This seminar approaches theory as an act; part agency, part structure. It prepares participants to theoretically inform and ground research into media industries, cultures and technologies. Seminar participants are introduced to different approaches to and critiques of theorizing along with the media and cultural theories that offer ways of understanding the hows and whys of media as a system of mediations, meanings, practices, and political economies. The works to be studied come from, critical theory, new media theories, various traditions of cultural studies, feminist studies, semiotics and post/colonial, structural and modern studies.

This course is designed to prepare students to undertake their own independent research. Topics covered include the role of theory in research; the choice of a research problem; and the design of research projects. Students will become familiar with a range of research tools and approaches including experimental design; survey research and questionnaire design; interviewing; participant observation and ethnography; discourse analysis.

All second-year Media Studies MA students must present their first completed thesis chapter at the mandatory, non-credit, fall term Media Studies colloquium series on writing. Students undertaking the Major Research Paper option must likewise present a meaningful portion of their summer writing efforts. The course is graded PASS or FAIL. To achieve a PASS designation in MS 9102, students must:

• Submit one chapter of their MA thesis, or one portion of their Major Research Paper, to the instructor by October 15;
• Attend all colloquia (missing no more than one and giving advance notice for any absence);
• Complete all readings and hand in all work assigned by the instructor;
• Regularly participate in discussions ensuing from these readings and assignments;
• Participate in instructor-led, in-class evaluations of student chapters or portions of Major Research Papers. This exercise is meant primarily to hone students’ understanding of correct English usage, and to polish the form, style and argumentative clarity of the submission under discussion.

Students who fail to meet these requirements and do not receive a passing grade will be required to take one additional elective course during the MA program before being allowed to graduate.