A2 MEDIA

STUDIES

Essay Planning

For section 1b

Choosing the right question

Section B Critical Perspectives in Media

Answer from the section entitled ‘We Media’

You will then have a choice of two questions from this section.

Choose the question which you may better understand, for which you can make the more convincing arguments and which in turn you can support by good and wide ranging evidence.

Do not end up with a short response or you may end up just repeating earlier points as ‘filler’.

Essay Planning Having enough to say!

So how do you know you have enough to say?

The answer is planning.

Allow up to 10 minutes of your hour for this.

Planning will help you to check out what you know and help you structure it into some sort of clear and logical order.

With this thinking and shaping time, writing should become quicker and more fluent... And even if you never look at your plan again as you write, the process itself will set you in good stead for writing since your brain will have already done much of the generating and organizing of ideas and can then concentrate much more on the ‘secretarial’ side of writing e.g. managing grammar, accuracy and handwriting.

How Do I Plan?

Planning will be different for all of you

You might use techniques like brainstorming, spider charts, highlighting points, bullet points, linking with arrows, ordering with numbers, colours or symbols and shapes.

Think about your original planning sheets for your Music Video.

What is ‘right’ is what is best for you which is why planning practice is valuable because it helps you to decide way ahead of the exams what works best for you.

So all home essays must now have planning please.

The CheckListYour plan should take account of what the examiners

will be looking for in the answer.

1. Personal opinions and response

2. Relevant observations which are well constructed and connected.

3. Use of media ideas and theories which help to inform the answer.

4. Use of appropriate media terminology.

5. A context set for the points made (social historical economic political).

6. A range of contemporary examples (last five years) drawn from at least two areas of the media

7. ‘Light touch’ reference to earlier texts to inform context and for the purposes of comparison.

8. Reference to the future/future developments.

The Process Your process might be like this:

What is the question asking?

What do I know?

What are the big points I want to make?

Is there a context to support these points?

Where is the contemporary evidence to support what I want to say?

Are there links that can be made with earlier times and texts?

What theory do I know that I can use to support or explain what I am saying?

The Process (continued)

In what order do I want to make my points?

How will I link sections?

How do I want to start my essay?

How do I want to conclude my essay?

Is everything relevant to the question?

Has every section made a fresh point that will score me marks? Level 3 or 4 (see mark scheme)

Have I included irrelevancies or repetitions? Double check

Now I am ready to write!

Your Plan/ Diagram

Try Planning This Question.

You have twenty minutes only. Work alone.

At the end of the time be prepared to share your plan with a partner.

Let them make suggestions and additions to what you have planned.

Question: “The media have become more democratic in recent years.” Using specific examples of media activity from two media to support your answer, evaluate the accuracy of this statement.

For – blogging, user generated content and the uploading of content have empowered the audience.

Against – the major media institutions are still the owners and gatekeepers of the media platforms that distribute user generated content i.e. Google own YouTube, Rupert Murdoch owns My Space

Against – how able is solitary weblog to match the global reach of a media conglomerate

Now Try Planning This Question

You have fifteen minutes only.Work alone.

Question:

How Far Can the media in 2015 be considered to be democratic?

At the end of the time be prepared to share your plan with a partner.

Let them make suggestions and additions to what you have planned.

We will discuss and evaluate your findings.