Category: Communication

Gustavii | How to Prepare Graphs
Beading Björn Gustavii’s chapters on “How to Prepare Graphs” and “Designing Tables” (PDFs below) from How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper shows us creating good graphs and tables isn’t always straight-forward. Write a thoughtful response that walks us through the process of how you would create graphs and tables. You may find the following questions helpful as you formulate your response:
1. How do you determine the title for a graph or table? How does this relate to Gustavii’s descriiption of titling?
2. How do you know what kind of graph to use? What’s your process for deciding which type?
3. How do you decide which headings to use or how to phrase them?
4. What’s your process for representing numbers and rounding off? How many decimal points do you show?
5. What did you learn from these chapters that will help you create tables in the future?

Discussion Topic: Baake & Bernhardt | Science Writers Looking for AudienceBaake & Bernhardt Science Writers Looking for Audience
Today, we’re reading Baake & Bernhardt’s “Science Writers Looking for Their Audience” from Metaphor and Knowledge: The Challenges of Writing Science (PDF below). As you formulate your response, you might find the following questions helpful:
1. Baake & Bernhardt refer to Plato’s assumption that rhetoricians (speakers or writers) always set out to be persuasive. Do you think that good science writing should have an underlying persuasive element?
2. Technical writing often begins with questions such as “What is the purpose of the writing?” or “Who is your audience?” What other guiding questions do you use to formulate your writing?
3. In “Commensurability, Comparability, and Communicability,” historian and philosopher of science, Thomas Kuhn (1982), uses the term incommensurability metaphorically, taking the mathematical idea of ‘no common measure’ to mean ‘no common language’. Do you think it is possible to cross boundaries of expertise when writing scientific findings, or do we need to tailor the writing to a specific audience because it is too difficult to bridge the language gap? In other words, what happens to scientific writing when the audience doesn’t share similar expertise?
Kuhn, T. S. (1982). Commensurability, comparability, communicability. In PSA: Proceedings of the biennial meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (Vol. 1982, No. 2, pp. 668-688). Cambridge University Press.
(Please cite page if you use the book, or any other paper)

General Instructions:
In this 8 page paper, you will apply your knowledge of basic communication terms to an analysis of a film. In general, you will: Select a primary communication context (e.g., interpersonal communication.) that is reflected in a particular film of your choosing. Also, you will use several, specific terms (e.g., self-disclosure, relational dialectics, stages of relational development, etc.) that are related to your communication context.
Conduct scholarly research in order to fully understand your chosen context. In other words, you will find three journal articles and use your textbook to help you understand and apply course terms in your paper. You should include specific quotes from your journal articles to support your thesis. Lastly, you will define and explain the terms, and analyze how they are presented in the film. In addition, you will cite your journal articles and your textbook within your paper as evidence and support of your ideas. You will submit your paper through the link to Turnitin.com that is posted for you in the assignment in Canvas.
Your main goal in this paper is to apply communication terms to a film in order to demonstrate your understanding of these terms.
Section-by-Section Instructions (follow these instructions closely!):
Introduction 1. First paragraph
Begin with a few general statements about ideas relevant to your paper, such as a few statements about communication, relationships, conflict, public speaking, organizations, etc. Whatever your paper’s topic, lead into it for the reader.
Indicate the film that you will analyze.
Next, clearly explain your goals for this paper. In other words, what is this paper’s thesis? What is the purpose of this paper? What will it accomplish? What will your paper explain and illustrate about the communication seen in this film?
End your introduction with a preview of the main points of your paper. Your main points will be the terms that you will apply and analyze in the film.
2. Second paragraph – briefly summarize the film (about 4-5 sentences)
Body (For each paragraph in the Body, do these in this order):
1. Define and explain one or several terms that you have researched fully. Use your textbook for all definitions of key terms that you provide. As you define your terms, be sure to cite evidence (quote) from your textbook and your journal articles. Make sure to put all of your key terms in bold.
Describe how the term is demonstrated in your film. For example, here is where you explain how the characters in your film demonstrate “depth of self-disclosure,” “conflict,” “groupthink,” or some other term. Be sure to provide examples from the film, and be sure to explain yourself fully. This becomes your analysis of their communication.
Use a transition to move the reader to your next paragraph. Your transitions should help connect your main ideas together. Repeat these steps until you have enough content to meet the assignment guidelines for the page requirement.
HINT: Try organizing your paper chronologically to match the order of the film.
Conclusion Provide a summary of the main points of your paper.
Close your paper with a few comments on the importance of competent communication.
The following are suggestions to help you succeed in writing your Term Paper. Please read them closely. Pay special attention to #8-11 in the list below. And as always, if you need help, please contact me!
Plan your paper ahead of time. Outline it and check your outline with your instructor if you have questions.
Allow yourself time for unforeseeable events: Internet/computer malfunctions, losing your document, other crises and emergencies. Read your paper after it is completed, and give yourself time to correct phrasing, etc., so that you communicate yourself clearly to anyone who will read your paper.
Have another person read your paper. Often you know what you’re saying, but it is not clear to your reader. Be sure the reader knows what to look for, as the person who is grading your paper will.
If you need extra assistance with your writing, use the Writing Center or the Communication Lab tutors. Remember we offer free online and face-to-face tutoring for Communication students! See your class announcement for more information on booking a tutoring appointment!
Be sure to use terms correctly and identify terms clearly. If you are unsure, check with your instructor. It is better not to use a term or concept rather than to use it incorrectly.
Always support your ideas with specific examples. If you make an argument, make sure that you qualify it with evidence from your references and/or textbook.
Please do not think that just anything is human communication. Human beings must be involved and messages must be analyzed. Avoid movies that involve things like talking dogs, aliens, etc. Select a film that focuses on normal human communication. For this reason, please do not use animated films or fantasy films. Also, please do not use TV shows.
Remember that analysis rather than just reporting is the focus of this assignment. Your paper should not just be a summary of the plot of the film. If you are unsure of your paper, be sure to prepare at least part of it early enough to get feedback from your professor. It never hurts to be sure you are on the right track.
Avoid including information about your own personal experiences in this assignment (ex. “This movie is like when I broke up with my boyfriend…”) as that kind of commentary is not appropriate in a research assignment like this one. Also, avoid overuse of 1st person language (“I thought…”, “I liked…”) in this academic analysis.
(see next page)
Make sure that you are analyzing the communication that happens between characters in the film, not the film itself. This is not a film studies paper that will focus on how the movie was created. You should not be discussing things like camera angles, director’s techniques, etc. Make sure that you have a clear thesis in your introduction that guides the discussion in the body of your analysis. You should only include terms in your analysis that are clearly tied to your thesis and the theme for your paper. Do not just talk about any terms from the book that you see in the film. Make sure that all the terms you use are all clearly connected to each other and unified under a central theme.
Avoid the “pop culture” approach. There are many self-help books and articles written by people who once talked to somebody or watched a TV show and thus consider themselves experts in communication. Do not use these references. General Internet websites are also not acceptable research sources for this assignment. You must use Communication journals as assigned.
Make sure the paper you are submitting follows the specific guidelines for the assignment in this particular course. This is particularly relevant to those of you taking other Communication classes (like COMM 288/289) here at SBCC and elsewhere. The paper you submit should clearly be a response to the assignment guidelines I have provided for you. Your submission should not feel like a paper that was written for another assignment/course.
When you borrow the ideas of other scholars and authors, you need to reference their work. References are identified in the body of the paper parenthetically (in parentheses) by the author’s last name and date of publication. APA does not use footnotes. For example:
Recent publications illustrate the skill-based approach to teaching the interpersonal communication course (Wiemann & Wiemann, 1990).
OR
According to Wiemann and Wiemann (1990), recent publications illustrate the skill-based approach to teaching the interpersonal communication course.
Quoting Within Text
When you quote directly from other authors, the format changes slightly. For example:
According to Proctor and Adler (1991), “Integrating film into the interpersonal communication course does not require radical changes in course goals or teaching” (p. 394).
As scholars have noted, “Researchers have yet to understand the mechanisms that produce the satisfaction-communication relationship” (Kelly & Burgoon, 1991, p. 41).
Note that “citing within text” does NOT require a page number, “quoting within text” DOES.
When the quote is longer than 40 words, it must be typed (without quotation marks) as a freestanding text that begins on a new line and is indented five spaces from the left margin:
Hirokawa, et al., (1991) determined that:
Men and women responding to the high-legitimacy scenario employed less polite tactics than those responding to the low-legitimacy scenario, but this was more true of the men than the women. For example, men and women with request legitimacy were more likely to produce statements like, “You know you’re not going to score a lot of points around here if you take off on your vacation in the middle of this project.” (p. 433)
If you fail to reference quotes or others’ ideas, then you have committed plagiarism!
Sample APA Style For References
An article in a journal, one author:
Salazar, A. B. (1996). An analysis of the development and evolution of roles in the small group. Small Group Research, 27, 475-503.
The above reference is: Author’s Last Name, Initials. (Year). Article title. Journal Title, volume #, page numbers. Notice how the second line (and every line thereafter) is indented five spaces from the left.
An article in a journal, more than one author:
Gribas, J., & Downs, C. W. (2002). Metaphoric manifestations of talking “team” with team
novices. Communication Studies, 53, 112-128.
A book by one author:
Wood, J. (2004). Communication mosaics: An introduction to the field of communication (3rd ed.). Thomson/Wadsworth.
A book by more than one author:
O’Hair, D., Friedrich, G. W., Wiemann, J. M., & Wiemann, M. O. (1997). Competent communication (2nd ed.). St. Martin’s Press.
A book by a corporate author:
Mass Media Task Force (1996). Studies of v-chip acceptance possibilities.
Media Press.
A chapter in an edited book:
Meadowcroft, J. M., & Fitzpatrick, M. A. (1988). Theories of family communication:
Toward a merger of intersubjectivity and mutual influence processes. In R. P. Hawkins,
J. M. Wiemann, & S. Pingree (Eds.), Advancing communication science: Merging mass and interpersonal processes (pp. 253-275). SAGE Publications.
A Film:
Tanen, N. (Producer) & Hughes, J. (Director). (1985). The breakfast club [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Studios.
Internet articles based on a print source (exists in print and online) Ku, G. (2008). Learning to de-escalate: The effects of regret in escalation of commitment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105(2), 221-232.
Article in an Internet-only source
Walker, A. (2019, November 14). Germany avoids recession but growth remains weak. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50419127
Journal article from a database
Choi, J. (2008). Event justice perceptions and employees’ reactions: Perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 513-528. Retrieved May 6, 2018, from PsycARTICLES database.
Examples of Text Citation and References Page
Here is an example of citing within the text of your paper:
According to Cultural Studies theory, the media assist those in power to maintain the status quo (Griffin, 2000). In other words, those people who are in power create the
dominant ideologies, and the media promote these mainstream ideologies. According to Griffin (2000), “Stuart Hall, who is a leader in the cultural studies field, critically evaluates the power relationship between the media and general public” (p. 268). The following experiences with American culture serve as good examples to demonstrate the core concepts of Cultural Studies theory.
Here is an example taken from the APA Publication Manual on how to cite from an electronic source within the text of your paper:
To cite a specific part of a source, indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in text. Always give page numbers for quotations. Note that the words page and chapter are abbreviated in such text citations:
(Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332)
(Shimamura, 1989, chap. 3)
For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number, if available, preceded by the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation para. If neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material.
(Myers, 2000, ¶ 5)
(Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1)
Here is an example of how your References page should look. Notice how the references are alphabetized from the first reference to the last. Also, your reference page should be on a separate page. References
Griffin, E. (2000). A first look at communication theory (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Tanen, N. (Producer) & Hughes, J. (Director). (1985). The breakfast club [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Studios.
O’Hair, D., Friedrich, G. W., Wiemann, J. M., & Wiemann, M. O. (1997). Competent communication (2nd ed.). St. Martin’s Press.
Salazar, A. B. (1996). An analysis of the development and evolution of roles in the small group. Small Group Research, 27, 475-503.
Wood, J. (2004). Communication mosaics: An introduction to the field of communication (3rd ed.). Thomson/Wadsworth

Based on what you learn about yourself from taking three leadership assessments, conduct a self-evaluation. Consider how each of these assessments suggests areas where you are well-suited to lead, what aspects of leading will come relatively easy to you? Also consider the aspects of leadership that you might find more challenging? Be sure that you reflect on yourself in leadership situations you have encountered. What are your personal and professional goals with regard to leadership? What are some areas for improvement that you would like to work on? This written reflection paper should be 2-3 double-spaced pages (Times New Roman 12 point font, 1-inch margins). In addition to the 2-3 pages of narrative self-evaluation, include an appendix that lists your top strengths, your top VIA character strengths, and your percentile scores on each of the Big 5 dimensions. Top 5 Cliftostrengths: 1. Belief 2. Consistency 3. Positivity 4. Developer 5. Learner

When someone’s writing is not focused, clear, and precise the message is often lost or confusing. To succeed in today’s competitive, professional world you must be able to communicate effectively; especially through writing.
Describe a situation (real or fictional) where not having a focused message in your writing could lead to a problem or poor outcome. Describe how you can use the writing process to ensure your writing is focused and effective.

StoryCorps: Listen, Honor, Share
Set up your account with StoryCorps DIY: https://diy.storycorps.org/about/
I. First Assignment
Research the StoryCorps Website. Sign up (use your school email) and complete the following three free courses: https://diy.storycorps.org/our-courses/
1. Required: STORYCORPS DIY: FUNDAMENTALS COURSE
2. Required: STORYCORPS DIY: EDUCATION
3. Choose either STORYCORPS DIY: ROAD TO RESILIENCE or
STORYCORPS DIY: COMMEMORATE
Complete a brief (500 minimum word) reflection essay on what you learned about StoryCorps, how you envision what participating in your own StoryCorps recordings may do for you, and how you see StoryCorps fitting into an Interpersonal Communication class. Essay may be written in first person. No References or Works Cited needed.

Tell us about when you were inauthentic and how it impacted your success.
If you had the chance to do it all over again, what would you do differently now that you know the importance of being your authentic self?

You will contribute with a minimum of two (2) responses. You can start your own topic or respond to your classmates’ (or mix-and-match, of course). The only two requirements are that each post should be a meaningful contribution to the discussion (so, not just say “Yes, totally, I agree!”), and each post should be at least 200 words long (in part to ensure the application of the previous requirement).
Please do NOT repeat the exact topics/ideas covered by another student. If you agree with them and what they covered also interested you, respond to their insight. With this in mind, I recommend you read the material and post your discussion topic early in the week.
Please make it personable and

Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L, & Seeger, M. W. (2019). Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity (4th
ed.). SAGE. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781506315744
Reading Chapter 1
Login information will be available for the assigned writer.

Write a 4 page paper that reflect the gender identify of the writer ( 31 year old married African American male) grew up in a two parent household. Both parents work, support family. Both do chores, provide financially.Father is more of protector mother more of a nurturer. Isn’t a feminists but considers his self an Ally due to belief in women’s rights. Two older sisters, belief women are capable and able etc.
In the book “Gendered Lives” by Julia T. Wood, three key concepts related to gender identity include:
1. Gender as a Social Construction: This concept emphasizes that gender identity is not inherent or solely biologically determined but is constructed through social interactions, cultural norms, and institutional practices. The book discusses how society’s expectations and norms shape individuals’ understanding and performance of gender. For writer ( he is more of a protector) while wife is more of nurture. Other than that chores are shared and do not have a pre defined chore gender.
2. Intersectionality: Wood explores how gender identity intersects with other social categories such as race, class, sexuality, and age. This concept highlights that individuals experience gender differently depending on their unique combination of identities, leading to diverse and multifaceted experiences of oppression and privilege.
3. Gendered Communication: The book delves into how communication practices reinforce and challenge gender identities. It examines how language, media representations, and interpersonal communication contribute to the construction and perpetuation of gender norms and how individuals use communication to express and negotiate their gender identities.
These concepts illustrate the complexity of gender identity and the various factors that influence its development and expression.