Plan

- Gather the exact information and articles that I will be using from both magazines.

-  Do a detailed anaylsis of each articles highlighting the different frameworks.

-  Plan out each paragraph and the structure of my coursework. In the plan of each paragraph include all the main points of what I will talk about.

-  Write up a draft of each paragraph and them improve each of these.

Production Log -11/07/14

In the past couple of lessons I have been working on my methods and writing my methodology. I have also been looking at the vocabulary and I have posted 5 terms which I think I should become clear on and that could help me in the course.

Vocabulary - 14/07/14

Methodology

Methodology

For my investigation I will be using 2 case studies in order to collect my information for my investigation. I will be using cross sectional research for my case studies as I will be looking at very similar information. I will firstly be focusing on the front cover of the magazine. From my research the epistemological perspective underpinning of my study will be pos positivism. When researching I do not see The Hawthorne Effect would affect my research, however I believe that the experimenter- expectancy effects may affect my research as I may be looking however there will be a few variables such as the gender audience. These two case studies will be a men’s health magazine and a women’s health magazine. Both of these will provide me with the specific information which I require for my case studies. For my case studied I will focus on specific parts of the magazine, this is because as both magazines will be aimed at the same audience other than gender it will make it more fair and comparablefor specific results which I have suggests through my introduction. However I would not let his affect my results and would not lead to any biased results. Within the research my data will come from the public domain where there is not too much concern over the ethics. I will ensure that I do not use biased material or data to support my agenda within my research that could be harmful in any way as this could be seen as unfair and not reliable.  When looking at the data I will be analysing the language and data frameworks in order to see how the magazines are targeted to the specific audience.

Introduction

Introduction

Hypothesis: How is gender represented differently in men’s health magazines and women’s health magazines in order to market to the specific audience?

For my language investigation I will be exploring men’s health magazines and women’s health magazines in order to see how gender is represented differently to market the magazine to the specific gender audience. Within this investigation I will be analysing the language used and how it is different in each magazine to meet the gender audience and it has been used to convey the stereotypical men and women. To support my investigation I will be using some of the gender theorists such as Tannen, and Lakoff. I will also focus on the English Language frameworks: lexis, graphology, grammar, pragmatics and the discourse structure.

My interest in looking into gender became clear when studying gender in the AS course and therefore by continuing this and doing further research into this topic would give me a wider understanding of gender representation. Furthermore my investigation would be focusing on the content of the magazines, and having a passion for magazines I believe that this would be enjoying to look at. Throughout my investigation I will be using examples from the magazines in order to compare the language of men and women. By doing this investigation the aim will be to gain a wider understanding for gender representation as well as learning more about how magazines target to a specific audience through the different language frameworks.

I will be using a 2 very similar health magazines however one will be aiming at men and the other females, and both will market to the same age category.  By using the same aged audiences this will make it more comparable and fair when showing the representation.

From doing this investigation I would expect that men are portrayed to be very strong characters and focus on them being very sporty and strong, whilst the female magazines focus on how women want to look. I believe that this is what I will find when looking into gender as women today are very conscious of the way they look and often want to be portrayed as slim and pretty, however men always want to look very strong and masculine. In addition the language between the two genders will also be very different whilst the feminine language will be a lot less aggressive, the male language will seem very competitive as males are portrayed as competitive and want to be the best.

Methodology: For the investigation I will be using a men’s health magazine and female’s health magazine. This is because they will be focusing on the specific audience of the same age whilst having similar content. For my investigation I will be focusing on specific parts of the magazines which will mean I can compare both magazines easily. I will firstly compare the front covers of each magazine, and then the contents page and then finally similar content inside.

 

Production Diary- 03/07/14

Since starting A2 English I have thought about the possible ideas which I could use for my investigation. I came up with the following ideas:
1 - Language of text messaging
2 - Content of teen magazines
3 - How women and men are represented through products in magazines
However after thinking about my ideas in a lot more detail I decided to do the gender investigation. this is because this will be he most interesting for me to investigate but I would also enjoy learning and doing further research on this topic. In addition I have learn't about gender in AS English and therefore also believe that this will help me with my research and investigation.
After deciding what my investigation will be about I have worked on this and started to write my introduction.