The document provides instructions for students to exchange proposals with a partner and conduct a peer review. They are directed to take notes on their partner's proposal, mark where it addresses specific questions, and ask for clarification or additional details as needed. The questions focus on understanding the object of study, evidence used, and how it could be expanded. Students then discuss their feedback and notes with their partner in a respectful manner.

1. Choose a partner.
Exchange one copy of your Proposal with each other.
1. Use the copy of your partner’s Proposal in front of you to take
notes. Mark the locations in the text where they are responding to
my questions.
2. If they do not answer a question, make note of it on the
Proposal so that you can bring it up with them at a later time.
3. Remember that you and your classmate have the tools to do
critical analysis. If they have not demonstrated so in their Proposal,
you need to ask them to be more specific, to demonstrate that
knowledge.
4. Be professional and collegial in your questions and your
discussion. You are asking questions because you want their
Proposal, and the work that grows out of the Proposal to be as
strong as it possibly can be. Asking questions, and answering them
often enables us to think about things in different ways than we
otherwise would.

2. Take 5-7 minutes to read through your colleague’s Proposal.
Ask yourself the following questions as you are reading:
1. What is your partner’s object of study? Do they provide sufficient
information about what it is?
2. What specific part of the object is your partner focusing on? Do they
explain why it stands in for the whole object?
3. Is your partner using appropriate course terms to characterize the
object’s significance? If so, which ones? If not, ask them what course
terms they are going to utilize. Can you think of other medium-specific
terms that they should consider from this class?
4. What thoughts do they provide about the object’s relevance to the
world around it? Have they considered the object’s convergence with
other forms of media?
5. Where specifically is your partner making claims? What kind of
evidence are they using to back up their claims? Is it sufficient to
convince you?
6. What else could they consider as they start expanding this into a
Research Project?

3. Now take 5-7 minutes to exchange responses to each
other’s Proposal.
1. Provide for them an oral synopsis of your written notes
regarding their Proposal.
2. Go through your individual responses to the questions
posed above.
3. Make reference to your classmate’s Proposal and to
your notes. Point out the areas in the text where they are
responding to (or should be responding to) the above
questions.
4. Ask them to specify and to clarify if something seems
vague.
5. Ask questions and be respectful.

4. On Tuesday we will wrap up our discussion of the Internet and will begin to
talk about media effects. Come to class ready to answer the following
questions:
*What is the “hypodermic-needle model” theory of media
effects? During what time does it come into use? What surrounding
historical events contribute to the popularity of this theory?
*What is the “minimal-effects model” theory? What research
techniques enable social scientists to complicate earlier theories of
media effects? What does the “minimal-effects model” still assume?
*What is the “uses and gratifications model” theory? How do
researchers approach their research subjects differently in this
theoretical model than with the other two models?
*What does “cultural studies” research focus on?
At the end of Tuesday’s class we will go through the Peer Review
assignment. You will be matched up with a colleague for the Peer
Review assignment.