MECO 3672 Internship Project

The INTERNSHIP PROJECT consists of your attendance at a series of seminars throughout a 4-week cycle and the submission of your Research Essay at the end of this period. The essay will be marked and graded and comprise 100% of the mark for MECO3672.

THE 4-WEEK 'CYCLE'

There are three 4-week Cycles available in the semester in order for you to complete the Project. You should aim to take part in the cycle which starts as close as possible to the end of your Internship, just after you have submitted your Reflective Journal.

You are reminded that you must submit your Journal 2 weeks after your internship ends, then you should attend seminars for 4 weeks and submit your Research essay after you have attended that cycle of 4 seminars.

There will be an Information Session in week 1 of each semester, when you can sign up for one of the three cycles. Contact the Internship Coordinator for details of this Info Session.

ESSAY GUIDELINES

It is a long essay at 4000 words and is explicitly described as a 'research' essay. This means you are expected to do some original research on a topic of your own choosing that most likely will have a connection with your internship experience. The purpose is to apply your academic learning so far, now in the final year of your degree, so therefore at a fairly advanced level, to your practicum, ie. internship. This means deciding a few things at the start.

1. What is the research problem?
This means, what questions or ideas arose from your experience that you feel drawn to investigate? This is a very broad, very open consideration. Some areas of previous research by students have been in media ethics, in feminism, about the effect of the specific medium on the form, content and stylistic considerations of a media product, about production processes, about work hierarchies and the socialisation of young media workers, about the effectiveness of a media campaign, about online journalism and the relationship between journalist and reader, about local versus national newspapers, about the role of photographs in local newspapers, about advertorials .... etc etc!
Try to phrase the problem in two ways: first in a way that suggests a possible solution or line of research. For example, it might be 'Financial journalism and conflicts of interest: how financial journalists deal with them'. The second way is as a question or set of research questions. In the example it might be: 'Do journalists working in finance journalism experience conflict of interest? Is it perceived as an ethical question? How do they deal with it? What happens to journalists who behave unethically (eg insider trading)?' This will give you a feel straight away for whether there's enough (or too much) in the problem for a 4000 word essay. So toss a few ideas around in your own mind and pick one or two that you think might interest you. Then the next step is...

2. What is at stake in this research problem?
This is sometimes also called the 'so what?' factor.... that is, does it matter what the answers to your research question(s) are, does it make any difference to the media or area of media studies you're considering. The answer may seem obvious, but isn't always; don't put aside the apparently trivial (eg How often is make-up mentioned in magazines for 7-12 year old girls?), necessarily. The answer depends not only on the importance of the questions being asked but also on the way you plan to answer them; that is, on the methodology (theory + methods) you can bring to bear on the questions. So the make-up question is not trivial if it is explored in the context of theoretical knowledge. In this case, this knowledge includes not only the insights feminism has given us into the relationship between mass media and gender roles, but also our understanding of the ways the media work as businesses, including issues of competition, regulation and ownership. Once you've considered the 'so what?' factor, the next step is:

3. How will I research this problem and seek answers to my research questions?
This is the nitty-gritty of methodology. You may be examining and analysing media texts and/or talking to media practitioners. You may make use of your journal as a kind of field diary and bring the insights of a participant-observer to bear on your analysis. These are the most likely methods you'll use, along with library research (a literature review), of course. In thinking about these methods, think about what theoretical positions they are likely to imply. 'Media studies' - the area of your degree - encompasses quite a lot of theoretical frameworks, including cultural studies, feminism, some political economy and sociology. So you should stick to the theoretical frameworks of your degree, not try to encompass a theoretical approach you have to research from scratch. There may be broad links with Media Studies in your other (Arts or Economics) major, so you may well be able to make use of knowledge gained in this field as well, if you wish. Interdisciplinarity is a feature of most contemporary scholarship, so don't worry too much about which exact discipline your theoretical framework comes from. Just remember, that whenever you say/write something about a socio-cultural phenomenon, a theory is implicit ... as much by what is NOT said/written about, as by what is said/written about.
So by the end of this step you should be clear in your own mind:

• What is the problem? What are the research questions?
• How am I going to try and reach a solution, answer the questions?
• What theoretical framework(s) will guide my description and analysis?

NOTE: Spend enough time on these steps. It is tempting to think you have done the work once you've had what sounds like a great idea for the essay topic; but it is not until you have explored each step that you'll know if this project is do-able.

4. Draw the boundaries:
what will you read/analyse (what, how many, over what period of time, etc.). How many people and whom exactly will you talk to, when (at what stage in the research), for how long, where, and how will you record their answers? Look at your timeline. How much can you do in the time? Check against your research questions: maybe you can't really answer those in the time available but will have to settle for exploratory research that will provide information that is a starting point for further research - this is very likely, and perfectly acceptable.

Now go to it and good luck!
See examples of some of the previous PROJECT research essays.

Note on the suggested textbook:
Jane Stokes: 'How to do Media & Cultural Studies' (London: Sage 2002).
This textbook is strongly recommended, as students will benefit from structured information on research methods, theoretical frameworks and appropriate topics.