Explain how the piece relates to and/or reflects the cultural and philosophical issues studied throughout the semester and address how the piece contributes to the field of mass communication.

Critical Analysis Essay

For this assignment, you will write a two-page critical analysis of a piece of media, such as a book, television show or series, movie or record album. Pick a piece of media that provides sufficient material to write about and analyze. Be sure to write about a specific piece a media (a TV series, an album, a video game) and not the genre.

In the paper, you should discuss whether the piece of media achieves its purposes and what qualities or characteristics of the piece help the piece achieve its goals. Explain how the piece relates to and/or reflects the cultural and philosophical issues studied throughout the semester and address how the piece contributes to the field of mass communication.

Finally, you should describe your personal responses to the chosen piece of media, its strengths and weaknesses and its overall impact. You may use quotes or paraphrases from outside sources (critics, reviewers, etc.) as well as the text or lecture notes, but you must cite your sources within the body of your essay and include a bibliography in either MLA or APA style. You are not required to cite outside sources but if you refer to ideas or comments that are not your original thoughts, be sure to cite sources in order to avoid plagiarizing.

Your paper should be double-spaced and prepared using 12-point-font and one-inch margins. Longer papers are permissible but shorter papers may be unable to successfully achieve all the goals of this assignment. Be sure to write clearly, proofread and use spellcheck before submitting your paper. Save your paper as a Word document or .rtf or .txt. Consider seeking assistance from The Writer’s Corner if you need help with your writing.

The following criteria will be used to assess your paper:

Essay is well written and clear.
Essay is a minimum of two pages.
Essay is properly formatted and contains few if any technical errors (grammar, spelling, etc.)
Essay focuses on an appropriate piece of media (book, movie, TV series, album, video game, advertising campaign, photography exhibit, etc.)
Essay evaluates whether the piece achieves its goals.
Essay explains what qualities or characteristics of the piece help it achieve its goals.
Essay addresses how the piece relates to and/or reflects the cultural and philosophical issues studied throughout the semester.
Essay describes how the piece contributes to the field of mass communication.
Essay shares student’s personal response to the piece, including its strengths and weaknesses and overall impact.
If sources are cited, citations are properly formatted and a bibliography is included.
Essay is submitted online on time.