330media1123

TO: Students in CJ 141
FROM: R. B. Taylor
DATE: 11/23/99
RE: Media Projects

This memo details progress check points for your different media projects, and requirements you will need to fulfill. There are also some comments about what you will want to have in your poster session, and how you should conduct yourself during a poster session.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
12/6/99 - You will meet with me so that I can review the plans you have for your poster session
12/8/99 STUDY DAY - no class
12/10/99 1:30 - 2:40 POSTER SESSION, 5TH FLOOR LOBBY, GLADFELTER HALL. Plan on arriving at 1:15 if at all possible. Your team will prepare a two-poster summary of your project to date.
12/13/99 11:00 - 1 We will do two things during this period. We will have our second in-class writing exercise. The purpose is to encourage you to pull together some threads in the course. This will be graded, but counts only for 10% of the course. In addition, I will ask you to turn in some written answers to a couple of questions about the course. This is the final course assessment. Everyone gets an A on this second part.
12/15/99 You will turn in the final version of your paper, along with:

all data tapes (I will reimburse you: let me know by 12/6 how many tapes you need)
all coding sheets

PROGRESS POINTS FOR GETTING TO THESE DEADLINES
11/24/99 In-class, I will review the makings of a poster session.
11/29/99 I will turn back to you your paper 3 with comments on it
11/29/99 All your data should be in ONE spreadsheet. You need to make sure that your spreadsheet, when you combine the information, has all the columns in the correct place. I WILL NEED A COPY OF THIS FILE so bring your spd to class. I will then upload it to the courseinfo.temple.edu portion of the class website so everyone on your team can access it.
BETTER YET: your data will already be in an spss file, and we upload that
12/1/99 You have an spss file and all the variables have been checked and cleaned. We will have a LAB this day, in AL 22 (different room than last 2 times). I will show you guys how to make clustered bar charts and histograms
12/6/99 You have all your poster stuff ready for review

POINTS ABOUT THE POSTER SESSION
I will be inviting all faculty, all students in my other class (Victims), and members of the CJ Society. I will invite graduate students. I will be bringing soda, tea, and munchies. I will prepare invitations you can give out to your pals. I will be in charge of getting the easels for the posterboards. I will be preparing an introductory poster, describing these projects and how they fit into the course. Definitely invite your pals. This is a public event, a chance for you to showcase your work. Think of it as a professional presentation. Dress appropriately. You will want to talk with your team mates to see how things should be presented - who will have expertise on what? You want to be around your posters so that you can describe what you did to the people who want to learn more.

YOUR POSTER SESSION SHOULD HAVE THE FOLLOWING POINTS COVERED.

Introductory page with title project, names of team members
Purpose page: what information did you see to gather and why? Be sure to link through to SOME main material in BOK or in other sources that you have researched. Hypothese anyone?
Description of the METHOD: what data did you gather? How did you do your sampling? You might want to have a nice chart showing people (e.g.,) your population list (e.g., list of radio stations in, radio stations excluded), your sampling plan (e.g., what news shows, what days?); descriptions of a FEW of the variables you used in coding
A couple of RESULTS: e.g., what is your score on the "mayhem index"; who was doing the violence to whom?; what types of violence were more predominant? Again, you will want to have at least one nice graphic, maybe two, and some numeric results. BUT SEE BELOW on group size.
What are the LIMITATIONS of the study
What are the IMPLICATIONS of the results for theory and policy?

You can probably fit 8 pages on two posterboards. A graphic or two would be nice. Be sure to print the stuff out in LARGE READABLE TYPE, at least 24 pitch or so. Be sure to NOT PUT TOO MUCH on the page.

Your group will be GRADED on the poster session. I will come around to each team and ask for an explanation of what you have up. I will ask you to walk me step by step through the material you have presented, and to amplify on certain points. I will want to hear from more than one team member.

A NOTE ON GROUP SIZE AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS
I will expect that in each group there will be at least a couple of "results" pages, whether those are in terms of means, or histograms, or bar charts, or clustered bar charts. You will learn more about those in our next lab session on 12/1.
BUT IN THE LARGER GROUPS - prime time drama, and film - I expect AT LEAST ONE RESULT PAGE PER PERSON. I will want to speak to each individual member of the group, during the poster session, about their page of results specifically. Of course, each person on the team should be able to explain all features of the overall project.