3 sources to use

SOURCE 1
Title:  Mass Communications & Society
Author: Mackenzie Cato & Francesca Renee Dillman Carpentier
DOI: 10.1080/15205430903225589
Volume 13; Issue 3:Conceptualizations of Female Empowerment and Enjoyment of Sexuality Characters in Reality TV. Page 270-288
URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15205430903225589
Version of record first published: 02 June 2010
Date accessed: June 27, 2012

Summary: This is a study that was conducted to show how young woman view "woman empowerment"
is viewed on reality TV shows such as The Girls Next Door


Assess: The source is objective because it is a study on what young girls/woman believe reality shows such as The Girls Next Door are doing to the future of young girls.

Reflect: The source fits perfectly into my paper except for the fact that the example of television shows they use is out of date. The information about how teenage girls are viewing reality tv is the same though and is most likely increasing.

SOURCE 2
Title: Adverse Effects on Reality TV and Girls
Author: Jeffery Strain
URL: http://technorati.com/entertainment/tv/article/adverse-effects-of-reality-tv-on/
Published: February 16, 2012
Date accessed: June 27, 2012

Summary: The article talks about one of the shows that I will use in my paper: Real Housewives. The show is based on woman who marry rich men and are showing young girls that it is okay to be famous to have limitless amounts of plastic surgery and marry someone for money. The article also talks about how girls feel toward the show and how their confidence goes up when watching shows like this.

Assess: The source can be considered biased because not everyone may believe the show promotes plastic surgery which causes low self-esttem to girls and marrying someone for money.

Reflect: This article fits perfectly into my paper because it explains what the show is about and how its affecting teen girls.

SOURCE 3
Title: Reality on MTV: Gender Portrayals on MTV reality Programming
Author: Megan Franko and Liz Krieger
Url: http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/MTV-RealityStudy/MTVRealityStudy_Dec11.pdf
Published: N/A
Date accessed: July 1, 2012
(Study)

Summary: This was a study done to answer the question of "What messages are being communicated to young viewers through the lens and language of reality TV?" The study shows the different gender roles that different reality television shows portray.

Assess: The source is objective because it is not one person's opinion because research was done.

Reflect: The study will help me with my paper because it breaks down the two genders and will give me data to use.

TOPIC DEFINITION STATEMENT

Provide background for the issues: A good majority of American teenage girls watch reality tv. Even though “Reality” is in the title of reality TV it may not always be real and can be scripted for entertainment purposes.



Summarize the purpose of your project and how you will accomplish it:
This paper will examine how teenage girls feel about reality TV and how it affects their self-esteem, self-image, values, and goals in life. I will identify popular reality tv shows and how teenage girls feel it affects them personally and their peers.



Include a “working title”: -Media vs. Mind
-


Indicate questions to be answered:
Key Question: What impact does reality TV have on the lives of teenage girls?
Sub Question: What statistical results have been found about how teenage girls believe reality TV is influencing them? Why do we idolize these reality stars? How does this affect school or home environment?

3 articles

Article 1:
Title: How does reality tv affect young girls?
By: Jessica Cain- a multimedia journalist
From: cnycentral.com
URL: cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=725143#.T-nggBdSQsc
Posted on February 29, 2012 @ 11:47am
Date accessed: June 26, 2012


Article 2:
Title: Reality TV: A Positive Influence for girls?
By: Benjamin Radford
From: Discovery News
URL: news.discovery.com/human/girl-scout-poll-reality-tv-111202.html
Posted on: Friday, December 2, 2011 at 9:13am
Date accessed: June 26, 2012

Article 3
Title: What Reality TV teaches Young Girls
By: Meredith Melnick
From: TIME Healthland
URL: healthland.time.com/201110/18/what-reality-tv-teaches-young-girls/
Posted on: October 18, 2011
Date accessed: June 26, 2012

Source 1:
Summary: The article is about a recent study that the Girl Scout Organization released about the effects of reality TV on young girls. The article shows percents on what teenage girls or their parents believe is happening in the mind of a teenage girl while watching shows like Jersey Shore. This is a web based source.

Assess: The source is useful for the statistics that it gives on what what teenage girls believe is happening. It also shows  how they feel about their self esteem or what their goals and achievements are in life. The source is objective because it is all statistics and not as much opinion.

Reflect: I might use this article because it has informing statistics on what girls think about reality TV. The source was helpful in showing me how girls react to reality TV and how it effects their lives.


Source 2:
Summary: The article is also about the recent study on how reality TV affects teenage and young girls. The article shows statistics and contrasts reality TV and other shows that should bring girl's self esteem up. This is a web based article.


Assess: The source is useful however it is very similar to the article above. It has just about the same statistics even though it contrasts reality TV and educational shows. The information is reliable because it gives good sources and quotes people.


Reflect: I do not believe I will use this article because the information is repeated from my other sources.

Source 3:
Summary: The last article talks about how girls view self-image when it comes to reality TV. It also says how some girls feel that reality TV can be viewed as a learning tool and that it is all not "reality". This was also a web source.

Assess: The article could be useful because it shows statistics and how girls view reality TV. The source is objective and not biased because it talks about how most girls view reality TV and not a small percentage. The information is reliable because it is from TIME magazine.

Reflect: I may use this article to show statistics and also how girls view self-image. I also might use this article to give examples of popular reality TV.

Just be nice

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me I believe is a false statement. How we approach a conversation and how we say something can hurt a person's feelings. This passage made me think about how different our manners, word choices, and conversations are today than they were decades ago. People now say whatever they feel and whatever is one their mind but do not think about how another person may react to their statements. In arguments people barely listen to the other side of the argument and automatically assume they are right. I do believe we all have the right to free speech but some things we should really keep to ourselves. Manners, word choice and are tones today affect our conversations not only with our friends and family but how we will one day speak with our boss. As the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all.

Anti-Intellectualism

The terms nerd and geek have been around for decades. These terms describe the kids who are above average in their school work. I believe that this article stands true that we all have a dislike towards our peers that are smarter. I have always been jealous of the people that are smarter than me. It always irks me how some concepts come so easily to the nerds while I struggle to understand. It bothers me that some people go through school so easily earning straight "A" report cards while I have to work hard for my "B" average. I believe that everyone shouldn't be so negative toward the geek either though.  If we did not put such a negative stereotype on the nerds of today students would study more and want to become more like the geeks. One day the nerd next to us in our high school math class could easily be our boss.

Some like it Hot

Piracy is using someone else's work without giving them credit or asking for their permission. We can see piracy in movies, music,  and television. Every time a movie is played, a song is played on the radio or you see some one's episode on TV that person should be receiving money. However recording artists and actors do not always receive the credit they deserve. Copyright owners try the best that they can to try and regulate piracy and to make sure it does not happen as often as it does. In the last decade, the illegal downloading of music and movies has skyrocketed. Even though we believe that actors and artists are making plenty of money they are not the only people losing money when we illegally download something. Movie theatres such as AMC and big companies such as iTunes are losing money. Technology has made it simple to illegally download movies and music but is it really honest? Being caught for illegally downloading music or movies can be up to $250,000 in fines or 5 years in prison. The penalty is just too high where we could easily spend a dollar on a song. If we can find some kind of balance in the law where we could lower costs people would be more honest. We must be honest and follow the law of paying for what we download.

Organ Sales will Save Lives

Every year 300,000 people suffer from kidney-related diseases. Dialysis and kidney transplants are the only way to keep the person living healthy and well. However because dialysis is tiring, expensive, and only temporary there are a few other options. When the patient cannot find a fit donor in their family they are put on the deceased donor list. Even though technology has improved the average wait for a new kidney is 10 years. In 2000 around 2,500 awaiting patients in the United States passed away awaiting their new kidney. In order to prevent being part of the 2500 some patients go to the extremes of purchasing kidneys off the black market and going forward with illegal operations in foreign countries. However these kind of operations would not have to take place if the government regulated the sale of human organs. In foreign countries people are practically giving away their organs for free in order to keep a roof over their head and food on the table for their family. We should not be able to tell a person who is willing to help another that they cannot donate their organs just because of the risk they are willing to take. Millions of people take risks everyday and should be able to make their own choices as responsible adults. The current fine for being caught illegally selling ones organs is a $50,000 fine and a five year prison sentence although is not usually enforced. I believe that even though studies show that an impoverished person selling one's kidney actually worsens their state of health in the long run they should be able to do what they feel will save their family from starvation or other debts. The government should not tell people what someone can or cannot do with one's body. Critics say we are just make the poor poorer and sicker. By legalizing the sale of organs we can watch regulation better than ever before by ensuring the seller of fair compensation. Regulation would also protect the buyers operations gone bad and ensure their health with the kidneys while the black market cannot. If you are someone who is suffering from any kind of disease you would do anything to become healthy again. We should help those in need by allowing the sale of organs and save lives.

The Tomkey's

The Tomkey's and the narrator's family were two families that at the surface lived completely different lives from each other. The author in one way pitied the Tomkey's and how they lived their socially unacceptable lifestyle because the Tomkey's did not own a television. However, we find the narrator spying on the Tomkeys day after day and in a way becoming jealous and curious on what the Tomkeys do instead of watching television like the rest of the white collared families in the town. Whether it was television or the narrator's family constant moving something drove them apart and did not seem to give them as strong as a bond as the Tomkey's had. The Tomkey's were socially unacceptable people who did not believe in television and believed it was normal for a family to go trick-or-treating on November 1st. However the narrators family were also considered strange because they did not believe in making friends because of the changing of living environments. We also see the Tomkey's posting on their sad excuse for candy a sign labeling "Don't be greedy" as the narrator later on in the passage stuffs his face with the candy he received the night before. At the surface we view these two families as living completely different lives and not having the same bonds between their loved ones in the households. However we also see that this passage shows the reader how mass media such as television, radio, and the newspaper really effect people. Because the Tomkey's did not own a television and did not "believe" in owning one they were considered outcasts to the rest of the families in town. The Tomkey's wanted to be different than the other families in town and show them that it is okay to be different and not own a television and to go trick-or-treating on November 1st. Both the narrator's families and the Tomkey's show that households have different beliefs and that it acceptable to be different and learn through the experiences of others.

Blog #1

My name is Elle and I am currently a student at Purdue Calumet. I am excited to be a student at Purdue Lafayette in the fall! I am studying I.T in the school of technology and could not be more excited about it. I plan on having a fun summer with my friends and family and attending multiple events and concerts.