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What is a report? - A report is a style of writing that aims to concisely address a specific issue providing information and analysis about the issue. A report aims to persuade readers to accept its summary of the issues and to introduce the recommendations for improvement that it makes. Unlike analytical essays, a report is characterised by a title page, table of contents, numbered subheadings, bullet points, recommendations, appendices, referencing, a bibliography and shorter sentences.
ORIENTATION TO ASSESSMENT TASK
STEP ONE - You must select a particular issue that the media has used in its construction of the discourse of youth. Suggestions are listed below:
· Youth and the issue of drugs - including abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol
· Youth and the issue of gangs / violence / bullying
· Youth and rebellion
· Youth and sexual promiscuity / sexuality
· Youth and Schoolies
· Youth and suicide
· Youth and the issue of vulnerability (as a result of social ills - e.g. family breakups, child physical and sexual abuse etc)
· Youth and response to authority
· Youth and otherness
STEP TWO - You must search for newspaper, internet, radio or television news sources that deal with one of these issues. Begin by collecting anything that you think deals with the discourse of youth, so that it is easy for you to make your choice on the basis of the number of resources that you have at your disposal. Pay particular attention to the library lesson in which you will be given researching tips. Note, that where possible, you should try to collect information from a range of sources. This will mean that your conclusions are more valid. Make sure you use examples from a variety of sources in order to establish the credibility of your conclusions. Failure to do this will indicate a lack of understanding of aspects of the genre.
STEP THREE - Analyse the dominant position of each of your sources and how that position has been constructed. Is the position a negative or a positive one? How has the author used privileging and silencing, binary oppositions, technical and symbolic codes, to assist in the communication of the message? How has the author used evocative language to assist in the communication of the message? Does the headline automatically predispose the reader to think in a particular way about youth? What photographs and statistics have been used to position the reader to accept the dominant position?
STEP FOUR - Do some extra research from secondary sources on the extent to which the media constructs a narrow version of reality and its motivations for doing so. Consider the extent to which news stories tend to have a negative position in order to arouse the reader's sense of controversy. Consider the extent to which the media has historically portrayed youth in similar ways, and the reasons this might be so? Make sure you record referencing details correctly so that you can use them as authoritative appeal in your report.
STEP FIVE - Draw some overall conclusions based upon your analysis. For instance, is the general tone of the articles partial or critical? If it is partial, what attributes have been highlighted and praised? If it is critical, what flaws have been highlighted and criticized? Is the portrayal of youth in relation to the issue justified, or is it motivated by other factors?
STEP SIX - Consider the recommendations that you will make in order to correct the problems that you have identified. For instance, if you have concluded that your sources on the issue of your choosing are particularly negative, you need to consider ways to combat this negativity. Make sure your recommendations are concrete and practical. Don't just say things like, 'the newspapers should change' or 'the government should introduce legislation to stop the negative portrayals'. These proposals are overly simplistic. You need to think about establishing incentives for newspapers to change. Similarly, the government can't just wave a magic wand and fix the problem, even if it wanted to. You must be specific and demonstrate how your recommendations will remedy the identified problem. Consider the question, six months after your recommendations have been introduced, what changes would be noticed?
STEP SEVEN - Collate the articles or transcripts that you have referred to, making sure you have included their bibliographic details. Keep these together so that you can easily place them in an appendix, when it comes time to write your report.
PROPOSED STRUCTURE FOR YOUR REPORT
1.0 Introduction
In the introduction you will orientate the readers to the focus of the task and outline the intended area of inquiry for the report.
2.0 The role of the media as a definer of versions of reality
You will need to consider theory that you have been taught in class and information you have uncovered in your research. You should aim to look at the role of the media in general, and the techniques the media has at its disposal to position the reader / audience to accept its dominant ideology about a particular discourse or discourses.
3.0 The media's association of the discourses of youth and drugs (or whichever topic you select)
This section will form the bulk of your report. You must draw conclusions:
3.1 The nature of the media's coverage of the discourses of youth and drugs and the effect on the reader, of associating the two discourses with each other.
3.2 The frequency with which the discourses of youth and drugs are aligned by the media and the impact of this on reader positioning
3.3 The techniques employed by the media in their exploration of the discourses of youth and drugs. Consider the language used to describe them, the information that is privileged and silenced, the use of binary oppositions, technical and symbolic codes. You must analyse the impact of this on the reader in order to do well in the third criterion.
4.0 Conclusions
In this section you will draw general conclusions about the media's coverage, for instance, is it generally positive or negative? Comment on the type of characteristics the media assigns youth and the legitimacy of these conclusions.
5.0 Recommendations
If you conclude that there are flaws in the media's coverage of youth and youth issues, you need to think about practical and concrete strategies that could be implemented to improve the coverage. Do not make vague suggestions, as you will lose marks in criterion one and criterion three. This is because you will have not adequately demonstrated an understanding of the genre (criterion one), and you will have lost an opportunity to position readers to accept your recommendations (criterion three).
6.0 Appendix
Include the articles that you have collected and referred to in your analysis. Number and title each article separately, making sure that you include the source details. For instance - 6.1 " Youths and Drugs", in The Courier Mail, Monday, May 6, 2002.
7.0 Bibliography or Reference List
Include a list of all sources that you have used to compile your report, according to the standardized format outlined in the Terrace Writing Guide. |