Analyzing News Using Marxist Theory - Assignment Guidelines

Overview of the News Analyses Assignment

The dates of the News Analyses postings are listed under The Grades. In each News Analysis posting you use the relevant theory in the listed pages to analyze a news article. 

The first news analysis will consist of a statement about what you think Karl Marx would say about the news if he had the opportunity to do so. Your interpretation of Marx will be based on the readings and the course notes for parts 1-4. Your task is to state what you think Marx would say. It must be your interpretation of Marx and you may not and must not refer to any other source; the statement you provide must be your work and only your work and you must not receive help of any sort from any source (other than the readings and the course notes for this course). 

Your news analysis will analyze the construction of a social activity that is relevant to the work of Marx. It is important that your choice of a news article is long enough and has enough information to do the assignment. Your assignment must provide a direct link to the original source of the newspaper article which must be dated after August 1, 2021. You cannot provide a link to Proquest, LexisNexis, Google, or any other aggregator of the news. The link will not be a link to the library, google, or any other intervening webpage. The link must be directly to the actual original source of the news in the online version of a newspaper. You may wish to go directly to a major newspaper such as The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, or other reputable newspaper. 

 

Your News Analysis must consist of 450 to 500 words. If you have too many, you will lose marks. If you have too few, you will lose marks. If your express your personal opinion, you will lose marks. If you do not meet the requirements as stated here, you will lose marks. You are not permitted to quote or paraphrase any words from the readings or any source that you are using. Use your own words as discussed above. 

When you use an idea from the course notes or the readings, you must provide the page number from the readings and the course notes in brackets at the end of the sentence; if you don't you will lose marks. You must refer to at least three different pages in the course notes. You must refer to a least three different pages in the readings. You must refer to a specific page (you can't say pages 1-14). At times, the readings of Marx will not have page numbers, if it is a pdf file you may refer to the pdf page number, or to the section where you find the idea you are using. 

Requirements and Guidelines

Each news analysis is worth 5% of the final grade and is marked out of 5. Normally students will get 4 marks out of 5 for each analysis as long as they provide a legitimate and credible interpretation of the news. Postings that provide a superior analysis of the news will get more marks as long as they provide a legitimate and credible interpretation of what Marx would say.

 

Do not provide a cover page. The first line of the assignment must be the link that lead to the news story. The second line must he the word count. You must provide the link and the word count, or you will lose marks. 
The text should be a 12 point font, preferably Times New Roman or a similar font. Use double spacing. The assignment must be a file (call it 'newsl') submitted by you directly to the MyLS Dropbox for this course. The assignment must be submitted with: "docx" or "doc" or "rtf" as the filetype. If you use any other filetype you lose marks. 

When you submit a file to a MyLS Dropbox, the system automatically adds your name and ID number to the file name. Therefore there is no need for your to put your id number in a cover page. 
The due dates are listed under The Grades and the news analysis is due before 11:59 pm of that day. The MyLS submission date is definitive. You do not submit a print copy to anybody. You do not email it to anybody. 

 

If there is a legitimate reason for an extension (a medical reason or a religious reason or a death in the family or a significant accident), you must advise me of it within one day of the deadline with appropriate documentation dated within one day of the deadline. The extended end date of the Dropbox is only for those who have been granted an extension. 

Students are required to keep a printed copy and an electronic copy of their assignment. 
News Analysis 2 is the same as News Analysis 1, except you refer to the work of Durkheim, that is, what would Durkheim say about the news if he had the opportunity to do so. News Analysis 3 is the same as News Analysis 1, except you refer to the work of Weber, that is, what would Weber say if he had the opportunity to do so. You need to choose a fresh news story for each news analysis.