ADVERTISING AS COMMUNICATION

ADVERTISING AS COMMUNICATION Order Description Guidance on writin" rel="nofollow">ing your assignments • Essays should be clearly written in" rel="nofollow">in good English and typed. Where your tutor judges that your writin" rel="nofollow">ing is ungrammatical or in" rel="nofollow">inaccessible to the extent that this significantly impairs the possibility of understandin" rel="nofollow">ing what has been written, marks will be deducted and, in" rel="nofollow">in severe cases, the essay will not be marked. • You must answer one of the questions listed on the followin" rel="nofollow">ing pages for each Option Module you have chosen by the deadlin" rel="nofollow">ine given on your course timetable. Please note, for these Option Module assignments, your essays should be approximately 3000 - 4000 words. You may wish to attach appendices (e.g. supportin" rel="nofollow">ing data) but tutors will not necessarily read appended material in" rel="nofollow">in detail. Please refer to the Course Handbook for general guidance on assignments. • Please remember that this is a course at MA level. In addition to showin" rel="nofollow">ing good understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of the course materials, it is expected that you will also be able to engage critically with the arguments examin" rel="nofollow">ined in" rel="nofollow">in them. It is generally advisable to avoid expressions of personal opin" rel="nofollow">inion or anecdote unsupported by course-related evidence. Arguments should draw substantially on theories and research, themes and issues which are addressed in" rel="nofollow">in the course materials, quotin" rel="nofollow">ing references where appropriate. • The use of citations is common practice in" rel="nofollow">in western scholarship - they protect the author from charges of plagiarism when the author is drawin" rel="nofollow">ing on the research of others in" rel="nofollow">in order to develop an argument, they in" rel="nofollow">indicate sources of further or relevant readin" rel="nofollow">ing for the benefit of readers and they help tutors to judge how skilfully students have used their study materials. Please refer to the Course Handbook for guidance on the method you should use for referencin" rel="nofollow">ing. You should avoid extensive quotations from the course materials or slavish repetition of the structure of evidence and arguments presented in" rel="nofollow">in them. • While it is expected that you will build on the research of sources and authorities drawn from the course materials, the assignments are also an opportunity for you to develop origin" rel="nofollow">inal arguments and in" rel="nofollow">insights. You should show strong sensitivity to the nature and controversies of media research and to issues of theory and methodology in" rel="nofollow">in research. Students who work in" rel="nofollow">in the communications in" rel="nofollow">industries should feel encouraged to reflect on aspects of everyday professional practice from a variety of different theoretical perspectives and, without necessarily criticizin" rel="nofollow">ing their effectiveness within" rel="nofollow">in particular work contexts, look at professional practices as social phenomena or data which can help to illustrate theories about communications, media and society. • You must answer one question relatin" rel="nofollow">ing to each option module you have chosen to study. 1 ?MS7520 – ADVERTISING AS COMMUNICATION Option 01 Critically examin" rel="nofollow">ine the reasonin" rel="nofollow">ing behin" rel="nofollow">ind Raymond Williams’ description of advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing as a ‘Magic System’. Drawin" rel="nofollow">ing on current advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing examples where possible, how far do you agree or disagree with this description, and why? Advice to Students This question is in" rel="nofollow">invitin" rel="nofollow">ing you to outlin" rel="nofollow">ine the essence of Williams’ arguments concernin" rel="nofollow">ing the ‘magic’ nature of advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing and to reflect on how far you accept it. The obvious startin" rel="nofollow">ing poin" rel="nofollow">int for the assignment is the set of readin" rel="nofollow">ings provided in" rel="nofollow">in Unit 103 but in" rel="nofollow">information and in" rel="nofollow">insights from other units in" rel="nofollow">in the Module will also be relevant. What evidence can you poin" rel="nofollow">int to that might support or undermin" rel="nofollow">ine Williams’ arguments about the ‘magic’ of advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing? Is it possible to arrive at a firm and unequivocal conclusion as to the validity of his position? Williams’ arguments were first made in" rel="nofollow">in the 1960s, so is his view out of date now or is it still a relevant and useful way of thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing about advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the early 21st century? How well does his view fit with other perspectives on advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing such as those outlin" rel="nofollow">ined by Hackley in" rel="nofollow">in Unit 104, for in" rel="nofollow">instance? Option 02 With reference to two significant social issues, identify and discuss what you believe to be the key factors shapin" rel="nofollow">ing how these issues are represented in" rel="nofollow">in contemporary advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing texts. Illustrate your answer with discussion of examples from a specific country or society in" rel="nofollow">in each case. Advice to Students In selectin" rel="nofollow">ing issues to examin" rel="nofollow">ine for this question, you should not feel compelled to restrict yourself to topics which have been covered in" rel="nofollow">in the readin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in Unit 105b. You can of course discuss the same topics if you wish to (ideally usin" rel="nofollow">ing different examples, in" rel="nofollow">in different contexts) but you should also consider other topics not discussed in" rel="nofollow">in this unit and reflect on the variety of factors that may be in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in in" rel="nofollow">influencin" rel="nofollow">ing the representation of those issues. What evidence can you provide to suggest that the representations in" rel="nofollow">involved have been shaped by cultural and/or historical factors, or organisational structures, or even by the supposed ‘science’ of advertisin" rel="nofollow">ing? What other factors might be at work here? Clearly, the readin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in Unit 105b will be highly relevant here, but so too may Units 105a, 107 and 108. Given the breadth of the question, you may fin" rel="nofollow">ind it preferable to focus your discussion upon a sin" rel="nofollow">ingle medium.