COMM 100: Theories of Human Communication
Fall 2010 Cagle [revised October 18, 2010]Two papers on topics of interest in communication theory are required. These papers should be a thinkpiece based upon library research; seek out seminal books and articles.
Due Dates:
- A first essay writing assignment was due September 27th
- A research paper is Wednesday, December 8th. Details of the writing assignment are below.
Requirements: The research paper can be on a theorist or theory of your choice. This paper should be in the neighborhood of 5-7 typed pages. For all reports and papers written for this course, papers must be written in proper form and you must use either APA or MLA documentation style. Each paper is a serious research assignment, so get started now.
This research paper should be a well-written thinkpiece based upon library research; seek out seminal books and articles related to your assigned topic. Part of the assessment of your paper will be the quality of the research materials you are able to find. The content and references in Julia T. Wood’s textbook are meant to be an initial springboard for your understanding of the topic, but I want you to try to find and read the original books or articles that introduce this theory or theorist to the world. Use book materials and peer-reviewed articles, not quick summary webpages. Look in the citations and reference bibliographies of books and articles to find additional things to look at.
Your paper must be submitted in Microsoft Office Word format.
Having an initial sense of what your paper will be about will help you find appropriate materials to read and think about. In the course of thinking about and writing your paper, here are some things that might be good to include:
- the general context of the theory—write about the significance of studying this aspect of communication
- explication of the key elements of the theory
- discussion of the place of the theorist in the scheme of things
- exposition of criteria to be used in analyzing the theory
- critical evaluation of your theory using this criteria
- discussion of ways in which this theory can be helpful in addressing problems or meeting practical needs in the real world
A Few Theoretical Areas, Theorists, & Theories
to consider writing your research paper about:
Theoretical Areas A Few Theorists & Theories
[see textbook for additional possibilities]Culture Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, and Edmund Carpenter Basil Bernstein Edward Hall Everett Roger's Diffusion of Information Symbols and Language Osgood's Mediation Hypothesis Pearce & Cronen's Coordinated Management of Meaning Umberto Eco's Semiotics Doris Graber's Condensation Symbols Conversation Analysis Giles & Weiman's Communication Accommodation Theory Social Change Bowers & Ochs' Rhetoric of Agitation and Control Social Change: Burke's Dramatism Social Change: Walter Fisher's Narrative Paradigm Mass Communication Agenda Setting Cultivation Analysis Uses, Gratifications, & Dependency Attitude Change, Persuasion, and Political Communication Charles E. Osgood's Cognitive Dynamics Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Fishbein's Attitude as Behavioral Intention Rokeach's Beliefs, Attitudes, & Values Scott's Components of Attitude Sherif, Sherif, & Nebergall's Social Judgment Theory Theodore Newcomb's model of communicative acts Organizational Communication Hersey, Blanchard, & Dewey's Situational Leadership Networks Tompkins & Cheney's Organizational Identification Weick's Process of Organizing Poole & McPhee's Structurational Theory of Climate Small Group Communication Bales' Personality and Interpersonal Behavior Collins & Guetzkow Fisher's Interaction Analysis Putman & Stohl's Bona Fide Group Theory French & Raven's Sources of Power Hirokawa's General Functional Theory Janis's Groupthink Interpersonal Communication Altman & Taylor's Social Penetration Baxter et al.'s Dimensions of Dialectics Berger's Uncertainty Reduction Theory Timothy Leary's Interpersonal Circumplex Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson Carl Rogers Information Theory and Cybernetics Claude Shannon's Information Theory Norbert Weiner's Cybernetic Theory Gleick's Chaos Theory