MC 451 Final Portfolio — Setup & Publishing Guide

Course: MC 451 Research Methods in Mass Media | Spring 2026
Instructor: Dr. Alex P. Leith | aleith@siue.edu
Due: Friday, May 8, 2026 at 11:59 pm

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What This Project Does

This folder is a Quarto Book Project. With a single command, it renders your research report into two professional outputs simultaneously:

Output	What It Produces	Where It Goes
🌐 Website	A multi-page, navigable site	docs/ folder → GitHub Pages
📄 PDF	A single print-ready document	docs/ folder → submit to Blackboard

You write your content once in plain text (.qmd files). Quarto handles the formatting for both outputs automatically.

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Project File Map

mc451-final-project/
│
├── 📋 _quarto.yml              ← Master config. Controls both outputs.
│                                  UPDATE: title, author, repo-url
│
├── 🏠 index.qmd                ← Page 1: Abstract + landing page
├── 📖 01-introduction.qmd      ← Page 2: Background, theory, RQs
├── 🔬 02-methodology.qmd       ← Page 3: Data, sample, variables, pilot
├── 📊 03-results.qmd           ← Page 4: Tables, bar chart, Chi-Square
├── 💬 04-discussion.qmd        ← Page 5: Interpretation + conclusion
├── 📚 references.qmd           ← Page 6: Auto-generated bibliography
│
├── 🎨 custom.css               ← Website styling. No edits needed.
├── 📝 references.bib           ← Your citations (export from Zotero)
├── 📐 GET-APA-CSL.txt          ← Instructions to download apa.csl
│
└── 💾 coding_data_clean.RDS    ← ⚠️ ADD THIS FILE — your R data

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Before You Start: One-Time Setup

Complete these steps once before you write anything.

Step 1 — Place your data file

Copy your coding_data_clean.RDS file (produced in Data Wrangling [R]) into this project folder — the same level as _quarto.yml.

Where is my .RDS file? In RStudio, you saved it with: saveRDS(coding_data, "coding_data_clean.RDS") It is wherever your RStudio Project was set at the time.

Step 2 — Open as an RStudio Project

1. In RStudio: File → Open Project
2. Navigate to this folder and open mc451-final-project.Rproj

Don't see an .Rproj file? Create one: File → New Project → Existing Directory → select this folder.

Step 3 — Install required R packages

In the RStudio Console, run:

install.packages(c(
  "tidyverse",
  "knitr",
  "kableExtra",
  "scales"
))

Step 4 — Get the APA citation style file

Follow the instructions in GET-APA-CSL.txt to download apa.csl into this folder. Then delete GET-APA-CSL.txt.

Step 5 — Update _quarto.yml

Open _quarto.yml and change these three lines:

title: "Your Actual Study Title: A Content Analysis of X Coverage of Y"
author: "Your Full Name"
repo-url: https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-REPO-NAME

---

How to Write Your Report

Each .qmd file is one chapter/page of your report. Open them in order and follow the instructions inside. Every file contains:

• 🟩 Green instruction comments (<!-- like this -->) — read them, then delete them before your final render
• [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDERS] — replace with your actual content
• ← replace comments in R code chunks — swap variable names for your real column names

The writing order we recommend:

1. 02-methodology.qmd — easiest starting point; draws directly from your Codebook and Sampling Plan
2. 01-introduction.qmd — expand your Prospectus; add theory from Annotated Manuscript
3. 03-results.qmd — paste your .RDS file in and update variable names; let the code run
4. 04-discussion.qmd — interpret your Results; answer the RQs
5. index.qmd — write the Abstract last, once everything else is done

Working with R code chunks in the Results chapter

The 03-results.qmd file contains pre-written R code. The only changes you need to make are:

1. Replace var1 with your first variable's column name (e.g., tone)
2. Replace var2 with your second variable's column name (e.g., source_type)
3. Update chart titles, axis labels, and figure captions to describe your actual variables
4. Adjust the color palette if you have more or fewer categories than the defaults

To see what your column names are, run this in the RStudio Console: names(readRDS("coding_data_clean.RDS"))

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Rendering: From Files to PDF + Website

Test render (do this often while writing)

In the RStudio Terminal tab (not the Console), run:

quarto render

This generates everything in the docs/ folder. Open docs/index.html in your browser to preview the website. Open docs/Study-Title.pdf (or similar name) to check the PDF.

If the render fails

The most common issues and fixes:

Error Message	Fix
object 'var1' not found	You have not replaced the placeholder variable name in a code chunk
cannot open file 'coding_data_clean.RDS'	The .RDS file is not in the project folder
citation 'CITATION' not found	The @CITATION key in your text does not match any entry in references.bib
apa.csl not found	You have not completed Step 4 above
Package not found	Run install.packages("PACKAGE_NAME") in the Console

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Publishing to GitHub Pages

First time: Create your repository

1. Go to github.com and sign in
2. Click New Repository
3. Name it mc451-portfolio (or any name you prefer)
4. Set it to Public
5. Do not initialize with a README (you already have files)
6. Click Create Repository

Connect your project to GitHub

In the RStudio Terminal:

# Initialize git (only needed once)
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit — MC 451 Final Portfolio"

# Connect to your GitHub repo (replace with your actual URL)
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/mc451-portfolio.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Enable GitHub Pages

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Click Settings (top menu) → Pages (left sidebar)
3. Under Source, select: Deploy from a branch
4. Branch: main | Folder: /docs
5. Click Save
6. Wait 2–3 minutes, then visit: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/mc451-portfolio/

After making changes

Every time you edit your report:

quarto render
git add .
git commit -m "Update: brief description of what you changed"
git push

GitHub Pages will update your live site within ~2 minutes of each push.

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Updating Your Citations (references.bib)

Export from Zotero (recommended)

1. In Zotero, select all sources you want to cite
2. Right-click → Export Items
3. Format: BibTeX
4. Save as references.bib — replace the existing file in this folder

Cite in your text

What You Type	What Appears
[@Entman1993]	(Entman, 1993)
[@Entman1993, p. 52]	(Entman, 1993, p. 52)
@Entman1993	Entman (1993)
[@Entman1993; @McCombs1972]	(Entman, 1993; McCombs, 1972)

The citation key (e.g., Entman1993) is whatever appears after the @ at the start of each entry in your .bib file. Zotero generates these automatically.

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What to Submit on Blackboard

By Friday, May 8, 2026 at 11:59 pm, submit both:

1. PDF file — located at docs/[Your-Title].pdf after rendering
   • Rename it: Lastname_FinalPortfolio.pdf
   • Upload this file to the Blackboard submission
2. Live URL — your GitHub Pages address
   • Format: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/mc451-portfolio/
   • Paste this URL directly into the Blackboard submission text box

⚠️ Test your URL in a private/incognito browser window before submitting. Confirm the site is public, all pages load, and all figures render. A broken or private link is treated the same as a missing submission.

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Grading Criteria Quick Reference

Section	Points	Key Requirement
Introduction & Lit Review	45	Theory explained; RQs formally stated
Methodology	50	All elements in prose; replicable; variables defined
Results — Frequency Table	25	Embedded via R (not a screenshot); captioned
Results — Bar Chart	25	ggplot2; figure caption; narrative follows
Results — Chi-Square	25	APA format; plain-English interpretation
Discussion & Conclusion	40	RQs answered; theory connected; limitations stated
PDF Formatting	20	All sections present; professional; correct filename
GitHub Pages Website	20	Public URL; all visuals render; no broken links
Total	250

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Questions?

• Discord: APLeith
• Email: aleith@siue.edu (allow 24 hours Mon–Fri)
• Office Hours: MW 10:00–11:30 and 13:30–15:00, Dunham Hall 1017
• Book a meeting: Teams Bookings link

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MC 451 — Research Methods in Mass Media | Spring 2026 | SIUE Department of Mass Communications