Instructions for Writing a Reflection Paper on Everyday Consumption Experience and Theorist Analysis

Formatting Guidelines

Instructions

Formatting: Proofread, double spaced, standard margins (2.54 cm throughout). No title page needed – put title, student number and name on the first page in the header. There is no need for a separate references page.

This reflection paper has three distinct parts:

1. Describe an everyday consumption experience that you have had in the past in relation to the case studies we cover in class (food, fashion, smartphones, coffee, music, video games). It will either involve your acquisition, consumption or possession of a commodity (re-read Arnould and Thompson 2005 if you are unclear about the distinction between these). This section should clearly identify: the commodity purchased; your rationale for purchasing the product; where you purchased the commodity; when you purchased the commodity, and any other external details you feel are relevant to your experience. This section should be at least 0.5 pages long, and at maximum 1 page long.

2. This part has two sub-sections corresponding to each theorist. Analyze your experience using concepts from TWO theorists (see parts 2 and 3 below) mentioned in class (the case studies part, not the classical, contemporary or first lecture authors) outside of that specific case study (ie. If you look at the case of coffee, you cannot examine it using Bookman 2013; Quintao and Brito 2015; or Richelieu and Korai 2014). The emphasis here is on applying the theory and concepts of an author outside of a particular case area to your consumption experience. In order to do this effectively, you need to explain the concept first (ie. The ‘beauty world reversed’). After explaining the concept, you will adapt it and apply it to your situation (ie. A sociologist examining my coffee experience from Fillieri and Lin’s (2017) perspective might explain why I chose to consume this coffee…They might argue this because …). In this part of the section, you also need to show how well the analysis “fits” your situation. Since theory can be disentangled from case studies, you will have to think outside of the box here. You will need to assess whether the theory does a good job of explaining your experience or not? If so, why? If not, why not? Do these concepts help explain your situation better than the authors in the case area? This part of the section gives you a chance to build on the theory. This section needs to consist of two parts, one for each author. Each part must be at least 1.5 pages long, and should not exceed 2 pages. The explanation side of the section (where you explain how the theorist uses it) should not exceed .5 pages maximum, and the application section (where you apply the theory/concepts to your situation) should not exceed 1 page.

Finally, you will discuss some of the ramifications of COVID-19 on your selected case area bringing in at least 5 credible news sources (e.g. CBC News, The New York Times, BBC, The Wall Street Journal). This means that you should select articles that deal explicitly with the object (or type) of consumption outlined in your experience. This section should be a minimum of 1 page and should not exceed 2 page