Final Project Communication 118, introduction to interpersonal communication and culture

Final Paper Workshop 1

DUE: 7/23

· HAND THIS IN THROUGH TURNITIN. GO TO THE FOLDER IN THE CLASSROOM NAMED “FINAL PROJECT”.

· MAKE SURE YOU ALSO READ THROUGH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR FINAL PAPER!

· Before you start, make sure to read the expectations and requirements for the final project , and the hand-out on how to think about a topic and organize your paper .

· Worth 3 points towards your final paper grade.

1. Make sure you understand the conceptual framework of communication studies.

If you haven’t done so yet, try to summarize the discussion from Tracy and Robles on utterance meaning (content, and discourse and social context). This is the meaning in language you will study later on!

2. Share 4 or 5 interesting topics which are on your mind about interpersonal communication and culture.

One of these topics may become the theme of your final project, so try to be realistic! You should try to be really specific and narrow the topics down as much as you can. You have to keep in mind that you have to find some data -- 30s recorded “actual talk” on your own to analyze in your paper. (Ultimately, you either record the talk yourself or take it from youtube, as long it is naturally occurring talk!)

3. Write some of your thoughts about some interesting social situations or frames, or some communication phenomenon, which you would be willing to study this semester. It may be useful to do a quick internet search.

Think for some topics of scenes or forms of face-to-face communication which you think are interesting. Maybe you are interested in expressions of seriousness; or you want to understand how people behave differently in different coffee shops. Perhaps, you are simply interested in apologies.

4. Try to ask some questions about the communication moment or phenomenon.

Try to think about some questions which you could ask about your communication moment or phenomenon based on the readings in the class thus far. Try to base them on the concepts you have encountered in the readings.

The format of this assignment should be research questions: Starting with "How" or "What." (For instance, How man and women employees make jokes differently in Walmart?; What are good answers for UMass students to refuse a date?) Since the limited length of paper, this project might not be able to answer to the question "Why" "When" and "Who." You can find out the questions almost everywhere around you, but again, be specific: from your hometown, family, friends, sports team, favorite drama, the places you work or study etc. As long as it is questioning the aspects of interpersonal communication and the culture of the speakers, you are fine.

Note that this is a very informal assignment, and any serious submission will receive full credit. Try to get your ideas on paper, the presentation does not have to be perfect.