CMNS 110 SPRING
2007
REVISED STUDY
& REVIEW QUESTIONS (MT)
I.
INTRODUCTION:
The exam will be in two parts, a short answer section worth
15%, and two longer discussion pieces weighted 5% a piece
for a total of 25%. You will be supplied with two booklets,
more will be available on request. If you write more than
two booklets, however, you’ll be writing too much.
You’ll have the full two hours. Please note, the exam
is closed book, and no documentation other than
the required
bibliography (see No. III.2.a. below) is
allowed.
II. SHORT
ANSWER TYPES (5 X 3% = 15%).
The original list of 28 questions has been cut down to 10,
although I combined a previous question with thematic drawn
from more recent weeks into No. 5. The additional 4 (14 in
all), are based on the literature and discussions weeks
5-7. On exam day, we’ll cut 4 at random and
you’ll write FIVE from the remaining selection of 10.
1. In
which ways was the parchment codex an advance on the
papyrus scroll?
2. Explain the origins and
characteristics of “courtly love” as a literary
genre. Could we say that a form of double bind is built
into the genre? Why or why not?
3. What is the “art of
memory”; which are its essential techniques?
4. What is the nature and role
of the “generalized other” in Mead’s
approach to identity formation? What role might mass media
play in such an approach?
5. Provide three examples of
characteristic psychodynamics of oral media ecologies.
Explain by contrasting correlate psychodynamics of print
cultures.
6. Why would understanding
implicit media be an asset when conducting dramaturgical or
frame analysis?
7. Explain and give examples
the three persuasive arguments used in rhetoric -- logos,
ethos and pathos. Could an overall argument be persuasive
if one or two of them were flawed?
8. What is difference between
“contagion” and “imitation” as
explanations for crowd formation and behaviour? According
to Freud, who opposed the hypnoses thesis, where did the
leader’s power over the crowd come from?
9. Why did Plato throw the
poets out of the Republic?
10. What role did media
innovation play in the spread of the European vernaculars?
What did the vernaculars displace and why?
11. Where does the phonetic
alphabet originate and how does it differ from other forms
of writing? Discuss with respect to two other forms of
chirography.
12. Why and how is the
theory
of loci considered as a technique for
composition rather than rote learning?
13. Having situated the tetrad
in McLuhan’s overall doctrine, explain what it is and
do one.
14. Why and how is the self a
product of “conversation?” With whom?
III.
ESSAY
TYPES (worth
5% + your report on topic development 5% = 10 %).
III. 1.
Literature based:
On
exam day, one of the four study questions will drop off the
list and you’ll do of ONE of the remaining three.
15. What is propaganda? Listing
three communication and/or media strategies used by
propagandists, explain how these might be used in framing
social issues, rules, and relations.
16. Based on the insights of
the Palo Alto and Chicago Schools, why might a flame,
rather than a stone, be a better metaphor for personal
identity and consciousness?
17. What constitutes a public
sphere? What would characterize communication practices and
institutions in Habermas’ ideal public sphere? Would
propaganda be allowed in this ideal public sphere? Why or
why not?
18. Given what we have learned
thus far about communication, mediation and identity
formation, discuss and assess the validity of the statement
“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words
can never hurt you!”
III. 2.
Critical Review/Research update (for 5%):
Of the
three articles or topics you’ll have chosen at the
library seminar and written up for your survey assignment,
you’ll choose one and write a progress report on your
research
Along with such discussion and exposition of the
substantive content of your explorations as necessary to
illustrate, you’ll be required to explain:
•
Why you’ve
chosen the topic you did (why should anyone care),
•
What you think the
limitations of the Wikipedia entry (or discussion available
on Wikipedia) to be providing reasons
•
Which information
you have begin to consult so you can effectively critique
and revise it or create an entry so that these limitations
have been overcome.
NOTE:
•
You must bring a
printed version of only
your bibliography
(1 page only) and add it to your booklet when handing in
the exam.
PDF
CMNS 110 MT STUDY
Q REVISED WK 7