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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
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