Audiences and intimate connections 2. Gamification and user retention 3. The intimacy of gesture (cultural practices on Tinder and of selfies)
1) Be as specific as possible. Rather than writing about an entire platform, why not focus on a particular phenomenon on that platform, or a particular demographic? It is always best in academic work to go for depth instead of breadth and this is important in your case studies as well.
2) Avoid sweeping statements. Related to the first point: try to avoid sweeping statements that don’t really tell us anything, and try to avoid statements which give opinions without backing them up with academic literature or other citations. Try also to avoid emotional comments about things being good or bad, for example – as scholars we are looking to be neutral and critical.
3) Engage with the literature. All your case studies will be made stronger by engaging appropriately with the relevant literature! This can be from the week’s readings, or articles you go out and find yourselves, e.g. via the USyd library page or Google Scholar.
4) Argument and reflection, not just opinion. Remember that in all academic work we are not really looking for your “opinion”, as such, but rather we are looking for you to make an argument, and to defend it with data, existing research, analysis, and insights.
5) Use pictures! This is certainly not essential, but I think it helps with your case studies, especially if you are discussing phenomena that your markers, or your fellow students, might not have come across.
