Charge to the Research Teams

COMM 661

Together the teams are gathering communication that we will analyze in the seminar.

• The first stage in this process is bibliographic. Provide an annotated bibliography of material that you find. There will be a lot of inclusive material and be as efficient as possible with the listing (consistent with full bibliographic citation) but be as comprehensive as possible in the annotation.
• The second stage is selective. Provide two to five of the most "typical" or the best "representative anecdote" you find for the class to share. The former means it is the average kind of rhetoric you found. The latter means that it was particular rich in capturing all the nuances of this rhetoric.
• The third stage is analytical. Be prepared to do a good analysis on the material you bring to the seminar.

Two of you will work on each teams. I hope you will somewhat coordinate your work, at least to the point of making certain you are not duplicating your searches. But this does not need to be a full group project. You do, however, have that option. Place the names of the people responsible on the front page of the bibliography. I will grade group work with all members of the group receiving the same grade.

What period of time will you review? I think we want to search in 2003-2004, but if you need to go earlier, do so.

How much will you review, abstract, and report to the class? This is a harder question to answer. Essentially, you need to play the approximately nine hours a week of work I expect outside of class with the need to read until you start seeing things repeating themselves. There is no magic formula, but not too much and not too little.

Media Team

Winston and Tatsumi

This team is responsible for surveying the mass media to locate texts that contribute to the communication surrounding gay/lesbian marraige. I expect that the team will review at least:

• Major national newspapers such as the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
• A couple local newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, etc.
• Major news weeklies such as Newsweek, Time, US News.
• A couple of opinion magazines such as The Weekly Standard, New Republic, National Review, etc.
• Consult News Search at the Vanderbilt News Archives if it is available.

Inside the Community Team

Southard and Lee

This team is responsible for communication that is specifically networked to the gay/lesbian community and its supporters, discourse disseminated to gays, lesbians, transgendered, and bigendered people. I assume you will at least check:

• The LGBT press (Washington Blade and similar publications)
• Websites
• Magzines aimed at LGBT audiences

Commentary Team

Durham and Barrett

This team is responsible for discovering commentaries on the rhetoric of the unit. Typically this will be from academics or think tanks. In fulfilling these duties the team should at least search:

• EBSCO All-academic
• Lexis-Nexis

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