Ontario Institute of Technology


COMM 2210U: Communication and Culture
Fall 2014

popular vs. academic). In other words, students will analyze how non-academic texts discuss an
issue like war journalism with how the popular press has talked about the coverage of the
campaign in Afghanistan.
The proposal will be evaluated according to the following two criteria:
1. ability to specify a suitable topic or theme, that is, success in clearly proposing a research
agenda for the paper on a topic pertinent to the subject of communication, culture, and
media, and identifying a suitable example or examples to render it contemporary;
2. quality of writing, as reflected both in the attention to proofreading, editing, citations,
etc., to limit typographical, grammatical, and other errors, and in the observance of the
assignments formal and technical requirements, e.g., citation style, spacing and margins,
etc.

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