How can individuals and society counteract the influence of media violence? To answer this question, you will find sources, write summaries, describe how you evaluated these sources, write internal citations and a works cited list in MLA style, etc.

The question is: How can individuals and society counteract the influence of media violence?

This assignment is a preparatory assignment leading to writing the full paper for next week’s Academic Research paper. The objectives of this assignment are:

• To practice writing clear, strong thesis statements
• To learn to research through the academic databases
• To research credible sources, both academic and non academic, and to determine the credibility of each source and the relevance of that source to proving your thesis statement
• To begin the process of applying a theoretical foundation to building and developing a thesis argument

The assignment is: (and for this assignment ONLY, you may label each section to assure yourself and me that you have adequately addressed each section.)

1. Using some of the research and writing resources provided in this weeks readings, develop a clear thesis statement regarding your opinion in response to this question. DO NOT USE FIRST PERSON – USE THIRD PERSON, Put the thesis statement in bold.
2. Find 2 credible academic sources and 1 credible non-academic source that you could use for research for a paper such as this. Describe how you found these sources and how you evaluated their credibility. YOU MUST USE the Webster library database in order to find 2 credible academic sources. Please note:::::: the credible non academic source is a credible non academic source. It is NOT a source which lacks credibility: – professional organizations and government organizations are good sources of non academic credible content. For the quotes section of this assignment (see below): YOU ARE NOT TO USE THE TEXT FOR THESE QUOTES, YOU ARE TO USE QUOTES FROM THE RESEARCH SOURCES YOU FOUND ABOVE. To save yourself time and effort, you really should use quotes in this exercise that you might use in the paper itself next week.
3. Write a brief summary of each source and describe its relevance to your thesis statement and topic.
4. Write a direct, verbatim quote from each of your 3 sources with an correctly formatted MLA style parenthetical citation after each quote. Write an indirect or paraphrased quote from each of your 3 sources with a correctly formatted MLA style parenthetical citation after each indirect quote.
5. Each quote, direct or indirect, MUST be attributed correctly in MLA style before or after the quoted or paraphrased content. See sections in the MLA rules on signal phrases. PLEASE note that an indirect quote is a paraphrased quote. Paraphrased content should be attributed also. (An indirect quote is not someone quoted in another’s work, by the way. That is labelled as a source quoted in another’s work and has a particular citation. See the OWL at Purdue or Diana Hacker’s MLA website or the MLA handbook for this style formatting). IN ADDITION, you should use signal phrases to indicate the beginning of paraphrase content such as Baran and Davis propose….or According to Baran and Davis…
6. Describe one theory from the Baran and Davis Mass Communication Theory textbook that can provide a theoretical context for the development of your paper. Be sure to use a theory that is still acceptable today rather than one that is historical and is no longer considered valid.
7. Develop a Works Cited page using the MLA stylebook. This should include each of the sources you’ve identified and summarized.
8. Is something missing from this assignment? No, you really don’t have to actually write this paper UNTIL NEXT WEEK. The above portions of the assignment ( 1-7) are due on the date on the calendar.

Type and double-space (except as otherwise specified by the MLA Stylebook).successful completion of this assignment will use research and writing resources from Week 5 readings.