MS3000

1. MS3000 Supervision The Run up to Winter Vacation & Presentations Writing Annotated Bibliographies Student Reps (IMD, MMDT)

2. Mark Landers (Mary and Gosia) Anna Chiampesan (Tony and Marian) Magdalena Maslach (Tony and Marian) Thushanth Packiyanathan (Tony and Marian) Ahmed Al-Issa (Tony and Marian) Aswin Gurung (Mary and Jeff) Sarah Russell (Mary and Jeff) Matthew Cornell (Tony and Jeff) Aaron Bartlett (Mary and Marian) Rosa Da Conceicao (Mary and Jeff) May Le Floch (Tony and Marian) Gerald Wright (Mary and Jeff) Konstantinos Nikolis (Tony and Jeff) Alex Hughes (Mary and Gosia) Sahithya Jegatheeswaraiyar (Mary and Marian) Rahel Zeremariam (Gosia and Marian) Feb Starts Lujian (Tony and Mary) Dale (Tony and Jeff) Announce Supervision

3. Supervision Process • Meet with supervisors at 1pm • Send email to both supervisors to book next meeting • There is a minimum requirement of 3 meetings per semester. Of course, you will want to meet more, and may decide to increase meetings during certain periods in the teaching calendar.

4. MS3307 Next Thursday is an independent study session

5. 15th and 6th Dec • Thesis presentations for cw1 (Sem B = cw2) • 15mins Covering • (A) A summary of the thesis/project (20%) • (B) Annotated bibliography (30%) • (C) Rationale of chosen methodology (30%) • (D) A brief reflection on supervision (20%) • Questions

7. In groups • Discuss a book or article that has been important to your study • Answer the following: • Why is it relevant? • Why is it important? • Why is the argument valid to your degree

8. WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY? • A list of citations to books, articles, and other documents • Citations are followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative annotation (a paragraph) • Annotation stresses the importance, relevance and viability of the argumentation of works cited

9. Be both descriptive and critical Annotations are designed to reveal • The author's opinion • The transparency and appropriateness of the argumentation • Its significance and influence on the field

10. How to write one • Write concise and snappy analysis based on an informed literature search • The search must not be limited to the Web

11. Steps • Find sources to cite – where? • Library, Athens, Web – focus on academic refereed texts – Journals, books. • Evaluate the sources – how do they relate to your thesis? • Think this through logically. Are they key texts, texts that maybe bring together various strands of your research topic. Texts on the cutting edge of your research topic… • Confirm with your supervisors • Use Harvard referencing to fully cite the source • Write the annotation

12. Critical appraisal of text Check list (we will go into more detail in literature review sessions) • What is the purpose and intended audience? • Can you summarize content • Refer to the author – place in field, publishing history - other works of note • Note its relevance to the topic • Compare or contrast to other work in the field (look at your other sources) • Tell the reader how this work helps to enlighten the thesis • What argumentation is put forward, what is the reasoning? • Are there any unique features • What are the strengths, weaknesses and/or biases

13. Evaluating examples Two student examples (read and make comment) An academic example

14. Thesis topic: Computer Technology and Children • Gauntlett, D., (2003). Ten things wrong with the effects model. Retrieved 12th August, 2004, from [3] • This article takes an interesting approach to the topic by outlining 10 flaws in the mainstream approach taken to research on the issue, giving a flip-side perspective. Considering the view taken by most researchers, some of the flaws that Gauntlett states are: • They tackle social problems 'backwards' • They treat children as inadequate • Studies are often based on artificial studies or studies with misapplied methodology • They are selective in their criticisms of media depictions of violence • They make no attempt to understand meanings of the media • It is important to note that Gauntlett does believe that the impact of new media should be investigated and considered, however he thinks a more sensitive and rational approach should be taken.

15. Example - PhD on comics McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994. • McLuhan is one of the leading figures in media criticism and theory.  His project in Understanding Media is “to understand the effects of the extensions of man,” which he defines as “the technological simulation of consciousness” as expressed through varying media like the spoken and written word, clothing, ads, games and of course, comics (3-4).  Famously proclaiming “the medium is the message,” McLuhan argues that the content delivered by a medium obscures the character of the medium itself (8-9).  He then distinguishes between two forms of media, hot and cool, hot being filled with “high definition” data or information such as radio or film, and cool media, where very little information is provided, and therefore much of the information must be filled in by its receptor (i.e. one who senses, or receives information).  Cool media, like comics, “demand… involvement in [the] process… [and] require participation in depth” (31).  McLuhan later devotes a single chapter specifically to comics.  Comparing twentieth-century comics to the rudimentary woodcut of the prior century, McLuhan argues that comics “offer very little visual information or connected detail… [providing] a participational and do-it-yourself character” (165).  In addition, because of their “participational” quality, they “belong to the world of games, to the world of models and extensions of situations elsewhere” (169).  Due to this characteristic nature of the comics medium, comics can act as a subversive reaction to more dominant, “hot” media.  Therefore, McLuhan proclaims that “the iconic age is upon us,” and calls for a better understanding not of comics’ content, but of its form, for a clarification of the medium itself (167-9).  “Our need now is to understand the formal character of print, comic and cartoon, both as challenging and changing the consumer-culture of film, photo, and press” (169).  • See http://english236-w2008.pbwiki.com/Annotated+Bibliography+Template

16. Exercise • Compare the following • Original from UMUC website

17. Breeding Evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376, 9. Retrieved January 5, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The author points out that skepticism of new media have gone back to the time of the ancient Greeks, so this controversy surrounding video games is nothing new. The article also points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of generations not understanding one another, rather than of the games themselves. As the youth of today grow older, the controversy will die out, according to the author. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is distinctive in exploring the controversy surrounding video games from a generational standpoint and is written for a general audience.

18. Breeding evil. (2005, August 6). Economist, 376, 9. Retrieved January 5, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. This editorial from the Economist describes the controversy surrounding video games and the effect they have on people who use them. The article points out that most critics of gaming are people over 40 and it is an issue of age not of the games themselves. While the author briefly mentions studies done around the issue of violence and gaming, he does not go into enough depth for the reader to truly know the range of studies that have actually been done in this area, other than to take his word that the research is unsatisfactory. The author of this article stresses the age factor over violence as the real reason for opposition to video games and stresses the good gaming has done in most areas of human life. This article is a good resource for those wanting to begin to explore the controversy surrounding video games, however for anyone doing serious research, one should actually examine some of the research studies that have been done in this area rather than simply take the author's word that opposition to video games is simply due to an issue of generational divide.