Apply communication terms to a film in order to demonstrate your understanding of these terms;define and explain the terms, and analyze how they are presented in the film.

General Instructions:

In this 10 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 journal articles and use your textbook to help you understand and apply course terms in your paper. This becomes the evidence for your paper.
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.
Please note that you will submit two copies of your paper. You will attach one copy to the assignment posted in Moodle and upload a second copy to Turnitin.com.

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

First paragraph
1. 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.
2. Indicate the film that you will analyze.
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. Second paragraph – briefly summarize the film (about 4-5 sentences)

Body (For each paragraph in the Body, do these in this order):

Define and explain one or several terms that you have researched fully. As you define your terms, be sure to cite evidence (quote) from your textbook and your journal articles.

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.
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.

General Paper-Writing Tips

The following are several suggestions to help you succeed in writing your Term Paper. Please read them closely. And as always, if you need help then 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 tutoring via Skype for online Communication students!
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.
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 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.
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 1^st person language (“I thought…”, “I liked…”) in this academic analysis.
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 here at SBCC and elsewhere. The paper you submit should clearly be a response to the assignment guidelines I have provided for you.
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.

Guide to Citing Sources

APA Style

General Guidelines

Class projects and papers will require you to use communication sources and materials. Communication scholar based materials are books or journal articles written and/or researched by Communication scholars. Articles taken from Communication journals or books in the Communication Lab are Communication sources. Articles taken from popular magazines are not Communication sources. Psychology or sociology books are not Communication sources. A quick way to check if a reference is Communication based is to review the references cited at the end of an article or book to see if Communication scholars wrote them. If a book does not have references of the sources used, it probably will not qualify as a Communication source.

APA Style Requirements

For all papers written in this class, you are required to use the style of the American Psychological Association (APA) 6^th Edition. The following guidelines will help simplify this style. For more on APA style, please visit http://www.apastyle.org/

Citing Within Text (Paraphrasing)

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).

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, Mickey, and Miura (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)

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