The Research Log Book is designed to get you to reflect on aspects of what you have learned from the course.

Pick four of the topics from any of the twelve weeks of lectures and analyse them, with reference to your own experience with communication technologies.

Each entry needs to refer directly to the set reading in order to define some of the key concepts covered in that week of the course. If you wish you can critique the argument of the set reading or contest the definitions that it offers. You can also refer to other texts that you think are relevant; i.e. the lectures, tutorial discussions or any academic text that you find useful

Include examples in each logbook entry. You might use a magazine advertisement, a clip from TV or youtube, a screenshot from an online game, a newspaper story or front page, a clip from a film, a song or a cartoon to explain or to problematize the concepts under consideration in the topic.

Entries should be no longer than 400 words.

Research:

Independent research on the set topics is expected. Here, ‘research’ is understood broadly. It includes traditional research (reading academic texts) and using networked media, watching television or films, and reading magazines. In short, any kind of text that you can relate directly to the course content of Histories and Technologies is a ‘research’ text.

Organization:

You will need to purchase a bound book to write/draw/paste clippings into.

Please keep a copy of your completed logbook after submitting it, as assignments are sometimes lost.

Please double space your work.

Use page numbers to organize your logbook. This enables you (and your marker) to refer quickly each topic if you want to draw on an earlier entry a few weeks down the track. For instance, in week 5 (Techno Determinism) you may wish to refer to an example you discussed in week 3 (History).

Citation and Bibliography:

You must acknowledge your sources at the end of each entry. This is necessary even if you do not quote the text ‘word for word’. Sources include newspaper articles, books, web sites, movies, TV shows, advertisements, games. Please use the Harvard Author-Date system. See the Harvard quick guide available on the course Blackboard under “Assessment Tasks.”

Suggestions on the use of Examples:

Try to use original examples. They are a terrific way to demonstrate that you have understood a concept or debate in your own terms rather than just regurgitating the ideas from the set readings or the lectures/tutorials.

Try to build your claims around examples. You might want to use lots of short examples. Alternately you can do an in-depth analysis of a particular text. A close reading can be a very effective means of constructing an original argument.

Don’t assume that the meaning of your example is self-evident to your marker. Spell out exactly what you think is going on in the text that is relevant to your argument even if you think it is blatantly obvious.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC 
CLICK HERE…….