Communications and Media Research Proposal Assignment.

Length: 7 to 8 pages (not including headers and bibliography)
This assignment is a standard academic essay. Your papers are expected to make use of original
research (i.e. you MUST go beyond the readings listed in the syllabus), develop an original insight or
perspective, and put forth an original and compelling argument.
Instructions for Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
Your proposal should provide a brief outline of the topic you intend to explore in your final. A good
proposal does three things: (1) it should identify and describe the primary research question
animating your investigation; (2) it should provide a justification for why this question is relevant
within the context of this course; and, (3) it should provide an outline of how your paper proposes
to investigate this question. The annotated bibliography should have 3 scholarly sources, none of
which are assigned as course readings (you can use course readings and/or non-scholarly as sources
for your final paper, but NOT for the proposal). Each should provide a properly formatted
bibliographic entry (APA style, preferably), a brief summary of the source, and a brief description of
how it is appropriate to your chosen research topic.
Suggested Research Topics
1) Profile an alternative media organization of your choice. Pay attention to its historical
development. What inspired its founders to create the organization? Does it cooperate with other
similar organizations? What sort of challenges has it faced over the years? What, exactly, makes it
alternative?
2) Compare similar alternative media organizations across national boundaries, history or
technologies. For example, how is community radio different in Canada and the United States? How
is pirate radio constituted differently in the UK and the US? How is alternative news podcasting
different from alternative or community radio?
3) Do an historical overview of a particular alternative media practice. What are the origins of this
particular practice? Are there related or similar practices in different media? Has there been any sort
of social, cultural, legal or economic resistance to the development and proliferation of this
practice? Be sure to provide a compelling argument as to why your chosen focus constitutes an
alternative media practice.
4) In the current era of resurgent far right-wing populism, ethnic nationalism, and autocratic leaders
like Donald Trump around the globe, the idea of “alternative media” has been co-opted by those on
the far right to cover their own media outlets. How does this application of the concept of
alternative media fundamentally clash with those presented in this course? In your answer, be sure
to directly explore and reference at least THREE definitions of alternative media in line with the
course perspective (and the scholars who provide them) and include concrete examples to illustrate
your argument.
5) How has the Internet helped transform a particular alternative media practice? How has it
changed the conditions for practitioners or audiences? Has it made things easier, or more difficult?
In what ways? Be sure to clearly identify the media practice you are talking about, as well as
describe its history and the dynamics of change you are identifying. NOTE: This is NOT a general
question about how the Internet has changed the media. Be sure to clearly define the alternative
media practice your paper will be exploring, and be sure to provide a discussion of what makes this
practice alternative in the first place.
6) Develop and propose your own topic. If you wish to do this, it is a very good idea to consult withme before either part of the assignment is due