2-2 Activity Topic Introduction

by


 

Overview

For the project in this course, you will examine a specific example within an area of popular culture and how it impacts individuals and society. You will demonstrate your ability to think critically, investigate, and communicate clearly. You will critically analyze your example through social, historical, and theoretical approaches to popular culture. You will also use the general education lenses: history, humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social science.

For this assignment, you will finalize your choice of popular culture example and begin to collect the required elements for your analysis. This assignment requires you to gather reliable evidence from varied sources and use them to introduce your example effectively. All these elements will prepare you to complete the project, where you will need to use evidence to support your points. Completing this activity will result in a draft of the topic description section of your project.

Directions

For this activity, you will write a short paper introducing your choice of example within an area of popular culture. You may use the example that you worked with in the previous activity or choose a new example now that you have reflected further. Review the instructor feedback you received on the previous activity. Then, if needed, review the Module One Overview and visit the IDS 404 Library Guide for guidance on how to select and refine an example. If you are selecting a new example, do some preliminary research to ensure that you can address each of the required elements of your project. Please remember that you will not be able to change your example after the end of this module. 

You should begin to gather the sources you will use for your project. These sources must include two resources from the module resource sections of this course and two resources that you find through your own research using the Shapiro Library. It may be beneficial to identify some extra sources so that you can eventually choose the most useful and credible ones. 

Important note: You are not required to include all the items under each rubric criterion. However, you are expected to include effective details to support your points.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

  1. Integrate reliable evidence from varied sources throughout your paper to support your analysis.
    1. It is important to draw from a more diverse pool of perspectives from varied sources to support the analysis, which is different from the Citations and Attributions rubric criterion.
    2. Reliable evidence from varied sources should be interwoven throughout the paper itself. Citing and attributing sources will be represented as APA in-text citations and a reference list at the end of your work. 
    3. You will be evaluated on both criteria.
  2. Describe the area of popular culture that you will analyze and a specific example that represents this area by using effective details
    1. Effective details include the kind of popular culture it is, where it exists, how people engage with it, or what value they get from engaging with it.
  3. Describe the relationships between the example you chose, the area of popular culture it represents, and the population that engages with this area of popular culture by using effective details. 
    1. Effective details about the example include how it represents or is connected to this area of popular culture.
    2. Effective details about the population include demographics, cultural practices, social identity, or key aspects. 
  4. Assess how society may impact the example and the area you chose.
    1. What are some examples that clearly illustrate how the larger global society has impacted the example and area of popular culture?
  5. Explain your choice of general education interdisciplinary lens for analyzing the example and the area you chose.
    1. What made you choose one lens over the others? Was it an easy decision? Why or why not?
  6. Construct a thesis statement that combines the example you chose, area of popular culture, population, societal situation, and choice of general education interdisciplinary lens.
    1. Your thesis statement should clearly and concisely state the relationships between your example, area of popular culture, population, societal situation, and lens. It acts as a hypothesis proposing how these elements will work together during your critical analysis.

What to Submit

Submit your short paper as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.