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CONTENT
I was able to identify many apparent themes of portrayal of female serial killers in True-Crime documentaries in my research process. First, I found that the major verbal themes of portrayal were the bad an calculated themes which appeared the most frequently. In addition, major visual themes that appeared were visual themes of sexualization such as being shown flirting with a man or being portrayed with revealing clothing. The other major visual theme was the modest or unsuspecting portrayal. These killers were often shown with modest clothing or with an emphasis on a cross necklace. Lastly, two extra verbal themes were identified. One involved an emphasis on shock of the gender of the killer. The other involved an emphasis on the idea that the killer appeared to be an average everyday women. It was also found that within my data, there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of males and proportion of females who mentioned 3 of the themes. The proportion of males who mentioned the bad theme was shown to be statistically larger than females. The opposite was true for the sad and calculated themes where the proportion of females who mentioned these themes was greated than males. With this information it allows for many directions of future research. It can be done on a larger scale study so that the findings can be confidently applied to a larger population. Additionally, it can be compared to a study on portrayal of male serial killers to see if there is a difference.
PRODUCT
In my final presentation and oral defense, I learned how to synthesize all of the data and information that I found over the course of my research. I had to learn how to make my findings more compact and to only include the most important information to get my point across in the argument. In addition, for my presentation, I had to learn how to convey my information in an easy to understand way to my audience. I had to be efficient and strategic with what I included to make my argument and presentation as effective as possible. Additionally, through practice, I learned presentation skills and how to have confidence whilst describing my research to the audience. Additionally, the oral defense challenged me as well. Here, I had to be prepared to answer a variety of the questions on the spot. This challenged me to think in depth about my process and how I would answer each question. Lastly, the academic paper taught me how to convey all of my data in an organized and easy to understand way again. I learned how to include and describe graphs and tables in an effective way. I also learned how to give enough background information to the reader so that they fully understand the topic going into my description of my research project.
PROCESS
Over the course of this process, I learned much about myself. I was able to learn much about the research process in general. It was extremely importance to maintain perseverance throughout the process as roadblock are bound to come up and it is more important how you respond to those. I learned how to be creative and find solutions every time I came upon an issue during my research process. I also learned that I have a strong work ethic and will continued to push through and complete my project to the best of my ability through my hard work. Ultimately, these lessons of perseverance and finding creative solutions to problems that come up will be extremely valuable in many aspects of my future life. These will help me especially when I am facing all new problems in college next year and it will be important that I continue to do my best and persevere through the difficult challenges. Ultimately, these traits will also carry over into my future career after my college years as well and they are always going to be relevant.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to give thanks to my teachers, Mrs. Dobos and Mr. McBride, who helped and supported me throughout this entire process. They helped push and challenge me to be my best in my research process. They helped give me the resources to succeed in both my research paper and in my presentation and oral defense. In addition, I would like to thank my parents, John and Erin as they also supported me throughout the entire process.
ABSTRACT
The question for this AP Research Project was "How are Female Serial Killers Portrayed in True-Crime Documentaries?". This question was developed from the lack of female serial killers that exist and the lack of research done on their portrayal. Studies of shown evidence of stereotypes in portrayal of female criminals in other forms of media so this study was done to determine if they are prevalent in True-Crime Documentaries as well. Content analysis was used to conduct this study where quotes were timestamped that represented the previously identified themes of mad, bad, sad, sexually seductive, calculated, and contextualization. Each quote was timestamped and note was taken of who said each quote in Google Docs. With this information, frequency of the quotes was counted. In addition, visual and extra themes were also taken note of. These were noted in a separate table on Google Docs. For the results, it was found the bad and calculated themes appeared the most frequently. In addition, themes of sexualization or modesty were found for the visual themes. Lastly, themes of gender shock and emphasis on normal appearance were prevalent. Lastly, a statistical analysis test identified a difference in proportions of males and females who mentioned each theme. There was a significantly higher proportion of males than females who mentioned the bad themes and the opposite was true for the sad and calculated themes.
NEXT STEPS
Next year, I will be continuing my education at the University of Florida where I plan to study biology on the pre-veterinary track!
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