ADVERTISERS UNREALISTIC PORTRAYALS OF WOMEN

COMM423 – Literature Review
This assignment is worth a total of 30% of the course grade (5% [20 points] for the
preliminary outline and reference list, 25% [100 points] for the final paper).
This assignment requires you to write a literature review. A literature review
discusses published information in a particular subject area. It is a summary or recap
of the important information from previously published sources.1 For this
assignment you look at research concerning some topic of your choosing in the world
of advertising. You will need to find and read studies, discuss the theories and
research relating previously performed on your topic, and come to your own
conclusions about the existence and importance of your overall question/topic. You
should also discuss the implications of the research, as you see and interpret them,
for society and/or consumers.
Research Project Stages
Stage 1: Developing a Question/Choosing a Topic
For this assignment you will need to develop a general research question. Pick a topic
that you are interested in. Your topic can be related to research you’ve done in other
classes, an area covered in class that you would like to investigate in depth, or a
topic that you’ve always found of interest. Past semesters of this course have seen
papers on the following topics:
• Advertising’s Impact on Children’s Consumer Behavior
• Relationship between Sports Sponsorship and Fandom
• Role of Colors in Creating a Brand’s Logo
• Impact of Advertising on Children’s Obesity
• Strong Partisan Voters are More Influenced by Negative Ads
• Social Media Influencers Are a More “Organic” Form of Advertising
• Is There Better Recall of Products Advertised at Sporting Events
• Anti-Tobacco Ads Increase Negative Perceptions of Smoking
• Advertising Based on Ethnicity Can Influence Consumption
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Celebrity Endorsements in Ads
• Exposure to Advertising Impact Children’s Gender Based Beliefs
• Increasing Prevalence of Pharmaceutical Advertising in the U.S.
• Portrayals of “Non-Traditional” Couples in Advertisements
• Subliminal Advertising is an Effective Influencer
• Femvertising Positively Influences Consumer Behavior
• Advertisers Continue to Idealize Unrealistic Portrayals of Women
• Effects of Political Ads on Voters during the 2016 Presidential Election
• Neuroscience Reveals a Person’s True Opinion of an Advertisement
• How Do Ads Target Consumers to Enact Specific Physiological Reponses?
• Methods and Consequences of Advertising to a Queer Audience
1 Paraphrased from http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/literature-reviews/
As you can hopefully see you can choose absolutely anything you would like to write
about for your literature review. It is simply dependent on where your interests lie
and what specific topics may interest you.
Stage 2: Researching your Question
Use the UD Library resources, such as online library databases, to discover what
research has been done in your area of interest. Try not to limit yourself just to
books. Most social science research, particularly the most recent research, is
published in journal format. For a database search you might want to begin looking
for materials by doing a keyword search. Keep in mind that the authors cited in the
course readings offer good starting places for you to do your research. You should
also keep in mind that the bibliographies and reference lists of relevant research
articles or the course readings can offer information about where to find other
related articles.
Notes:
• You are expected to look at actual research studies in reputable journals,
books, or in reliable sources. What is a reputable journal? Journal of
Communication, Journal of Advertising, Human Communication Research, Media
Psychology, and Journal of Advertising Research are some of the journals that
may contain reports of research in your area. If you are unsure if a resource
you found is from a reputable, peer-reviewed academic journal, ASK ME!
• You may include information from reputable websites (e.g., statistical
information about media usage from “Children Now” or Kaiser Foundation
Reports). Some journals are also available in full-text format on-line (i.e.,
Journal of Health Communication). This type of material is credible and
constitutes a “reputable journal”–it’s just in electronic format. This does not
include websites such as cnn.com, foxnews.com, or Wikipedia.org.
• You are expected to examine at least SIX original research studies published in
reputable journals or as book chapters. Abstracts, or summaries of studies
reported in other studies or newspaper reports do not count. Note: Six
studies will likely be insufficient, and you will need to refer to more sources.
• You may also use other types of material (articles from popular magazines,
cites from organizational websites, etc.) to enhance your argument. For
example, if you are writing a paper about advertising and sports you might
quote or cite material from a recent Time Magazine in your introduction,
essentially outlining the recent occurrences surrounding the issue–however,
you should not rely only on this type of information. And such resources will
NOT count toward your six original, required research studies.
• If you choose a topic that is related to one of the course topics, you are
encouraged to use course readings (and their reference lists) to help you find
relevant literature for your review. You may also use and cite course readings,
but course readings found on the syllabus will NOT count toward your six
original, required research studies. You must demonstrate that you’ve
researched your topic beyond the course readings on the syllabus.
• Remember that this is a “Review of the Literature” not just an essay describing
your opinions. Avoid “opinionated” language (I think, I believe, etc.) when
writing up the majority your paper.
You may find a lot of material on your topic. For example, there have been a
growing number of studies on the relationship between food advertising and
obesity. You should develop some research strategy for narrowing down your search
(e.g., looking at the most recent studies, looking at aspects of media effects, looking
at the research investigating a specific communication theory, etc.).
You may find that there has been a limited amount of research on a specific topic
that you’re interested in. For example, suppose you’re interested in exploring the
effects of banner ads for alcoholic products on adolescents who might access certain
web sites. There may not be a lot of research on this specific topic. You would
therefore need to look at research in related areas. You could look at research on the
impact of banner ads for other products and combine that with research on the
impact of television and magazine ads for alcohol on adolescents.
Stage 3: Developing an Argument
Based on what you’ve found, you may want to revise or narrow your topic. Rather
than looking at advertising in general, you may want to focus on a particular
medium. Rather than looking at a topic in terms of “children and adolescents,” you
may want to limit yourself to a particular age group. You may also choose to look at
mediating variables rather than overall effects. You should then develop a thesis
statement–for example: “Attractive banner ads for alcoholic products may influence
adolescents’ intentions to consume alcohol.”
You will then need to develop an argument supporting your statement. Break your
argument down into logical statements which you can support with evidence from
your search of the literature.
You should be able to support each of the statements that you’ve made with evidence
from the research articles that you’ve looked at. Your argument should be supported
by (or be consistent with) specific communication theories.
Stage 4: The Outline:
It will be easier to organize your arguments and your paper, in general, if you create
an outline to start. An outline will allow you to (a) organize your paper by helping
you to determine what order you would like to make your points in, (b) determine
how you will get your ideas to connect together, (c) allow you to see if any portion of
your paper needs to be fleshed out further, and (d) will assist you in finding ways to
make your writing simply flow better.
You will be required to submit a preliminary outline midway through the summer
session. Your outline should be in a traditional ALPHANUMERIC OUTLINE format.
The link below shows you examples of an alphanumeric outline. If you have any
questions about how to construct your outline do not hesitate to ask.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/developing_an_o
utline/types_of_outlines.html
Stage 5: Written Report:
You will need to write a paper developing your argument, drawing your own
conclusions, and discussing the implications of your conclusions for society. You
should write this paper as if it were a professional document that would be read by
an interested but uninformed audience. In other words, do not assume that your
audience is familiar with this assignment or any material we have covered in class
(no references to “for this assignment, “as we discussed in lecture,” etc.). You
should be as specific as possible in describing the concepts, theories, research, and
findings you have researched. Your conclusions about this research and your
discussion of implications should logically flow from your research.
You must use subheadings to divide the sections of your paper. Your paper MUST
include the following FIVE subheadings in the following order:

• Introduction: Briefly but clearly describe your thesis statement, the theory or
theories you’ve looked at, the medium (or media) you are concentrating on,
and briefly justify why you’ve chosen to examine this topic.
• Literature Review: Remember that this is not a book review or simple
summary of the studies that you’ve read. Here is the body of your paper and is
where you should develop your arguments as described above. Be sure to cite
any material you refer to. For example, if you use the phrase: “Research
studies have found…,” cite the specific studies you are referring to. If you note
any statistics or effects (60% of all alcohol ads contain…) you must cite your
source of information. DO NOT EVER CUT AND PASTE FROM ANOTHER
SOURCE WITHOUT GIVING PROPER CREDIT. Quoted material should be
enclosed in quotation marks with author, date, and page number of your
source included. You are expected to use your own words to summarize the
content of other research studies and to develop your own theoretically based
argument for potential effects. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism and
leads to the infraction being reported to the Office for Judicial Affairs. If you
have any questions about the way in which you have referenced material in
your paper, ASK ME prior to submitting the assignment.
• Conclusion: Here is where you draw your conclusion from your study of the
existing research, tying the research from the literature review section
together. Your conclusions should logically flow from your findings, should
briefly summarize what you found and how you see your resources interrelate.
Your outline will assist here as well.
• Discussion: Here is where you discuss the implications of what you found for
society and/or consumers.
• References: Your reference list must adhere to the style of the American
Psychological Association (APA style).
NOTE: The most substantive part of your paper will be the literature review section.
However, this does not mean you are to neglect the conclusion or the discussion
sections. The introduction, conclusion, and discussion sections are each worth 10%
of your final paper grade. DO NOT SUBMIT PAPERS WHERE THESE SECTIONS
ARE MERELY ONE OR TWO VERY BRIEF PARAGRAPHS. These sections must be
properly fleshed out.
As outlined on the course syllabus, all papers must be written in 10 or 12-point type.
Font style must be Times New Roman or Courier. Papers should have one-inch
margins on the left, right, top and bottom. Your name must be in the upper righthand corner of the first page of text. Cover sheets and reference pages NEVER count
toward the page total.
Papers should be approximately 10 double-spaced pages long. If necessary, you can
go OVER the page limit, though I don’t recommend going too much less. Papers that
are drastically less (less than 9 pages) will lose points. Remember, your title page (if
you include one, though it is not required) and your references page does not count
toward this page total.
You are expected to use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any references
or quotes from sources must be correctly cited using APA citation
style. See: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_forma
tting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html (Your paper does NOT need
to adhere to APA style in any other way [header style, page numbers, title page,
etc.].) In addition, you will find a guide to APA citation format on the course Canvas
site. Also, other resources in how to use APA citation format can be found on the
Internet.
ONLY YOUR REFERENCE LIST AND IN-TEXT CITATIONS MUST BE IN APA STYLE –
NOT THE ENTIRE PAPER. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FORMATTING YOUR PAGE
NUMBERS, COVER PAGE, OR ANY OTHER PORTION TO APA STYLE – JUST YOUR
REFERENCE LIST AND YOUR IN-TEXT CITATIONS
A preliminary outline and reference list is due no later than 11:59pm ET on Tuesday,
June 21, 2022.
Your final Literature Review is due no later than 11:59pm ET on Thursday, July 7,
2022.
Electronic submissions are expected for both stages of the assignment via Canvas
only. Assignments must be submitted as Microsoft Word-readable documents or pdfs.
No e-mail submissions or hard paper copies accepted. Do NOT submit links to
Google Docs.