posted on May 1, 2001 06:32:11 AM new
Could use a few tips. I am finishing my senior thesis. My topic is the quiz show and Payola scandals of the 1950s...more emphasis on Payola really. I used the quiz show scandal as an opener to Payola. Anyway, I am not good at BSing my way through a paper, and I'm struggling a bit with the conclusion. My instructor insists the conclusion should be a minimum of 5 pages...and I'm a bit lost here. To me, a conclusion is a summary of how my thesis has been supported. Perhaps reiterating my most strong points...yet, I still can't see how that amounts to even another 5 pages. Am I missing something here? Can a conclusion be used to answer other questions? Can I editorialize in the conclusion, even if I already did so in the body of the paper?
I'm going slightly nuts here with this...can I get some pointers? Encouragement is welcome, too!
posted on May 1, 2001 06:41:43 AM new
Good Morning Julesy!
If you're looking for BS, it was my double and I graduated with honors!
You'll probably do better with help from SPAZ and the others ~ BUT, if they can't get you where you need to be, give me a holler!
I'll load up the truck while I wait to hear from you.......
*walking off with my big shovel, sending you an encouraging smooooch!*
posted on May 1, 2001 07:25:34 AM new
a guess here ... the conclusion should be a broad ranging discussion of the ideas and analyses supported by the facts and data you presented earlier in your thesis. JMHO. Not helpful??? didn't think so. best I can do. Good luck.
posted on May 1, 2001 07:52:34 AM new
Well, what did analyzing the scandals teach you e.g. About society in the 1950s? About human nature? About early television? About the impact of scandals on the way television/game shows developed?
posted on May 1, 2001 08:17:27 AM new
Lots of good suggestions here...thanks Enchanted and Irene.
I think I will go with the broader implications of Payola and the quiz show scandals...put it into a social context and maybe explain how it still exists today. I just hope I can squeak out 5 more pages. This is the longest, most intense research project I've ever done, and I'm feeling burned out. I just keep chanting...4 more days, 4 more days......
posted on May 1, 2001 08:32:21 AM new
julesy- the lenghth of the concluding remarks is proportional to the overall lenghth of the paper. a five page conclusion would be appropriate for 25-30+ page paper(you did not mention the lenghth). the implications of payola far exceeded the quiz shows on t.v., they extended into the music business, specifically the radio d.j.'s including Alan Freed and others. even further implications regarding bribery/kickbacks in business and government should give you enough to write about.
posted on May 1, 2001 08:47:25 AM new
Hi Stusi - My paper is just under 40 pages. I only included the quiz show scandal as that is what led up to the investigation into Payola. Just like today, during the 1950s there was a large anti-sex/violence movement in congress, and they targeted tv, and then radio. The bulk of the paper is about kickbacks/Alan Freed/etc...IOW, I'm knee deep in Payola. I actually pulled the transcripts from the House Subcommittee hearings...it's interesting reading once you get past the procedural stuff.
posted on May 1, 2001 09:00:10 AM new
"kneedeep in Payola" ROFL. good one Julesy.
growing up in the 60's and 70's it at first seemed to me that the 50's were revered by the grownups as the halycon days of American society, it was a shock to me when I got older and realized all this stuff was going on in the fifties that was far more serious than hippies having long hair and wearing blue jeans, and going to Woodstock.
When I learned about the McCarthy hearings when I got older, I thought, man, that was so strange, how come adults seemed to revere the fifties as idyllic times? idyllic for whom?
Maybe they only had the veneer of respectability in the fifties.
The conclusion was always the place to wrap up with the points you've already made, to briefly reiterate the supporting material, and, if necessary, to pose rhetorical questions as suggestions for further study.
I was an English major (how did you know, LOL) but I never had to write a thesis -- thankfully. I also got through college without taking a single math course, which is a source of tremendous pride for me.
posted on May 3, 2001 04:23:46 AM new
I was an English major in high school and a journalism major in college, but these guidelines were passed down to me by my mother, who was in undergraduate school when I was a kid:
Tell them what you're going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them.
Worked like a charm.
(edited to add: spaz, me too--no science courses either! I thought I was the only person in the world who'd managed to do that!)
posted on May 3, 2001 06:03:53 AM new
tab bin osity - Is that where the networks get their formula? Talking about what the politicians are going to say for an hour then when the the fellow finally speaks he takes a half our to say what could be said in 10 minutes. Then the talking heads say yup that's what he said for another hour.
Are people really that stupid?
I don't know where the talking heads got that from. I didn't study broadcast journalism, and other than reading sports on college radio, I didn't have anything to do with it.
As I said, I learned it from my mother, who was not a newswoman, but an academic. I didn't use it when I wrote news or features, just papers for college classes.
"Are people really that stupid?" Maybe. Were you speaking of academics, as I was, or modern-day television "reporters," which I wasn't?
posted on May 3, 2001 08:21:01 PM new
I agree with Enchanted and Spaz. Your conclusion is where you wrap up and restate what you've demonstrated in the body of the work. You would briefly state the conclusion (what you intend to prove) at the start of the work, present your evidence, then tie it up at the end by restating your points, citing briefly the evidence you presented earlier.
If you are unable to conclude your piece, I suggest you look over the body of the work, and remove the parts which rightly belong at the end. The conclusion should be the "clincher" and if you've already stated your conclusion piecemeal in the body of the work, your thesis will lack "punch."
Since you presented what you intend to prove at the beginning, and have presented your evidence in the body, the conclusion should be easy. Just think, "See, I told you so!" and go from there.
posted on May 3, 2001 09:56:00 PM new
Tired of regular research?
Try THE QUIZ SHOW and MR ROCK & ROLL on VHS - both available at your local video store. A refreshing way to look at Payola.
Interesting tidbit you can add to your work:
Alan Freed is from Johnstown, Pa Absolutely nothing is here to commemorate him. I learned that from the wall at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Hey - maybe that will be my next project! Try to get a plaque or something somewhere to commemorate him. Interesting idea ....
