Counts as a grade under the category for
"Report I" on syllabus
Throughout the course, you are required to engage in critical
thinking about what we discuss in class and what you read about
in the book. The purpose of this assignment is to get you to
think critically about your interpersonal communication
experience
and practices.
Requirements
1. These papers will be
submitted in hard copy form to the instructor
as
follows:
The papers can
be
submitted to the instructor at any time before the due date, but no
papers will be
accepted
after
roll is
called at the beginning of class on Monday, February 16, 2009. If you have not turned
the paper in on a previous
day -- which
you may do -- the
papers will be taken up
in class on the
deadline date as the
roll is called. After each
respective deadline (when
your name is
called), any late
paper will be
assigned a
grade of "zero". In other
words, no late assignments or excuses
will be
accepted! Save
your work in MS-Word
form. After the projects are graded, some students will be asked
to
submit
their papers
electronically to the
instructor.
2. Double-space the
assignment. The assignment will be 2-3 pages in length. Do
not continue to a fourth page for your text,
but a
fourth
page may be used for your source page (works cited must employ APA,
MLA,
or other acceptable style
manual).
At least the first two pages must be full – not
one-and-a-half-pages, not one-and-a-quarter-pages, etc. Use
one-inch
margins
on the left and right sides and top/bottom. Use Courier 10 CPI or
Times Roman 12 point font. No title
pages
are allowed on this assignment. Failure to follow the
instructions
will result in a letter grade penalty for each infraction.
3. Put your full name,
paper title, and date of submission in the upper left corner and number
each
page in the upper right corner.
For example:
Jeff Koerber
SPCM 1500, 2:30 pm, MWF
Interpersonal Communication Report I
February 16, 2009 (or whatever date prior to the deadline
that you may
give it to
the instructor)
4. Content and
quality of research and writing are very important in how well you will
do grade-wise. The professor is the
sole
judge of how quality and content are graded. Poor grammar,
spelling, appearance, failure to follow procedures, etc.
will
result in
a lowered grade. Remember that
this is a research paper. It is NOT an essay or narrative. Proper
documentation
will be expected in the text and on the source page.
5. DO NOT STAPLE
or fold the pages.
6. Directions for
content: We will have discussed significant material and
we will have had much discussion about
interpersonal communication prior
to
this assignment.
Please focus on the following:
If
you
have a chosen major or field of study, find an "expert" in that
field/discipline
and interview them about the
importance
of interpersonal communication, in particular, and communication, in
general, to
that
field/discipline -- this must be a
practicing professional in your discipline. For this exercize you cannot use
another student and you cannot use a relative
(no mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc.) or professors
or instructors or staff members at this university. If
you plan to be a
professor or instructor or staff member, there are other colleges where
you can locate
someone for this assignment. The point is that you must make an
effort on this assignment that goes beyond this campus and your family
and friends. The interview
will be in person and not over a phone, computer, etc.
If you
have not yet
chosen
a major, a field of study, or a discipline, then choose
someone from a
discipline that
interests
you the most at the moment.
That interview will
count
as one main source and it must be documented correctly in a legitimate
academic style, such as APA or MLA. See, for instance,
this
link on the course web page: http://www.wakh.net/apastyleguide.html.
At least two other main sources are required, so you will
conduct
library research on the importance of interpersonal
communication to your major/field/discipline. (Note that you may
use an unlimited number of sources, as most successful students do,
but you must have three
main sources that conform to the rules stated below under number
7.)
So,
the objective for this assignment is to answer the following
question:
What is the importance of
interpersonal communication, in general, to my
field/discipline?
You
answers will be derived from your research and from your interview with
a practicing expert/professional in your field/disclipine.
7. Sources:
-- You may use online libraries, such as Galileo,
but none of the sources can
be
Internet sources. Textbooks for this class, your
sociology class, a
dictionary, the Bible, etc. cannot be among the main three sources used
and
cited. Wikipedia may not be
used as a source at
all. Your work will be severely penalized if Wikipedia or any
other basic encyclopedia is used.
There are encyclopedia
that are field or discipline specific, such as the Encyclopedia of Radio and the Encyclopedia of
Television for mass communication. Such specific
encyclopedia
for your field or discipline are acceptable.
-- The sources must be on
a separate page at
the end of your report, but they will not count as part of the
2-3
page minimum/maximum. In other words, you can use a fourth page only
for the reference
page.
-- The sources will be
integrated into your paper
as you identify examples of interpersonal communication
practices used in your
major,
field of study, or discipline. There will be a reference list at
the end of the paper.