Monday 26 September 2011
How to Watch TV Essay
Topic In Chapter 3 of How to Watch TV News, Neil Postman and Steve Powers address how TV news shows use teases, attractive news anchors, captivating music, and other techniques to get viewers to watch their show. Watch at least one local news show such as ABC 7 or CBS 2 in order to determine if the show proves or disproves Postman and Powers’ claim that the main focus on TV news is “getting you into the electronic tent” (28). (If you live outside of Los Angeles, please watch your local news show.) Sample Thesis Statements: By using intriguing teases and musical themes, CBS 2 news supports Postman and Powers’ claim that the main focus on TV news is “getting you into the electronic tent” (28). CBS 2 counters Postman and Powers’ arguments about the news, showing that although news shows use techniques to attract viewers, the main goal of the show is to present information in a timely manner. Points: Worth 200 points Length: 1000 - 1200 words, including the Works Cited page Sources: At least one local TV news show such as ABC 7 or CBS 2 and How to Watch TV News by Neil Postman and Steve Powers (Do NOT use any other sources without permission from the instructor.) Important Note: While writing this essay, continuously save your work. I suggest that you save your work on a disk or flash drive and send a copy of it to your email address. Do not rely on an outside computer to properly save your work. Many outside computers erase all saved work at the end of the day. Send the essay as an attachment after saving it in rich text format (RTF) rather than as a word document. That way it will definitely get to me. Do NOT send your essay to my email or personal messages. If you have problems with sending the essay, let me know before the due date. Post any questions that you have regarding this assignment on the forum so that all of the class can see the question and the answer. Errors to Avoid When Writing This Essay •Not reading the Essay Guide Module. Before submitting any essay for this course, you should visit Module 9 to see the rubric, sample essays, and other important information. •Not writing a clear thesis statement. Here’s an example of an inadequate thesis statement for this essay: Local news shows try to get viewers to watch their show. This thesis statement is not accurate because the writer hasn’t stated his position on the subject, he hasn’t mentioned the name of the show that he watched, and he also failed to include reasons or prompts to support his claim. Try to follow the format of the sample thesis statement. Also, see Module 2 for more information on writing a thesis statement. •Not supporting your statements with outside evidence. If you were to make a statement such as The news anchors on CBS 2 use teases in order to get viewers to keep watching the show, you need to make sure that you support this statement with outside evidence (i.e., evidence from the television news show that you watched). In other words, you need to use the sources that you have in order to prove that this statement is true. Make sure that every body paragraph contains evidence. •Not using Postman and Powers’ essay as a source. For this essay, make sure that you mention not only the news show that you watch but also Postman and Power’s book. You may paraphrase, summarize, or quote information from the book in order to prove your point. Make sure that you properly cite the information using the guidelines in the MLA section of A Writer’s Reference. •Not prewriting. It is very important that you plan the organization of your essay before writing it. References should be the how to watch tv book and news channel, thank you.
