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Introduction to Graduate Studies

Readings | Assignments | Schedule | Resources | Links

Graduate Catalog Description: History of Communication research, the nature and types of theory and method production of a prospective, and criticism of service research project.

Course Description: One of the basic lessons communication scholars have learned about communication is that all messages contain two levels, a content and relational level. The purpose of this course is to introduce beginning MA students to the content and relational knowledge expected of a successful graduate student. The content for the course focuses on the development of communication studies – including the component parts of rhetoric, performance, and communication theory – as an academic discipline and its relationship to the larger academy. Relationally, the course will focus on helping students develop the specific reading, research, writing, and critical thinking skills necessary for academic success as a graduate student. This will be accomplished not only through selected readings but also through ample opportunity to practice these skills.

Goals: The specific goals of this course include: (1) Developing scholarly habits and practices, (2) Learning the historical and scholarly development of communication studies and its sub-areas, (3) Understanding the relationship between communication studies and the larger development in the academy of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, (4) Introducing students to the debates and issues that shape the discipline, (5) Allowing students to develop and refine a personal philosophy and work ethic for their individual academic goals, (6) Practicing basic writing skills in the context of the writing forms necessary for success as a graduate student.

Readings

Books

Women of Academe: Outsiders in the Sacred Grove. Nadya Aisenberg Mona Harrington.Amherst: U Mass Press, 1988.

Communication As Culture: Essays on Media and Society. James W. Carey. NY: Routledge, 1989.

The History of Speech Communication: The Emergence of a Discipline: 1914-1945. Herman Cohen. Speech Communication Association, 1994.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Thomas S. Kuhn. 1962. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Elements of Style. William Strunk, Jr. 1918. New York: Bartleby.com, 1999. Bartleby.com. <http://www.bartleby.com/141/>.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Lynne Truss. NY: Gotham Penguin, 2004.

Reading Packet

The Social Construction of Reality. Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. 1967. New York: Anchor-Random House, 1989 (Introduction, Chapter 1)

“Blurred Genres.” Clifford Geertz. The American Scholar 49.2 (1980): 165-179.

Pragmatics of Human Communication. Paul Watzlawick, Janet Helmick Beavin, M.D.Don.D. Jackson. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. 1967.

Herbert A. Wichelns, “The Literary Criticism of Oratory.” Herbert A. Wichelns. In Readings in Rhetorical Criticism, ed. Carl R. Burgchardt. State College, PA: Strata Publishing Company. 1995.

“The Rhetorical Situation.” Lloyd Bitzer. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1 (January, 1968), 1-14. http://staff.washington.edu/crosbr/bitzer_situation.pdf

Talking Back. bell hooks. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. 1989. (Chapters 9-11)

“Paramedic Method.” Richard A. Lanham. 4th ed. In Revising Prose. NY: Longman. 1999.

“How to Write Informative Abstracts.” Joseph M. Moxley. In Publish, Don’t Perish. Westport, CT: Praeger. 1992.

“How to Write Book Reviews.” Joseph M. Moxley. In Publish, Don’t Perish. Westport, CT: Praeger. 1992.

“How to Develop Scholarly Projects. Joseph M. Moxley. In Publish, Don’t Perish. Westport, CT: Praeger. 1992.

“If Not Now, When?” Joseph M. Moxley. In Writing and Publishing. Ed. Joseph M. Moxley. New York: University Press of America , 1992.

“Strategies for Enhancing Scholarly Publication.” Robert Boice. In Writing and Publishing. Ed. Joseph M. Moxley. New York: University Press of America. 1992.

“Thick Descriptions: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.” Clifford Geertz. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books. 1973

“Ideology, Knowledge, and Text: Pulling at the Knot in Ariadne’s Thread.” Dale Cyphert. Quarterly Journal of Speech 87 (2001): 378-395.

“Lost and Found in America: The Function of Place Metaphor in Sports Illustrated.” Roger C. Aden and Christina L. Reynolds. Southern Communication Journal 59 (1993): 1-14.

“Common Flaws in Contemporary Empirical Communication Research: A Research Editorial.” Michael T. Motley. Western Journal of Speech Communication 50 (1986): 296-304.

“Contemporary Scholarship in Public Address: A Research Editorial.” Rod Hart. Western Journal of Communication 50 (1986): 283-295.

“A Postmodern Look at Traditional Communication Postulates.” John Stewart. Western Journal of Speech Communication 55 (1991): 354-379.

“A Paradigm for Performance Studies.” Ronald J. Pelias and James Van Oosting. Quarterly Journal of Speech 73 (1987): 219-231.

“Research in Interpretation and Performance Studies: Trends, Issues, Priorities,” Mary S. Strine, Beverly Whitaker Long, and Mary Frances Hopkins. In Speech Communication: Essays to COmmemorate the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Speech Communication Association. Ed. Gerald Phillips and Julia Woods. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. 1990.

Assignments

Intellectual Autobiography – 10%
Write a 5 to 7 page (typed) narrative in which you share your intellectual autobiography. What intellectual and scholarly history brought you do graduate school and what intellectual and scholarly influences led you to study in your chosen area. Discuss your intellectual development, what kinds of questions about your area of study interests you and why, who are the theorists who interest you and why, what kind of writing style interests you and why. Include a bibliography of relevant sources.

Style Sheet – 10%
Using the style manual appropriate to your area of research, compile a style sheet that lists the style of common entries found in a bibliography.

Journal Run Review – 10%
Select a journal from the communication discipline (text and performance quarterly, quarterly journal of speech, critical studies in mass communication, communication theory). Spend time in the library visiting the journal, reviewing it since its inception. Consider the history, development, major players, subscription rates, publication information, acceptance/publication rates, style manual, editorial board, schools of contributors, kind of work contributed, what gets published, forums/ book reviews. Explore the current trends in topics. Who is the current editor, what is their term, their philosophy. Where is it being edited. Are there editorial prefaces? What do they say? Submit a 5-7 page (typed) report.

Abstract – 10%
A one page abstract of a paper you are writing for graduate class that you might submit as a conference paper.

Annotated Bibliography – 10%
An annotated bibliography of at least 20 citations in an area of your choice. Your bibliography must follow a designated style manual.

3 position papers – 10% each; 30% total
Write a 5 page (typed) paper one an issue of choice relating to some topic in class. Be sure that you write your position statement in bold as your paper title. Include bibliography, regardless of the number of sources used. Your paper must be argumentative/persuasive in nature, not informative and the bulk of paper must be synthesis, analysis, evaluation, not repetition and restatement of the article.

Reading Quizzes – 10% total
Reading before class is mandatory. In order to ensure that reading is completed in a disciplined manner there will be several unannounced reading quizzes. One quiz on the style manual of your choice in which you will be given several documents for which you will have to write footnotes and a bibliography.

In-class presentation of a paper – P/F; One letter grade deduction for F
This is a pass-fail assignment. Select a paper from a previous class. We will spend time revising the paper in class in work groups with your classmates. On the last day of class, you will present your paper to the class in a convention or colloquium format. Failure to present a paper will result in the loss of one letter grade. Failure to bring a paper to the writing group will result in the loss of one letter grade.

Attendance and Participation Policy – 10%

Participation: This class is based on a collaborative learning style in which attendance and participation are essential to the learning process. Because discussion in seminars and other forums is an essential component of a graduate education, we will develop discussion skills during class.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. It reflects a sense of commitment to your chosen profession. Students are permitted only one absence during the semester.

Schedule of Readings

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Carey, Communication as Culture
Intellectual autobiography due

Week 3: Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Style sheet due

Week 4: Berger and Luckmann, Social Construction of Reality (packet)
Geertz, Blurred Genres (packet)
Library visit w/librarian

Week 5: Watzlawick, Pragmatics of Human Communication
Journal Run Due

Week 6: Cohen, History of Speech Communication
Position Paper #1 due

Week 7: Wichelns, Literary Criticism of Oratory (packet)
Bitzer, The Rhetorical Situation

Week 8: Aisenberg and Harrington, Women of Academe
hooks, Talking Back (packet)
Position Paper #2 due

Week 9: Truss, Eats Shoots and Leaves
Lanham, Paramedic Method (packet)
Moxley, How to write informative abstracts (packet)
Moxley, How to write book reviews (packet)
Moxley, How to develop a scholarly project (packet)
Moxley, If not now, when? (packet)
Boice, Strategies for Enhancing Scholarly Publication (packet)
Geertz, Thick Descriptions (packet)
Abstract Due

Week 10: Rhetoric
Cyphert, Ideology, Knowledge and Text (packet)
Adens and Reynolds, Lost and Found in America (packet)
Annotated Bibliography Due

Week 11: Communication Theory
Motley, Common Flaws (packet)
Hart, A Research Editorial (packet)
Stewart, A Postmodern Look (packet)
Guest Lecture on Communication Theory
Style Sheet Quiz

Week 12: Performance Studies
Pelias and Van Oosting, A Paradigm (packet)
Strine Long and HopKins, Research in Interpretation (packet)
Guest Lecture on Performance Studies
Position paper #3 due

Week 13: In-class presentation of papers