An Analysis of Non-digital Texts
This third report is essentially a continuation of your first two reports. This time you will locate and analyze at least 5 sources (and perhaps more) that provide a variety of treatments of the subject you explored in your first two reports. These sources may be in print form such as books, articles, brochures, newspapers, cereal boxes, etc. They may also be in non-script form such as paintings, radio broadcasts, music lyrics, dance, weaving, photographs, and so forth. You will draw on your analyses of these sources, readings from the text book, class lecture notes, and your first and second reports, to explore a range of perspectives, interpretations, and stories about the organization, institution, or general subject you explored for your first two reports. For example, if your first two reports were on Starbuck’s, you could look at histories of Starbuck’s or of coffee. If your first two reports were on the Cold Stone Creamery, you could look at songs about ice cream, cookbooks about desserts, photos of confections. If your first two reports were on a local newspaper, you could look at histories of the newspaper industry, catalogue descriptions about journalism programs at the university, or even plays, TV shows, documentaries, and films about news reporting. The key point here is that you locate a variety of specific sources related to your research subject that will allow you to explore and analyse the texts that write and are written by culture and that will allow you to broaden your perspective on your subject within an extended social context.
In order to locate and gather the data you will need for this project, to will need to develop a strategic plan. The following suggestions will help you get started on setting up a research plan.
First, take reflective notes on everything you know, think you know, don't know, and expect to find out about your subject. Also note where your knowledge of all these things comes from and why you know them.
Next, set up a grid that will allow you to identify and list potential sources and help you to strategise your data gathering. For example:
articles | books | brochures | other print | non-print | |
| history | |||||
| promotion | |||||
| critique | |||||
| news | |||||
| entertainment |
The research you will need to do for this assignment will require the use of online library databases and visits to the ASU libraries to get access to the articles. For this assignment, you should analyse print sources from academic books and research journals as well as non-academic sources. You are required to submit copies of these sources with your final draft to receive a passing grade on your report, so remember to keep good records.
Your assignment is to explore the underlying cultural, social, economic, and political values you find in the texts you analyse, and to compare, contrast, complicate, and build on the observations you made in your first and second reports. You will also need to take note of your own experiences in reading and analyzing these texts, as a researcher being consciously aware of your own purposes for identifying, locating, and studying them. Ultimately, you will write a 3-5 page (at least) analytical report on your findings, coming to conclusions about the nature of these texts in relation to the subject and your own interpretations of the subject. Use the readings and suggestions for looking at histories in Chapter 9, story telling in Chapter 7, and images in Chapter 4 of the textbook for ideas and insights for how to approach this assignment. The sections at the beginning of the text book on "visual resources" and "alternate contents" (pages xviii-xxi) will also point you to examples of a variety of sources and ways to look at them.
Note: The purpose of this assignment is not for you to write a historical analysis, a literary critique, or an editorial. The purpose is for you to study various ways your subject has been written and to analyze these sources in the context of this course in terms of how culture writes/constructs knowledge and texts, and vice versa. The main question underlying this course, "What is Writing?" should continue to guide you in your research, analysis, and your own writing in this report assignment.
Hint: Don't wait until the last minute to do you research for this one. Find the articles early in the process so that you have time to read, reread, and revise your report. Don't discount anything as being irrelevant or unimportant. Details will be crucial.