writing culture studies papers: the object, question, lens and method approach

7/29/2019 Writing Culture Studies Papers: The Object, Question, Lens and Method Approach

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CulturalStudies

Proposals:

TheObject,Question,

Lens,& MethodApproach

Prepared by Dr. Theresa M. SenftGlobal Liberal Studies ProgramNew York UniversityQuestions? [email protected]


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECT

What do I mean by a research object? 3Keeping the size of your object manageable 4Situating your narrator 5The importance of narrative flow 6More than one object (comparing/contrasting) 6

QUESTION

What do I mean by research question? 7Helpful language when formulating questions 7

Common Types of Questions:Questions about space and place 8Questions about affect and memory 8Questions about identity and community 8Questions about social capital 8Questions about production and consumption 8Questions about affect and effect 9Questions about aesthetics 9Questions about play and ludology 9Questions about epistemology 9Questions about networks and machines 9

LENS

What do I mean by lens? 10Looking for Lenses: How to begin? 10Chart with theories and theorists 11The politics of lenses 12

METHOD

What do I mean by method? 12Methods: texts, contexts, people 13Methods chart: Theres a name for that. 15Methods: studying texts 15Methods: studying contexts 16Methods: studying people 17Be precise about what you will examine 17Be precise with nature of your enquiry 18

SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSAL TEMPLATE 19


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Semester: Spring AcademicYear: 2011-2012

Instructor: Theresa(Terri)Senft InstructorsEmail: [email protected]

Drafting a Cultural Studies Proposal:

The Object, Question, Lens, & Method Approach

By Theresa Senft

I consider the following to be the fundamental elements of a strong culturalstudies paper:

ObjectQuestionLensMethod

You might think about these as answers to the following questions:

Object: what is the topic you wish to research?Question: what about your topic interests you? Why should it interest

others?

Lens: whose work informs and influence you as you ask your questions?Method: preciselywhat original work will you be doing as part of your

research?

Before we continue, a quick disclaimer: I dont think mine is the only way toapproach a research project. In fact, I more or less made up these terms, based onconversations with teachers, colleagues and editors over the years. If you have aprocess that currently works for you, dont feel compelled to adopt this one. It isprovided only to help folks who are currently winging it, and looking for a bitof guidance. Okay? Okay.

Below, I explain what I mean when I speak about the object. After that, Ill go onto discuss questions, lenses and methods.


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PART 1: THE OBJECT

What is an object?

By "object" I mean the topic you wish to write about. In general, an object can be:

Aperson: actual or fictional, living or deadAgroup of people: a culture, a subculture (e.g. voting blocks, fan groups,

etc.)Aplace: actual or fictional, past or presentA thing: e.g. a painting, book, architectural site, video game, web site, film,

song, piece of clothing, etc.An institution: e.g., universities, armies, hospitals, etc.An industry: e.g. banking, recording, film, etc.An event: e.g. a performance, an exhibition, a ritual, a holiday, a battle, etc.Aphenomenon: cultural or subcultural (e.g., the appearance of heroin chic

in the fashion industry, the rise of stay at home dads etc.)

Regarding the size of your object

As a general rule of thumb:the smaller the object, the more controllable your paper will be.

Consider the following options and our comments, below:

OPTION 1: "I want to talk about how dangerous surveillance is."

OUR COMMENT: For our purposes, this is too broadan object for a paper.

OPTION 2: "I want to talk about the government gets more and moreinformation about us every day.

OUR COMMENT:This is okay, but still needsrefining.

OPTION 3: "I want to talk about how the New York City Metrocardcan be used to track people, and asking whether we wantour government to be monitoring its citizens in that way.

OUR COMMENT: Option 3 is a nicely sized object fora paper. Can you see why this would be?


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Heres another example:

OPTION 1: "I want to talk about how messed up the advertisingindustry is."

OUR COMMENT: This is too broad an object.

OPTION 2: "I want to talk about how it seems that people are alwaysencouraged to be thin in advertising."

OUR COMMENT: This is okay, but still needsrefining.

OPTION 3: "I want to talk about this time when I was working at amodelling agency and I witnessed my bosses picking modelsfor a specific shoot based on whether they could see the

models' ribcages through their shirts.

OUR COMMENT: Option 3 is starting to feel like anicely sized object for a paper. Can you see why thiswould be?

On situating your narrator vis a vis your object.

You know what else is good about option 3, above? It nicely situates the narrator

of the paper. She doesnt come across as some Neutral Grand Authority; shestates clearly and up front that she is an employee of an advertising agency, anda witness to an event that touches on larger concerns regarding modelling andweight.

Also important: a writer may have multiple roles in the stories they tell, and thismatters hugely. For instance, in Option 3, we know the person is an employee,but she may also be a student, an aspiring model herself, etc. All of these rolesare going to affect what she sees in her analysis, and what she does not.

When you choose your object, you are going to have to state and explore your

position, as well. Again, this is why I think stories are useful. When you beginwith a personal story, you are taking the rhetorical position not of the Expert, butof the individual with an incident to share.

(Please note: Some will argue that there are HUGE problems with the lie of the"ordinary person with an ordinary story" routine. The biggest problem criticshave with this is that the "ordinary person" IS declaring him/herself an expert,just by the ACT writing on a topic. And what's more, s/he protects him/herselfin a way an expert cannot: that is, by hiding behind the cover of "hey, I'm just an


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ordinary person." If you want to see this in action, check out Rush Limbaugh, forinstance, or pretty much any moron on AM radio.

I agree with this critique. Still, for our purposes, I still think the "ordinary person"approach is the way to go, particularly since we WILL be interrogating our ownperspectives vis a vis our "question", which I will discuss in a moment.

Regarding the importance of narrative and your object.

Though there are many exceptions to this rule, most essays require a beginning,middle and end. Obviously, personal stories help do this, but they arent theyonly way to move narrative along. Consider the following:

Option A: "I want to talk about caller ID as a dehumanizing phenomenon."

Option B: "I want to talk about my internal debate over getting caller ID"

Option C: "I want to talk about the fact that after a local politician had caller IDinstalled in his office, his constituent satisfaction rates with call-in queries droppedmore than thirty percent."

Purely in terms of narrative strength, I would suggest that Option A seemsnarratively weak, while B and C are stronger. Why? Because A and B showtemporal progression (i.e. "before getting caller id, after getting caller id) whereasOption A lacks it.

The other nice thing about Options B and C is that the particular stories naturallylead into a discussion of larger social questions, whereas big universal openings

quickly devolve into rants, if not handled with care.

Please note that I'm NOT saying you can't write in the style of Option A. It is justmore difficult to do so. Contrary to what many expository writing teachersbelieve, I think it's troublesome to begin with some huge statement and "shrinkdown" to the particular. To begin an essay with the statement "Technology X isdehumanizing" begs too many questions, from "Dehumanizing for whom?" to"Who are you to decide what constitutes a 'human' approach? If you simplyMUST write in the style of Option A, I am going to ask you to confer with mefirst, to avoid pitfalls.

When you have more than one object: Comparing and Contrasting

Sometimes, it is helpful to write a paper using not one object, but two, or eventhree objects in a similar category. Compare and contrast is a commontechnique in cultural studies. When you compare and contrast two objects, youare asking two straightforward questions:


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What do these two things have in common? This is generally a matter ofexplanation and listing (i.e. both are video games, both came as a result of acorporate merger, etc.)

How do these two things differ? Because they are about mechanics (how)differences between your objects should take MORE of your time to explainthan similarities. Now, the truth is, two objects can have an endless numberof similarities and differences. To determine the ones you want to focus on,we need to discuss your question. Thats covered next.

STOP!! Now would be a goodtime to turn to the OBJECTSsection of your BrainstormingWorkbook.

PART 2: YOUR QUESTION

The Question

After you locate your object, you'll want to come up with your question. Formany of you, your question and your object will be intimately connected. Forothers, teasing out your question may take some work.

The "question" portion of your essay strategy is most easily dealt with by asking

yourself, "What about my object fascinates me? How can I formulate myfascination as a one or two line interrogation?"

Helpful advice regarding questions

Use words like how or what rather than why to form your questions.Asking why generally yields the answer, because, which gets you nowhereas a researcher.

Realize that you wont have room to tackle more than one question in a shortpaper. That said, you will --and should-- have ancillary or follow up questionscoming from your big question.

State your questions as concisely and clearly as possible. This means thattwo short sentences are better than one long one.

Avoid leading questions. For example, How does the Internet lead to thecollapse of communication? is an argument masquerading as a question, and isnot acceptable for a proposal.


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Some Common Types of Questions

Below, I provide four categories of common questions asked in media andcultural studies. This list is by NO MEANS EXHAUSTIVE. It is meant to sparkyour thinking, nothing more. Here are some things you might want to ask ofyour objects:

Questions of PLACE AND SPACE

1. In what place does my object exist? Where in history, geography, andcultural memory is it located? How does the arrangement of space affectthe objects meaning within culture? Has that space changed over time?What might be the significance of that change for culture at large?

2. How do the particular social groups I am studying come to anunderstanding of their private and the public space? Their commercialand free space? Their sacred and the secular space?

Questions of AFFECT and MEMORY

1.What sorts of experiences does my object elicit for itsviewers/participants/bystanders/participants? How does experientialknowledge change what an object means for different populations?

2.What is the relationship between an experience of a moment, and the re-telling of it via memory?

Questions of IDENTITY and COMMUNITY

1.How have issues of gender, class, nationality, religion, race, age, ability, orlanguage use functioned in the past for the group of people Im interestedin studying? Have there been changes worth noting? What might thosechanges signify regarding culture at large?

2.How was legitimate and illegitimate behaviour determined in the past forthose in the group I am studying? Have their been changes worth noting?How might those changes tell us something about the changing nature ofthe group, or about culture at large?

Questions of SOCIAL CAPITAL:

1. How are issues of trust negotiated in this environment? 2. How is social power accrued in this environment?3. How is risk managed in this environment?

Questions of PRODUCTION and CONSUMPTION

1.Who has owned the means to produce this practice/product/tool in the


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past? Do different people own it now? If so, have changes in ownershipaffected what this practice/product/tool signifies culturally?

2.Who has used this practice/product/tool in the past? Do different peopleuse it now? If so, have changes in consumption affected the culturalmeanings of this practice/product/tool?

Questions of AFFECT and EFFECTS. Some examples include:

1.What does it mean to speak of certain activities as addictive? 2.What does it mean to speak of being in flow with regard to an environment or

practice?

3.To what extent does this object/phenomenon influence activities with regard toreal world violence, activism, sexuality, anti-social behavior, etc.?

Questions of AESTHETICS. Some examples include:

1.How does this environment/creation/phenomenon fit with our established ideasabout art?

2.What parameters do we use for determining whether something is of high qualityin this field, and what value judgments do we display when we use existing

terminology for the field (e.g. elegant code)

Questions of LUDOLOGY and NARRATIVE. Some examples include:

1.What are the rules of this system, and how do the rules affect our experience ofplay here?

2.What are the experiential differences between playing in single player, multiplayerand online versions?

3.How does this game/art project/etc. progress with regard to plot, character andstory arc?

Questions of EPISTEMOLOGY. Some examples include:

1.What means do we have for establishing the truth of thisimage/document/film/etc.?

2.What psychological/social/political stakes are attached to the belief that aparticular version of a story is true, or real?

Questions of NETWORKS and MACHINES. Some examples include:


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1.What are the degrees of separation between major players in this system(players should include both humans, software, hardware, and so forth)?

2.How are the feedback loops structured in this environment between producers,distributors, consumers, and interfaces?

3.STOP!! Now would be a goodtime to turn to the Questionssection of your BrainstormingWorkbook.

PART 3: YOUR LENS (ES)

The Lens

If your object is your what, and your questions are your why, your lensesmight be best thought of as your who, in that they help you decide: Who willyou read to help you theoretically frame your questions?

Some students think this business of finding lenses is limited to academia. Theyare wrong. No matter what you do next in your life, doing your homeworkwill be the order of the day. Consider this: your friend calls herself an innovator,and in a bar she tells you about her latest cool invention: a disk on which youplay movies But when you tell her that the DVD has been in production a decadenow, she looks baffled, and then starts talking about how she "can't be expectedto know everything." How weird would that be?

To summarize:The "lens", as I define it, is your demonstration that you knowwhom else is thinking in your field. You don't need to know everything writtenabout your interests, but you do need to know *something* beyond your ownthoughts. One more thing: with lenses, quality is better than quantity. Ratherthan name-dropping a million people, its better to find between one and threepeople with whom you can really dialogue in your paper. Then you can safelysay you have your "lens" established.

Searching for Lenses: How to Begin

Faced with the task of finding appropriate lenses, the average student goes to aplace like a Google Scholar and begins searching by subject. Lets go back to theexample I gave earlier, featuring a student who wanted to write about the castinghabits of a particular modelling agency. This student might head to GoogleScholar, type in models or agency or even weight--and then see whathappens. While this is not a bad first start, it has the danger of yielding either toomuch, or too little information that is relevant to the students particular needs.


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How do you find the writers who are thinking in a way that jibes with what youare looking for? Here, it might be useful to understand that we can approach thislens business two ways:

Via theories (i.e. general schools of thought: e.g. theories of psychoanalysis,theories of feminism, actor-network theory, etc.)

Via theorists (i.e. people who espouse certain theories, generally associatedwith certain schools of thoughts: e.g. Freud, Mulvey, Latour)

In the example above, I provided names of three theorists associated withpsychoanalysis, feminism and actor-network theory respectively.

Now, if I were you right at this point, Id be thinking, How does she expect meto do that? The answer is: I dont. What I do expect you to do is remember thatthus far, youve come up with two elements of your research design: yourobject(s) and your question (s). While objects are usually great ways to start

looking for lenses, your questions will be the best way to help you narrow downyour search.

To help you get started, Ive made a quick and dirty guide of theoreticalapproaches for some of the most common questions in media research. Theguide is geared toward students doing digital media work, so your interest maynot appear here. If that is the case, no worries! Come to me and well talk.

IF YOU ARE ASKING

QUESTIONS LIKE

THEORIES YOULL

WANT TO LOOK AT

SOME THINKERS YOU MIGHT LOOK INTO

Is this art?

Is it not?

If not, why not?

Theories of

aesthetics

Examples of historical theorists:

Plato, Aristotle, Kant

Examples of digital theorists

L.Manovich, P. Lunenfeld

Who owns this?

Who is selling?

Who is buying?

Who determines these

things?

Theories of

production and

consumption

Marxist and Post-

Marxist theories

Examples of Historical thinkers:

Marx, Gramsci, Althusser, Frankfurt School

Digital Thinkers:

Chomsky, McChesney, Curran

Is this democratic?

Does it reflect thepublic good?

By whose measure?

Theories of the

public sphere

Historical thinkers:

Locke, Hobbes, J. Habermas, J. Dewey, R. Rorty, J. Dean, N.

Fraser, M. Warner

Digital thinkers: McChesney, Papacharissi

How does this affect

our privacy?

Theories of privacy,

theories of

surveillance


J. Bentham, M. Foucault, G.Deleuze

Digital thinkers: J. Lyons, J. Rosen


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How can we tell what

is real or true?

Theories of

ontology,

Theories of

epistemology

Historical thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, W. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard

How does this (story,video, piece of email,

etc.) circulating?

Theories ofnetworks and

actor network

theory

Historical thinkers: E. Durkheim, B. Wellman

Digital thinkers: B. Latour, A. Galloway, C.Shirky

How does masculinity

and femininity operate

in this environment?

Theories of gender Historical thinkers: Freud, J.Lacan, L. Irigigaray, J. Butler

Digital thinkers: Turkle, Stone, Castells and Jenkins, Consalvo

How does race operate

in this environment?

Theories of race Historical thinkers: DeBois, Fanon, Spivak, Said, hooks

Digital thinkers: L.Nakamura, A. Brock

Among members, who

is important in this

network, and why does

it matter?

Theories of social

capital


M. Granoveter, R. Putnam

Digital thinkers: B. Wellman, Z. Papacharissi, boyd

How does this alter or

reinforce our existing

notions of childhood?

Theories of

childhood

Historical thinkers: Piaget, Winnicott

Digital thinkers: S. Livingstone, E. Seiter

How does this alter or


notions of personalidentity?

Theories of

psychology, theories

of performance ofself (interactionism)

Historical thinkers: Freud, Mead, Goffman

Digital thinkers:S. Turkle, A. Bruckman

How does this affect our

sense of physical

embodiment?

Theories of

phenomenologyHistorical thinkers: Husserl, Merleau-Ponty

Digital Thinkers: Richard Shusterman (on somaesthetics),

Brian Massumi (on affect)

How does this dialogue

with ideas about

teaching and

learning?

Theories of

education

Historical thinkers: J. Dewey, Piaget

Digital thinkers: S. Turkle, S. Papert, C. Davidson

How does this

environment alter or


ideas about reading

and writing?

Theories of writing Historical thinkers: W. Ong, J. Derrida

Digital thinkers: G. Landow, S. Moulthrop, J. Murray

How does this

environment alter or


Theories of

reception, theories

Digital thinkers:

H. Jenkins, N. Baym


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ideas about audiences

and fans?

of fandom

The Politics of Lenses

You probably sense this already, but the nature of your lens can profoundlyaffect how you see your object. A Marxist interpretation of an activist movementmight be radically different from one based on critical race theory. An aestheticreading of a show often changes when subjected to lenses from feminism. This isa good thing. For researchers, contradictions and contestations arent somethingto fear, but moments to explore. For instance, Edward Said (famous pro-Palestinean scholar) would write about the recent shooting we discussed with avery different lens than would a Pro-Israeli journalist. Different still might be arecently widowed mother from the West Bank who just wants all fighting tostop. All of these "authorities" can be found by doing a web search on theincident in question. All of them give vastly different readings of the same

reality. This is something we will discuss together in our private meetings. I justwanted to give you a "heads up."

Now that you are familiar with the concepts of the object, the question and thelens, you are ready to go on to our final part: method.

STOP!! Now would be a goodtime to turn to the LENSESsection of your BrainstormingWorkbook.

PART 4: YOUR METHOD (S)

To this point, weve covered the following elements of a successful researchproposal:

Object: the topic you wish to research, narrowed down so it is workable forwhatever size paper you are planning.

Question: your question (s) need to demonstrate what it is about your topicthat interests you, and why should it interest others as well.

Lens: an articulation ofwhose work will inform and influence you as youask your questions.

Now we move to the final element:


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Method: preciselywhat original work will you be doing as part of yourresearch?

Earlier, I mentioned how important it is to be aware of other peoples thoughts in

your field. While this is true, it is also important understand that all university-level research paper are expected to do more than repeat the thoughts of others.You are also expected to produce insights of your own. The way you do that isby engaging in a research methodology of your own design.

Methods: Texts, Contexts, People

Cultural studies researchers generally wind up doing at least one of three things:

TEXTS:We examine textsfor psychological, sociological, and ideological

meaning, attempting to make some sort of statement about what thosetexts signified to particular people in particular cultures at particularhistorical moments.

o Note: for us, the term texts covers written and spoken word,visual and moving images, live and recorded performances.

CONTEXTS:We study the historical, economic, and political contexts shaping how atext is/was imagined, created, and distributed. We do this to betterunderstand how this text came to influence (or not) a particular culture

via adoption, consumption, circulation, and often, consumer re-creation.

PEOPLE:We analyze people as they create, consume, interact, and circulatearound texts. Sometimes we ask them their thoughts; other times wewatch them as they do their thing. Often, we try to remember that asresearchers who are also people, we are part of them.

As you are reading this, you may be thinking, I wonder if I prefer texts,contexts, or people? Ideally, you should be interested in it all, but lets it: someof us like to talk to others, and some of us would rather not, and thats going toaffect what we take on as researchers. More important for you, though, is areturn to your original research question. What do you want to know? Whatmight be the best way to find that out?

Nearly every methodological approach you can think of comes with anacademic-sounding name, and a list of how to guidelines. I cant provide thelatter in a guide like this, but I can give you a chart to help you begin thinkingabout how you want to approach your methodology. Look at the chart and


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brainstorm. Sometimes you have to combine methods to get at your answers.Sometimes you wish could engage in one method, but time/money/access wontallow it, so you opt for something different. These things take time andexperience to work out, and your professors are always ready to help.


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METHODS:TEXTS

Whatareyouplanningondoing?

Heresanacademictermforthat.

Areyouthinkingabouthowimages(ornon-musicalsounds,such

assirens)functioninatext?

Semioticanalysis

Areyoucountingthenumberoftimesanimage,movement,

sound,wordorphraseappearsinatext?

Contentanalysis

Areyouthinkingabouthowwords(writtenorspoken)functionin

atext?

Discourseanalysis

Areyoutracingthehistoryofspecificwordsinatext?

Etymologicalanalysis

Areyoulookingatthewaysinwhichaspecificsetoftextstells

storiesormyths?

Narrativeanalysis

Areyouanalysingfilm?

Filmanalysis

Areyouanalysingmusic,usingformallanguagesuchaspitch,

melody,andharmony?

Musicologicalanalysis

Areyouanalysingdance?

Danceanalysis

Areyouanalysingaliveperformancethatisnotdance,suchasa

ritual,sportseventoramuseumexhibit?

Performanceanalysis

Areyouconcentratingonmovementwithinaperformance?

Movementanalysis

Areyouanalysingthevaluesatextseemstobesupporting?

Thinkingaboutwhatatextseemstobesuggestingtheworld

is/was/shouldbe/shouldntbe?

Ideologycritique

Areyouanalysinghowgenderisrepresentedinatext?

Gender/feministcritique

Analysinghowraceisrepresentedinatext?

Criticalraceanalysis

Analysinghowsexualityisrepresentedinatext?

Queertheoryanalysis

Analysinghoweconomicconditions arerepresentedinatext?

Classanalysis

Analysinghownormalandabnormalbodies arerepresented

inatext?

Disabilityanalysis

Analysinghowcertainsocialgroups(usuallysubcultural)are

representedinatext?

Sociologicalorsubculturalanalysis

Analysingtherepresentationoftheunconsciousinatext?

Psychoanalyticcritique


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Analysinghowhistoryisrepresentedinatext?

Historical/

historiographicanalysis

Analysingbody-orientedexperienceswhileencounteringor

creatingatext?

Phenomenologicalanalysis

METHODS:CONTEXTS


Heresanacademicterm

forthat.

Analysingthebudgets,marketing,revenues,orconvergedmarkets ofatext?

Marketresearchanalysis

Exploringhowindividualswithininstitutionsorbusinessesworktogetherto

produceatext?

Organizationalanalysis

Analysinglegalissuessurroundingtheproduction,consumption,circulationor

re-useofatext?

Legalanalysis

Areyoumappingouttherelationshipsbetweenlinkedimages,words,scenes,

players,orusers?(usuallyinadigitaltextlikeawebsiteoravideogame)

Networkanalysis

Consideringthenatureofcensorship,privacyorpublicinfluenceofatext?

Politicaleconomy

analysis

Comparingmultipletextsinthesamegenre(e.g.soapoperas,musicals,

slasherfilms?

Genreanalysis

Comparingmultipletextsbythesamewriterordirector?

Auteuranalysis

Comparingmultipletextsthatallfeaturethesameperformer?

Starorcelebrityanalysis

Comparingtextsfromdifferentcultures?

Trans-cultural

comparison

Comparingtextsfromdifferenttimeperiods? Trans-historical

comparison

(Nextpage:PEOPLE)


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METHODS:PEOPLE


Heresanacademictermfor

that.

Studyingaudiencereactionstoatext?

Audienceanalysis

Speakingwithaudienceorcommunitymembersone-on-one abouttheir

reactionstoatextoranenvironment?

Polling(simpleanswers),

Interviews(complex

answers)

Speakingwithaudiencemembersinsmallgroups abouttheirreactionsto

atextoranenvironment?

Focusgroupadministration

Askingaudiencememberstorespondinwritingabouttheirreactionstoa

textoranenvironment?

Questionnaire

administration

Observingpeopleastheyinteractwithoneanotherinaparticularenvironment?

Participantobservation

Observingpeopleastheyinteractwithoneanotherinanenvironment,

overasignificantperiodoftime?

Anthropologicalobservation

Observingpeopleoverasignificantperiodoftimeastheyinteractinan

environment,andconsideringhowyourpresencemightbeaffectingtheir

behaviour?

Ethnographicobservation

Observingpeopleoverasignificantperiodoftimeinanenvironment

whereyouconsideryourselfanactiveparticipantormemberofthe

group?

Auto-ethnographic

observation

Recordingyourpersonalreactionsandrecollectionsregardingatextoran

environment?

Personalmemoir

Observinghowusersinteractwithatext,suchasagameorwebsite,

whileintheirnaturalenvironment(theirbedroom,theclassroom,etc.)?

Userexperienceanalysis

Creatingspecifictestenvironmentsorexperimentstoobservehowusers

interactwithaspecific(usuallydigital)text,suchasagameorawebsite?

Usertesting(canbe

administeredone-on-oneor

ingroups)

Be precise when naming your objects.

If you are looking at texts like novels or short stories, name them.If you are looking at a film, say which scenes you will be looking at. If you are looking at web sites, name the sites.


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If you are looking at a video game, name the game and the scenes. If you are looking at news coverage of a phenomenon, at minimum you

should be able to list the outlets you are looking at, and the time periodyou are looking at.

If you are discussing a specific performance, either give the date you sawit or explain which reference material you are accessing to look at it.

Be precise when explaining your objective.

Note: Often, this is best done in terms of a question propelling your investigations.For instance, you might write, something like:

I will conduct a film and discourse analysis of recent commercials from the2012 BMW advertising campaign, asking, How do the directors of thesecommercials use lighting and music to give consumers a sense of driving as asublime experience? How does the language of the voiceover enforce thenotion that driving a BMW is the most sublime experience of all?

STOP!! Now would be a goodtime to turn to the METHODSsection of your Brainstorming

Workbook.

Now you are ready to draft your proposal.

See next page for Proposal Template:


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ProposalTemplate

DONOTreproducethislanguageexactly!Useyourownwords.

TentativeTitleofPaper:_________________________________

Thispaper(examines,explores,analyses,interrogates,etc.)the(phenomenon,practice,event,

etc.)of(yourobjectgoeshere.)Asaresearchtopic,mineisatimelyoneforthefieldsof

Liberal/CulturalStudiesbecause:( stateyourreasonhere.)Elementsofthisofthisresearchthat

areofparticularinteresttomeare:( detailoneortwoquestions/observations/etc.,here.)

Throughoutthisproject,Irelyonanumberofcriticalframes,includingtheworkof (writer)on

(subject);(writer)on(subject);and(writer)on(subject.)WhileIfind(writer#1)sobservations

regarding(subject)tobeimportantwhenconsideringmytopic,Ithinktheseobservationsneed

tobe(broadened,altered,updated,etc.)forthefollowingreasons:________________( state

reasonshere.)Likewise,(stickwriter#2sthoughtsthatareimportantbutneedtobeaddedtoor

alteredinlightofyourresearchproject.)

Givenwhathasbeenwrittenaroundthistopicsofarandmypreliminarythoughtsonthe

matter,myworkinghypothesisis(statesomeguessesyouaretakingabouthowtheresearch

willturnout,here.)Iplantotestthishypothesisby( explainpreciselywhatmaterialsyouwillbe

lookingat,here.)Using(nameyourmethodologyhere),Illbeposingquestionssuchas:(name

oneortwoquestionsyoullbeaskingasyoulookatyourmaterials.)

(Note:Ifyouhavepersonalexperiencewiththismaterialthatyouthinkwouldbeusefulto

acknowledgeorhighlight,youcandiscussithere,orfurtherupwardsinthedocument.)

writing culture studies papers: the object, question, lens and method approach

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