Final Exam

The exam will combine objective and essay questions. The objective questions will resemble the questions given on our quizzes. The essay portion will ask you to write paragaphs in response to two or three questions.

In preparing for the exam, concentrate on the key themes of the course, and think about concrete examples that illustrate these themes:

  1. The historical trajectory of the mass media's relationship to African Americans, from invisibility to visibility to surveillance.
  2. The interdependence of television and the southern, nonviolent phases of the movement.
  3. The different relationship between television and the northern, Black Power phases of the movement.
  4. The controversy surrounding nonviolence as a tactic and “way of life.”
  5. The influences of the historical television coverage on the ways that the movement is remembered today.
  6. The role of “heritage tourism” in shaping the ways that the movement is remembered today (cf. Dwyer and Eskew).
  7. The special role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the media, both then and now.
  8. Controversies surrounding the stewardship by King's heirs of his legacies and “intellectual property.”
  9. The differences—in terms of production, distribution, and reception—between today’s media and the mass media of the 1950s and 1960s.
  10. The ways that audiences actively shape the meanings of the texts they read and watch (cf. Dimitriadis).
  11. The ways that computer interfaces are today used to shape understandings of racial and ethnic identity (cf. Nakamura).
  12. more to come ?

You will not have books, notes, or Internet available during the exam. You may type your essay using your laptop, but you are solely responsible for delivering the completed essay to me in the format outlined below. If you do not or cannot because of technical difficulities, you will earn a zero on the essay portion of the exam. Everyone should bring plenty of paper and pens to the exam, regardless of whether or not you plan to use your laptop.

Paragaph Content

There is no minimum word count for the paragraphs, but they should demonstrate the following characteristics: 

  • a clear thesis that specifically addresses the topic; 
  • specific examples and details drawn from the texts; 
  • a definite pattern of organization, including a topic sentence.

Paragraph Format and Submission

You paragaphs should follow the formating standards developed by the Modern Language Association (MLA). Along with other requirments, this means that everything you submit should be double spaced, that film and book titles should be italcized, and that the titles of book chapters and television episodes should be surrounded by quotation marks.

You do not need to use parenthetical citations, since the essay will be closed book and closed notes.

To avoid losing points needlessly, please do the following:

  1. Draft the essays in Microsoft Word or any other word processor that generates either .doc or .rtf files.
  2. On the first page, include your name, my name, "CMS 4800 " and the date at the top of the page (in keeping with MLA standards).
  3. Save this file as "YourLastName 4800 Final Exam." 
  4. Send this file as an email attachment to me at <sspence@clayton.edu>. Include the name of your file in the message's subject line.
  5. DO NOT LEAVE until I confirm that I have received your file.