Project 1 Prompt: Research Paper

For this project, you will conduct deeper research into a social media or tech topic related to the themes of this class. The purpose of this project is for you to gain more in-depth understanding of the relationship between social media and society through a focused investigation of a specific topic. You may come up with your own topic, perhaps inspired by one of the assigned readings or a current event report, or you can choose from one of the suggested topics below. 

You can take one of two approaches with this project:

• Approach 1: Provide a brief overview of the topic for a general audience, drawing on information from multiple credible sources. This type of paper will answer the question, “What is [topic], how does it relate to social media, and how does it affect society?”

• Approach 2: Investigate a topic by conducting a study of a specific case related to that topic. For example, if the broad topic was “Social Media and conspiracy theories,” your paper might focus on Pizzagate as a specific case. Using this example, the question this type of paper will answer is “What was Pizzagate, what does this case teach us about how conspiracy theories propagate on social media, and what are the implications of this case for society?”

Content and formatting expectations:

• Number of sources: Your paper should consult research from at least six credible, diverse sources. By “diverse” I mean they should not all come from the same publication or be the same type of source, but should represent a range of different approaches to the topic. For instance, your sources could be a mix of news reports, opinion pieces, and academic studies. If you want to write on a topic related to your current event report, you may use your current event article as one of your sources. You may use up to two articles or resources from the list of assigned and supplementary readings as sources. 

• Length: There is no length requirement but suggested length is approximately 1000-1500 words. 

• Citations: You are expected to use proper citations both in text and in a works cited list. By in-text citation, I mean that any time you present a quote or paraphrase of information that comes from one of your sources, you must provide a citation, that looks something like this: (Lyons, 2020). You may use either APA or MLA style for citations; just be consistent. For help with proper citation formatting, I recommend the resourcehttps://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

• Format: You have the option of writing this report as a traditional paper, or you may present it in a more graphical way, by creating a multimedia presentation using a tool like PowerPoint, Prezi, VoiceThread, or similar. Either way, I want to see your content organized in a way that is clear, logical, and well-edited.

Due date and submission instructions:

I strongly encourage you to submit this assignment by the end of Sunday, September 20th (the end of Week 4). However, I will accept assignments up until the last day of class, Monday, December 14th. Upload your assignment to the “Project 1” assignment folder. If submitting a text document, make sure to save it as a .docx or .pdf file before submitting. 

A non-exhaustive list of suggested topic areas:

Predictive Policing and social media

Contact Tracing and social media

De-platforming

Cancel Culture

Amazon Web Services and law enforcement

Proposed TikTok ban

“Social credit” systems

SESTA/FOSTA