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materials, from notebooks to doors, walls and physical objects. Consider digital graffiti, for instance around a hashtag. Social media and online materials Availability of data Helpful for regular evaluation (e.g. process) Encourages participation amongst regular online users Sense of
, Steven Pinker, claims that ‘more than ever before, the currency of our social and cultural lives is the written word’ (Pinker, 2014 : 8). It is often claimed in sociological circles that, in the West, we live in a communication or media culture due to a proliferation in recent decades of communication technologies and social media. Whatever the effects may be on the way we read and write, it is highly likely that reading critically and writing clearly will be at least as valuable in twenty years’ time as they are now, if not more. Developing methods of learning to
with a more nuanced and less one-sided conclusion. Questions in sociology commonly expect you to engage in a critical reading of the literature, to weigh up one position against another and to look for evidence to support these positions. This can often lead to a quite complicated outcome, where some parts of the essay support one position, theory or interpretation, whereas other parts support another. For example, in the conclusion quoted below the student has sought to answer the question ‘Does social media empower the individual?’, but has found that his critical
damaging to participants if their identity was obvious or revealed, and this could even result in legal harm for you or for those with whom you are working. Thus it is important not to be dismissive of the potential ramifications of activities and to think realistically about any potential harm that might arise. Sometimes we might be involved in an activity where there are potential ethical risks; for instance, you may be a researcher with an interest in teen eating disorders who plans to use social media to engage around a particular activity. It’s likely that
, dismissive or misleading questions (Rose, 2003) ✔ Insight into what might cause distress and how to manage this appropriately (Nicholls et al., 2003) ✔ Feedback on proposal and all supporting documentation (e.g. participant information sheets, consent forms, adverts etc.) Once a study has all the necessary approvals, it can begin to recruit research participants. The precise recruitment strategy that is used will have been outlined in the ethics submission. It could, for example, include recruiting in person at clinics, or via poster display, or via social media. Patient
easier access for people with mobility issues. Not only that, but the lecture capacity extended from three hundred people per hour to 1,600 per hour – which meant we could run a parallel programme of exciting events … We added in lots more family friendly interactive experiments, social media buildup, arts showcases and musical entertainment, and in 2010, the new festival format was launched.’ Over the course of the day the festival now includes a variety of activities, from those designed for young people, including hands-on activities and demonstrations, to talks
be writing an essay that examines the impacts that social media have had on everyday life. Social media are the objects that you will be writing about. There is a range of different concepts that you might use to explore the object of social media, for example Castells’ (2009) concept of ‘network society’. It is helpful to be able to explain to the reader that you will focus on a particular object, which might be stipulated in the essay question or might be of your choice. Defining and exemplifying your objects is crucial to helping set the boundaries for your
’ essays to include any of the nifty ways of evading conventional spelling that developed when the length of texts (SMS) was restricted and are perpetuated in the strict limits on the number of characters of social media such as Twitter. So be sure never to write ‘u’ for you, ‘tx’ for thanks or ‘gr8’ for great. Just the same rationale applies to knowing how to punctuate properly. Editing and proof-reading proceed more smoothly (and even early drafting to sort out your thoughts can work more easily) if the basics of punctuation feel like second nature. So, given