Rhetoric and Media. Winter 2018.
Thesis Statement and Bibliography
Due: Thursday, January 25 at the start of your tutorial. Assignments submitted after the start of
the tutorial will be considered late (please review the course late policy below for penalties).
Method of submission: Submit paper copy to your TA.
Assignment Size: 2-3 pages, double spaced.
General Notes: This individual assignment is worth 10% of your final mark and is the first of a
three-part assignment (see Essay Plan and Introduction Draft and Term Paper). For this
assignment, you will submit two (2) different thesis statements and an annotated bibliography
with a minimum of six (6) sources.
Assignment Description: Choose a topic that you wish you explore. You will conduct research and
develop potential thesis statements. While you are encouraged to use the same topic that you
worked on for writing Assignment #4 in CCT109 this past fall, you can choose a different topic from
the Topic Options (from CCT109) listed in the Appendix below.
Keep in mind that you must pick one topic to work with for Assignments #1, #2 and #4.
If you use the same topic for CCT109, you are not allowed to reuse work you submitted for grading
in CCT109. This is important. You are encouraged to use the same source material and build on the
work you have done on this topic, but do not cut and paste, which constitutes a serious academic
offence. Please discuss with your TA if this is unclear.
You will submit the following:
? A draft of two substantially different versions of a thesis statement
? A bibliography including material that you hope to use in your essay (and which inform your
thesis statement). You should identify a minimum of six (6) peer-reviewed, scholarly
sources
The aim of this assignment is to prepare you for writing a research-based essay.
Part 1: Two thesis statements
The first part of the assignment is intended to assist you in developing your skills in crafting
effective thesis statements that provide a strong argument for your essay. Writing two
substantively different thesis statements requires you to think carefully about effective ways to
come up with arguments and how to frame your research for your essay. Your TA will provide
feedback, and you will decide whether or not to use these thesis statements in your term paper or
how best to revise them.
CCT110: Rhetoric and Media. Winter 2018. Assignment #1
Part 2: Bibliography
In order to construct thesis statements, we need to conduct preliminary research in order to find
articles with which our thesis will engage. You’ll need to identify a minimum of six (6) peerreviewed,
scholarly sources. For each source, please provide the following:
? Article citation (using APA):
? The author's thesis statement or statement of intent:
? Description of how this article relates to your thesis statement or research question:
Your TA will also provide feedback on your bibliography (which you can also decide to revise for
subsequent assignments). You may list sources you used in writing assignment #4 in CCT 109, but
you might find these are not relevant, in which case you should seek out more research as you
refine your research question and narrow your topic.
Be sure to take advantage of the writing supports available to you, including the Robert Gillespie
Academic Skills Centre (http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/asc/welcome/) as well as research support in
the library.
Assignment Details:
? 2-3 pages, double-spaced (includes bibliography, no title page necessary)
? Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1" margins
? No title page necessary. Please put your full name and student number on the top of your
assignment, number your pages and STAPLE your assignment before submission
? Spell-checked and proofread, free from typos
? All research used cited in APA style (including in-text citations, any mentions of scholars’
research, and your bibliography) Note that the bibliography is included in the page count
for this assignment.
Be sure to keep your graded copy of this assignment to submit with Assignment #2 and #4
Course late policy (from CCT110 course syllabus)
You are expected to complete assignments on time. There will be a penalty for lateness of 10%
deducted per day for this assignment. Work that is not handed in one week after the due date will
not be accepted.
Special Consideration Requests - Missed Tests and Extensions on Assignments: In the past,
students completed a hard copy of a "Special Consideration Request" (SCR) form and would bring it
in to the ICCIT office. This process is now completed online. Please review the ICCIT special
consideration request policy here and follow the procedures:
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/iccit/students/special-consideration-request
CCT110: Rhetoric and Media. Winter 2018. Assignment #1
Appendix: Topic Options (from CCT109)
? Surveillance and convenience. Using historical examples as support, assess who benefits
most from the increasingly convenient means by which surveillance can be conducted.
? Mobile media and mobile privatization. Using the notions of “flow” and “mobile
privatization," how are smartphones both different and similar to Citizens Band Radio?
? Waste and progress. Using Slack and Wise’s discussion of the notion of “progress”, explain
how electronic waste is, or is not, the inevitable by-product of technological advances.
? Video Games and Watching. Using the notion of dramaturgy, how might video games act
as surveillance technologies for watching others that might lead to changing each other’s
behavior?
? Communication Infrastructure and Human Rights. How has Kittler’s historical approach to
discussing communication technologies helped us understand the argument that Internet
Access should be a human right?
? Media and Work. Explain how the surveillance of interactive and social media users leads
to both exploitation and self-exploitation.