HOW TO GET STARTED

1.Familiarise yourself thoroughly with the unit blog, the folder, the exam and the process you are about to go through.

2.Spend some time reading and researching around the topic area you are interested in. Use the Media Library, the School Library, the Internet, and your family, friends and teachers to help inspire you.

3.Choose a topic area and a specific focus that:

• you find accessible
• you can be objective about
• has plenty of relevant material available
• is similar to/ connects with actual studies that have already been undertaken by media
  theorists
• is possible to place within a theoretical framework that you can understand
• is manageable/ practical in the time available
• is not too narrow
• is not too broad
• comes under the areas listed in the breakdown for each Topic in your folder
  provides an opportunity to learn something new/ find something out

4. After lots of brainstorming and reading, come up with no more than 3 and no less than 2 final proposals and discuss them with other students. Present them on your blog as INITIAL PROPOSALS and discuss them with other students and your Media teachers. Use the questions listed on the blog to help you prepare your initial proposals.

5. Narrow down the focus to 1 proposal, and after discussions with the teachers, develop a research strategy – this is your DETAILED PROPOSAL. Use the questions on the blog to help you. Don’t start this if you’re not sure about the focus. If you struggling to complete the questions for this, it could mean one of two things: either you need to spend more time delving into the focus area and exploring it more thoroughly OR it’s not a suitable focus area to continue with.

6. The whole point of these questions is to weed out any ‘dodgy’ research titles, to ensure you know what you are getting yourself into and that you really understand your focus area, to make sure there is a wide range of source materials available so your research is not unnecessarily limited and to ensure there are no nasty surprises a few weeks on, when its too late.

7. Get feedback at this point, adapt or start again, with the aim to achieve final teacher authorisation in order to start research.

8. At this point, prepare your personalised ACTION PLAN. Look at the framework provided, think about your own commitments and create a week by week plan accordingly.

9. Organise your blog and your hard copy folder, check all your systems are in place and working. Make sure you prepare to keep the following records:

• Secondary Sources Record - a list of all references relating to articles, books, chapters
  and extracts, web-sites read, used or visited (useful and non-useful – you’ll need a range)
• Research Methods used, with evaluation.

10. Keep these records up to date as you go along. They will form the basis of your answer to Q1 on the exam paper. It is crucial that you keep your notes, your questionnaires, findings etc carefully, and well organised on your blog and in your folder.