Global News (Media Watch 3)

Page history last edited by Charles Basler 16 years ago

This is like project #3 but now we have a global focus.

TOPIC

Select a global issue that you care about. This can be something you reseached for a previous paper in this class or elsewhere (but you do have to see what else has happened since then so you will probably need one or more new summaries). If you don't know what to select, pick something related to your intended or declared major or minor or a club or organization you have joined or plan to join.

Do the research on your topic and write AT LEAST FOUR NEWS SUMMARIES by Monday November 24.

THESIS

You may come up with your own thesis, or you can use one of the three listed below:

1) Americans should care about [...your topic.......] because . . . .

2) If people in America knew about [....your topic.........] they would care about it because . . . .

3) When he is president of the United States, Barak Obama should care about [...your topic.........] because . . . .

(Note: if you take this option, let's talk about how you could send your paper to the President-elect).

STRUCTURE

To structure the paper, you could make a list of all the reasons we/the president should care about this issue and use that as an outline, supported by the research you have found and summarized. *OR* you can make a list of the main ideas in the information you found and summarized and use that list as an outline. The trick is to let your thesis and outline evolve from the research.

REVISING THE THESIS

Once you have a sense of what you want to say, it is time to revise the thesis making sure it goes a little deeper than just telling us that we should care. The issue is to tell us WHY we should care, ie: HOW the situation affects our everyday lives, the environment, our security, our understanding of global events, etc. That is, you need to list specific thigs after the BECAUSE.

So, instead of writing "Americans should care about [your topic] because it affects their everyday lives significantly," you should write

"Americans should care about [....your topic.........] because it affects their everyday lives by causing [x], [y], and [z]" or

"President-elect Obama should care about [....your topic.........] because it affects the everyday lives of American in a number of significant ways including [x], [y], and [z]" or

"If Americans knew more about [....your topic.........] they would have a better understanding of [x], [y], and [z]" or

"If Americans knew more about [....your topic.........] they would care about it because of [x], [y], and [z]"

In each case, x, y, and z are the claims your paper discusses to support your argument, and they form the structure you use to discuss the ideas, interpretations, or implications you draw from the summaries. You are not limited to three claims (x,y,z) of course. There is no formulae here, but there are some strategies.

TOPICS

Please add your topic below--or email me if you can't make the links work. Two people can do the same topic, but please make your own pages!

SECTION 006

Jigar Amin - Terrorist attacks in Pakistan and India

Jeremy Appledorf - Pirates attacking Saudi Arabian Oil

Michelle Armonda Padavano - Natural Disasters

Zandy Bard- War between Russia and Georgia

Andrew Cohn - The war between Russia and Georgia

Callie Corro-Iran and Nuclear Scare

Anne Daniels - Mexico's Drug Wars

Geneva Lewis - AIDS in Africa

Beau Madsen - Genocide in Darfur