GEH1001/ GEC1000

GLOBALISATION AND NEW MEDIA

Week 7 Lecture
01 - Essay writing tips
02 - Essay consultation
Part 1: Essay Writing Tips

We will cover:
1. The causal role of fundamental
globalisation processes
2. Criteria
3. Analysis and argument
4. Structure and writing example
5. Citation style
FGP ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
Assignment 1: Analytical Essay (c. 1000-1500 words)/ 30% of final grade/
Due 15th March 11.59pm on Canvas

Write an analytical essay that explores one of the four fundamental

globalisation processes covered in weeks 3 to 6:
The emergence of a transnational state
The development of global consumer culture
The spread of the network society
The emergence of global cities

Relate your chosen process to a contemporary media example. This can be

interpreted broadly, for example, as a technology, a text, a practice, a
platform, an industry, or a new cultural style.

This exercise cultivates your sensitivity to trends in the media landscape

and your ability to critically analyse the way contemporary media are
conditioned by historical structures and processes of globalisation.
 Causal Chain
1. The emergence of the transnational
state 1. State-platform conflicts
1. ‘Platform imperialism’
2. The development of global
2. Netflix 2. Localised yet standardised content
consumer culture
3. ‘Lean platform’ 3. Hyper-outsourced labour
3. The spread of the network society
4. ‘Creative city’ 4. Creative clusters, gentrification
4. The emergence of global cities

Globalisation New Media New globalisation

Globalisation as a historical Modern media landscapes shape and Globalisation as an

process are shaped by fundamental evolving process
globalisation processes

Learning Goals
CRITERIA
Grading Rubric on Canvas
What is a fundamental globalisation process?
A process in which particular agents (such as people,
businesses, activists, or governments) cause
transformations across the globe, creating new, long-
lasting global phenomena.

What is a contemporary media example?

Any media-related phenomenon from recent times. This
can be interpreted broadly, for example, as a technology, a
media text, a media-based cultural practice, a platform, an
industry, or a new cultural style.
MEDIA EXAMPLES MENTIONED IN
THE LECTURES AND TUTORIALS

1. technology: smartphones (Apple, Samsung)

2. regulations: IP, fake news laws, EU local content quota
3. text: Disney films, documentary film
4. practice: fandom/ fan communities
5. new cultural style: Punk, street art
6. activism: Black Lives Matter
7. online platforms: streaming (Netflix), ‘lean platform’ (Grab,
Uber, Amazon Mechanical Turk, TaskRabbit)
8. industry: 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Nollywood,
content moderation workers, #WhoMadeMyClothes,
9. urban formations: ‘creative city’, rainbow kampong
SELF-DIRECTED RESEARCH: WHERE TO FIND THE RELEVANT SOURCES?

1. Canvas - Recommended readings

2. Google Scholar
3. NUS Library
Use the main approaches, theoretical ideas, and key words to begin your search
E.g. ‘globalisation', ‘world-system', ’flexible accumulation', ‘colonial capitalism',
‘Fordism', ‘Post-Fordism', ‘post-industrial economy’, ’cultural imperialism’,
‘cultural flows', ‘transnational state', ‘platform imperialism', ’consumer culture’,
’cultural consumption', ‘network society', history of the internet, ’mass-self
communication’, ‘information age', ‘timeless time’, ‘platform capitalism',
‘precarious work', ‘global city’, ‘cultural industries', ‘creative industry’,
‘gentrification’, etc.
Pair it with your media example and regional focus (if any)
ANALYSIS AND ARGUMENT
What is an argument?
A main point, backed up by supporting points, which
are themselves backed up by evidence.
Tip #1

Stay close to the causal chain

Locate a historical moment to begin your analysis
Identify who or what are the key agents and how they drove change
Identify the long-lasting transformations and properties
Tip #1

Example: FGP - The Network Society (Week 5)

Locate a historical moment to begin your analysis
1960s - 1990s: development of the basic internet, commercial internet, growths of
the ICT sector, the rise of information age, etc
Identify who or what are the key agents and how they drove change
state-funded researchers in military and university, web companies, venture
capitalists, etc
Identify the long-lasting transformations and properties
growth of networks, digital connectivity, ‘space of flows', ‘timeless time', user-
generated data or ‘big data', flexible work arrangement, etc
Tip #2

Strike a balance between breadth and depth

Be selective and creative with the properties of the chosen FGP and
media example
Tip #3
Clarify how the chosen FGP creates a setting for your media example to
arise
State if your media example continues the trends established by the
fundamental globalisation process, or signifies a new trend

Example: The network society leverages digital networked technologies to

increase productivity and accelerate the flows of capital. (setting) Ride-hailing
platforms such as Uber and Grab extend this phenomenon in the way they
harness digital connectivity and user data to boost supply and demand.
(continuing trend) Such a capacity largely relies on what Castells’ (2010) calls
the ‘space of flows’ (property 1) ..... (continue)
Tip #4

Engage with the theories

Clearly express your agreement (Yes),
disagreement (No), or reservation (Yes, but
...) with the scholarly arguments from the
readings
Tip #4

Expressing agreeing, disagreeing, and both

agreeing and disagreeing in an organised manner
enhances your analysis and reflects your ability
of critical, complex thought.
Castells is right to argue that __________.
However, it does not necessarily follow that
_________.
Ultimately, although I disagree with
Goodman's overall argument, I still maintain
that he raises an important issue.
STRUCTURE AND WRITING
EXAMPLES
Introduction
Establish the context of the topic of the essay
State your chosen FGP and emphasise the role it plays in globalisation
State your contemporary media example and how it connects with the FGP
Articulate your argument’s main point

Body
Supporting point 1 – description + connection between a property of the FGP and media example
Supporting point 2 – description + connection between a property of the FGP and media example
Supporting point 3 – description + connection between a property of the FGP and media example
Etc

Conclusion
Articulate the argument’s main point again
Gesture to open issues and questions
EXAMPLE FROM WEEK 6

ARGUMENT: Competitiveness with other global creative cities creates

standardised and concentrated urban experiences that ironically
undermine a city’s organic cultural characteristics.

SUPPORTING POINTS:
1. Cities now compete against each other as economic hubs
2. Creative cities competitively benchmark themselves against each
other
3. This standardises creative practices
4. This concentrates creative spaces and excludes organic creative
place making
Introduction structure
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Establish the context of your essay

Located at the heart of Southeast Asia, Singapore is a major economic and cultural hub.
State your chosen FGP and emphasise the role it plays in globalisation
As a global city, Singapore acts as a command and control for global capitalist economy.
State your contemporary media example and how it connects with the FGP
Creative cities are an extension of political economic logic of global cities.
Articulate your argument main point
Competitiveness with other global creative cities creates standardised and
concentrated urban experiences that ironically undermine a city’s organic cultural
characteristics.
Introduction writing
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

The global capitalist economy required the emergence of what Saskia Sassen (1996) calls ‘global
cities’, which act as command and control centres for the management of global flows. Strategically
located at the heart of Southeast Asia, Singapore has transformed into a major economic and
cultural hub in the last decades and consistently ranked among the Top 10 in Schroder's Global
Cities Index. In this essay, I explore how the city-state's creative city policies extend the economic
logic of global cities by capitalising on local clusters of globally connected professional services to
support local creativity, generate a high value ‘cultural economy’, and further promote a city’s
global brand. Specifically, I examine the development of Bras Basah Museum & Art District in Bugis
to point out the advantages and disadvantages of these policy initiatives. Through the Singapore
case, I argue that by competing with other global cities, creative city policies standardise and
concentrate creativity in a way that ironically undermines a city’s organic cultural characteristics.
Body structure
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Supporting point 1: Cities now compete against each other as economic hubs
Supporting point 2: Creative cities competitively benchmark themselves
against each other
Supporting point 3: This standardises creative practices
Supporting point 4: This concentrates creative spaces and excludes organic
creative place making
Supporting point 1: city competition
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Integrating theory and empirical studies

Sassen’s theory of global cities
Florida and McRobbie’s research on post-industrial creative economies
Supporting point 2: competitive benchmarking
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Integrating theory and empirical studies

Same theories by Sassen, Florida, and McRobbie
Cite Singapore's creative city policy as an
empirical example
Supporting point 3: standardised creativity
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Integrating theory and empirical studies

Theories of homogenisation and heterogenisation
Cite an empirical study on the consequences of
implementing creative city policies
Supporting point 4: exclusive placemaking
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Integrating theory and empirical studies

Cite another empirical study on the consequences of
implementing creative city policies
Conclusion
Example: Global Creative Cities (Week 6)

Briefly articulate argument main point again

Gesture to open issues and questions
E.g. Is there a way to preserve international flows of vibrant talent while
preserving unique local cultures and creators?
Summary of structure
CITATION & BIBLIOGRAPHY
Visit:
NUS Library Style Guide: https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/citation
NUS APA Guide: https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/APA

Check your Canvas (Modules > Week 7 | Writing the FGP Essay > Resources for Academic Essay)
Essay Writing: Citing Texts
Example from a previous year
Topic: a sub-national class of migrant mothers and their media engagement in a global city

The economic migration of people who seek employment opportunities in different

regions constitutes a fundamental globalisation process. I explore how this process is
experienced by migrant mothers who use media to facilitate what Madianou (2019) calls
‘transnational mothering’. Migrant mothers form a particular kind of ‘ethnoscape’
(Appadurai, 1990) that can be understood through Sassen’s (2002) notion of the
‘feminisation of survival’ and Madianou’s (2019) theory of ‘polymedia’.
Essay Writing: Citing Texts
Example from a previous year
Topic: a sub-national class of migrant mothers and their media engagement in a global city

Madianou adds subtlety to the notion of feminised survival. ‘Survival’ suggests someone is
barely getting by. But migrant women also grow and become independent. She writes:
”Even though women often face difficult labor conditions, including exploitation, for
many migrants, migration is experienced as a form of autonomy and recognition. Migrant
women are reluctant to give up this new sense of personhood even when the economic
reasons that propelled their migration have been met” (Madianou, 2019, p. 587). Media are
therefore used to care for families while maintaining the physical distance that allows for
this autonomy.
Footnotes and bibliography
You can use footnotes in the essay and they will not be included in the word count. However,
take note that it is only for the purpose providing references from non-scholarly sources such as
online-based data, news reports or articles. Do not use footnotes to provide elaborate
information.

Example:
Footnotes and bibliography
Provide a full list of bibliography at the end of the essay.

Example:
Final information
NUS Guidelines on the Use of AI Tools For Academic Work
“You must acknowledge the use of an AI tool by including a note or “methods section” at the end
of the assignment explaining, e.g., which AI tools were used, in which parts of the process they
were used, what were the prompts used to generate results, and what you did with the outputs to
add value. ... One way this can be done is in a tabular form as shown below”:
Final information
Submit your essay via Turnitin on Canvas

Late submissions will be subject to mark reductions

A penalty of 5% of the total points will be deducted for each working day of
late submission

Deadline extension
Case-by-case basis
Applied to medical reasons and family emergencies
Discuss this with your tutor
WHERE ARE YOU AT?
Ask yourself:

Has my argument fully emerged?

Do I have all the supporting points and evidence?
What theories can add depth?
How should these elements be coherently arranged in a structure?
Part 1: Essay Consultation

Have the main components of your argument

- FGP and media example - ready to discuss
with your peers and tutor.

Share any questions you have regarding the

assignment and essay writing.