Explain and examine some aspect of contemporary popular culture. You should use theoretical readings and historical readings to inform your analysis, but this paper emphasizes close “reading” or interpretation of one or more primary sources in contemporary culture. So, for just one example, you might write about reality television using some of the theoretical insights of postmodernism. You would then select an episode or two (or more) for close analysis.
Keep the themes and the readings of the class in mind as you develop your paper. You will probably wish to make direct reference to course readings in your paper. If you do, you can simply cite author or editor and page number (e.g. Ashby, 15). All outside sources, however, must be cited in proper footnote, endnote, or parenthetical form. Consult the American Studies Department’s guidelines for acknowledging sources. You need not do extensive outside reading. You may need to fill out your contextual knowledge of a topic by reading two or three articles, or perhaps a chapter of a book. But you will mostly need to select good primary source material for analysis and make good use of the course readings.
Papers should be five to seven pages long, in 12-point type, double-spaced, with margins around an inch. Please number your pages and be sure to include your name on the paper and in the title of the file.
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