E-Portfolio

 This has been an eventful year for someone like me who loves political science. I couldn't help but get excited about the election season and this class also got me very excited about media/journalism in politics as well. Throughout the semester we have focused on creating stories and articulating research, all concerning the American Presidential Election. I helped to create three news stories, two content analyses and a field research study which have all helped me reach our class learning objectives. These projects highlighted the significance of concepts like framing, bias, and the importance of social media.

In our first content analysis, my group mates and I analyzed Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton's campaign websites. Our topic of research was the difference between the language used by the Clinton campaign versus the Fiorina campaign. These were the only two women running for president this year and both had decided to take different approaches to the way they communicated through their campaign websites. We studied the use of negative language and  positive language on both websites and for which polices they would use certain language or perspectives. In our second content analysis, we analyzed news articles from two different sources, and studied their perspectives as well. This second content analysis focused more on frames used in political journalism rather than positive and negative speech. The frames we studied were horserace, issues, candidate attributes and conflict. These frames change an individuals perspective on information received and affect the political process greatly. This content analysis helped me as a student who has focused primarily on political science to understand key concepts in journalism as well.

For both content analyses, I helped to research information, code concepts, and even write summaries on information collected. I have confidence in my ability to observe political communication processes and produce high quality research projects. Because I focused mainly on research for my content analyses' group, I feel like I have learned to provide critical perspectives for American Elections and Communication.

Creating news stories with my groups was a very different experience from creating the content analyses. For my first news story, I attended a DNC meeting, and for my second story I attended a Kasich event. For my last news story I collected interviews of students who were voting in the Georgia primary. The news story process helped me gain more experience in journalism. Rather than researching, I was able to be more hands-on and able to communicate with individuals to provide a narrative that others find interesting. It was difficult for me to set aside my biases when doing research, but it was important that I did to get the most accurate information possible online, or from my interviewees. Although I helped to create high quality news stories, I don't feel particularly adept at creating one on my own. Finding a good angle is something I still struggle with.

We created a field research study this semester having to do with Bernie Sanders. My part in this project was to collect research on how the Bernie campaign speaks to millennials and African American voters. I found media images of Bernie Sanders at Black Lives Matter events, and another photo of him speaking to college students.

Students Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Member Bernie Sanders speaking to college students at  University Illinois, Chicago in 1962

 Our research led us to conclude that Sanders has been a proponent for civil rights for many years, and his campaign has chosen to highlight this whenever possible. The importance of social media was a huge theme within the field study because the Sanders campaign chose Facebook and Twitter as their main way to reach out to young voters. Throughout the semester we learned that all successful campaigns actively post on social media, use hashtags, and hijack each others hashtags to gain exposure. The research field study helped me gain further experience in social media research, but it also helped me get more comfortable with writing. Because I'm not a journalist, that was the biggest struggle for me in class, but it was easier for me to summarize research rather than create a story.