Course Syllabus
instructor information
Professor: Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Office: Crookshank 203
Phone: 71496
Email: kfitzpatrick at pomona dot edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 1.15-4pm
course description
This class will serve as an introduction to the critical cultural study of the media, focusing on the relationships between media representations and society. Our common goal this semester is to develop a sophisticated, nuanced engagement with the media texts by which we're perpetually surrounded, an engagement that is neither paranoidly dismissive nor passively accepting. Throughout, we'll examine the ways that the media function as the lenses through which we perceive and understand the world, exploring how representations construct and naturalize social relationships, while also considering ways that readers of the media's representations disrupt those representations' dominant meanings.texts
The following required book is available at Huntley:
Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Douglas M. Kellner, eds., Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks
Other required readings are contained in our course reader, available in the English department.
course requirements and grading
Requirements:
Reading responses: 20% total
Midterm 1: 15%
Midterm 2: 15%
Term paper: 20%
Class facilitation: 10%
Final presentation: 10%
Participation: 10%
Please note that ALL assignments must be completed in order to pass the class.
Grading scale:
94-100 A
90-93.99 A-
87-89.99 B+
84-86.99 B
80-83.99 B-
77-79.99 C+
74-76.99 C
70-73.99 C-
67-69.99 D+
64-66.99 D
60-63.99 D-
0-59.99 F
Assignment Particulars:
Reading responses: On the dates listed in the schedule, you will turn in a one-page, single-spaced (and please note: I'm serious about both of those conditions; one and only one sheet of paper, printed single-spaced) paper exploring one of the texts we have read in the preceding two weeks. These papers should focus on some critical question affecting the text's meaning, and should use a close reading -- with appropriate quotation, citation, and explication -- of the text to support its points.
Term paper: Your final term paper will be 8 to 10 pages long, will involve substantial independent research, and will make a complex, well-defined argument about the meaning, significance, or function of a specific media text. You will submit a proposal for this paper before midterm, and an annotated bibliography shortly after. You will also submit a draft of your paper, both to me and to a peer reviewer, two weeks before the final due date. More details to follow.
Class facilitation: You will be divided, early this semester, into discussion groups, which we'll use frequently for small group work during class. Each small group will facilitate our discussion of one day's reading during the semester; more information about this assignment will follow.
Final presentation: During the last days of class, each of you will deliver a 5-minute polished presentation about your term paper, introducing your argument to the class and suggesting the importance of your analysis.
course policies
Attendance: Regular attendance is required. You are permitted three absences that should be designated for days that you are ill or for an emergency. If you miss any further classes, you must present me with documentation of illness or emergency. Your final grade will drop two points for each additional undocumented absence. Moreover, chronic late arrivals will not be tolerated; for every three late arrivals, one absence will accrue. Attendance at screenings is also required; if you must miss a screening, it is your responsibility to see the film prior to our next class meeting.
Academic honesty: The Pomona College policy on academic honesty reads, in part:
The College expects students to understand and adhere to basic standards of honesty and academic integrity. These standards include, but are not limited to, the following:
- In projects and assignments prepared independently, students never represent the ideas or the language of others as their own.
- Students do not destroy or alter either the work of other students or the educational resources and materials of the College.
- Students neither give nor receive assistance in examinations.
- Students do not take unfair advantage of their fellow students by representing work completed for one course as original work for another or by deliberately disregarding course rules and regulations.
- In laboratory or research projects involving the collection of data, students accurately report data observed and do not alter these data for any reason.
Any violation of these standards will be punished to the full extent allowed by the College. To avoid plagiarism, be scrupulous about properly crediting authors' ideas and language with appropriate citations. Please see me if you have any questions regarding citation procedures.
Anti-discrimination: The classroom should be an atmosphere of mutual respect in which you will be intellectually stimulated and challenged to grow as a scholar. As such, I expect everyone who participates in the course to abide by the Pomona College anti-discrimination policy.
Late assignments: Work must be turned in on time. Period. Your grade on any late assignment will drop two points for each calendar day your work is late, except in dire, documented circumstances. No extensions will be given, except in the case of such serious, verifiable circumstances. Plan ahead, and get your work in on time. E-mailed assignments will not be accepted, except in special circumstances and by prior arrangement.