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pop_culture_vs_science_analysis_245-2.docx245 Interpersonal Communication
Pop-Culture vs. Science Analysis
I. Assignment Overview
A. Students are responsible for turning in: one three-page paper (70 points; described here,
and one preliminary sentence outline thereof (30 points; see Pop-Culture vs. Science:
The Sentence Outline in the Assignments folder.
B. There are many ways of “knowing” what to do or think: personal experience, intuition,
religion, peer opinion, popular advice publications, or scientific research. Of these ways of knowing, only science is predicated on the assumptions that (1) what it thinks might be true (i.e., hypotheses) should be considered false until evidence supports the beliefs, and (2) that everything we think we know today will be corrected over time as we obtain more accurate knowledge than what we currently believe (i.e., progressivism and cumulative thinking). This is your chance to see how scientific claims match, or don’t match, the kinds of claims made by popular press sources of cultural advice. The purpose is to recognize that there are multiple ways of seeking insight into interpersonal communication and relationships, and that science approaches such insights in a different way than popular culture, even if these approaches sometimes come to similar
conclusions.
C. This “Pop-Culture vs. Science Analysis” paper is a 3-page, double-spaced, critical
assessment of interpersonal communication recommendations in popular articles intended for the lay audience. Many people read popular press advice articles and books, for entertainment or information. This assignment allows you to (a) identify such an article, (b) identify a concise piece of advice, (c) formalize that advice into a clear hypothesis or claim, (d) locate a minimum of three scholarly research articles relevant to that advice, and (e) analyze the extent to which that advice is well-founded by scientific research. In the process, you will also be demonstrating your ability to (f) make a compelling and credible argument by linking warrant(s) and research (i.e., “data”) to the proposed claim, and (g) place all of this in a standard written format and style (i.e., American Psychological Association, APA, 6th ed.).
II. Procedural Matters
A. There will be NO MAKEUPS and NO EXTENSIONS for either the outline or the paper regardless of the nature/severity of the situation in which you find yourself. (See the Course Calendar for due dates). Each of the written assignments is due by class time on the date given on the syllabus. Papers submitted at 1-minute past due date time will be considered late, and lowered 10% (a grade level) for each subsequent 24-hour period it is late. This includes holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Thus, if a paper is due on Thursday and it is submitted on the following Monday, it is four days late and thus can
achieve a maximum of only 60% of the points available.
B. All papers will be submitted electronically via turnitin.com. Turnitin.com is a web-based program that allows students to submit their papers as .doc or .docx (Microsoft Word), .rtf (rich-text), or .pdf (Portable Document Format) files. The process for uploading documents to turnitin is identical to attaching a file to an email. All written assignments
will be graded through the Grademark interface embedded within turnitin.com.
1. Another one of the features available through turnitin.com is plagiarism detection. ALL WRITTEN WORK SUBMITTED IN COMM 245 WILL BE CHECKED FOR PLAGIARISM. All students are expected to review the Academic Dishonesty Policy of the School of Communication (on the Course Syllabus, in the Assignments folder, and posted on the School of Communication website) and all students are held responsible for complying with this policy. Please note that ignorance of plagiarism policies is not a defense against commission. If one of your written assignments contains material that has been plagiarized, a grade of zero on the assignment is
guaranteed.
2. As a protection from plagiarism, students will be able to turn in their assignments
before the due date, and with 24 hours can return to see how Grademark’s plagiarism detector reports the “similarity” of the submission. Turnitin compares your submitted paper to millions of other submitted papers, as well as published research accessible through the internet and academic search engines. It then computes a similarity between your paper and other searchable papers and publications. There is no absolutely safe percentage of similarity—if your paper only has 10% similarity, but all 10% is in a full sentence that should have quotation marks around it, or that is misattributed, then this 10% is still a serious case of plagiarism. Be sure to allow
enough time for this feedback and any necessary revisions.
C. To access grades and written comments on assignments, students will need to return to the link where they submitted their work and click on the "Grademark" link. Be aware that any reevaluation of a paper opens the entire process of assessment—grades can
increase or decrease as a result.
D. It is your responsibility to account for potential complications with Internet connections and/or the software required to submit your work. The turnitin.com submission process can take as long as five minutes to complete and sometimes it becomes clogged at popular due date times.
III. Substantive Concerns
A. This Pop-Culture vs. Science Analysis assignment is limited to a maximum of three
pages of text.
1. If you go over this limit, the fourth page will not be read and thus you will lose points
for not having that content.
2. The cover page and the reference list, which are REQUIRED, do not count toward
the page total).
B. The paper consists of THREE sections (aside from the introduction and conclusion,
which should be one paragraph each).
1. Pop Summary: In the first section, you should summarize and synthesize the advice in the article you have selected. This portion of the paper should be relatively short -- please DO NOT spend a significant amount of your paper recapping the article you have selected. In the summary and synthesis part, the summary must include clear information related to the popular press advice column. This section should identify only the key points the student wants to critically analyze, and avoid excessive detail, quotations, or attempts to recount the entire article. In short, the summary of the popular press article should be clear, focused, and succinct. (Approximately one
paragraph).
2. Scholarly Summary: In the second section, you should summarize and synthesize at least two scholarly journal articles that investigate the issue(s) in question. Every one of these articles must be from peer-reviewed scholarly journals (see “Scholarly vs. Popular Articles” and “Popular vs Trade vs Scholarly Sources” on Blackboard). The work you include in this section must extend BEYOND the abstract of the article -- you are only required to report the findings of two studies, so the expectation is that you will read and summarize the results in one to two detailed paragraphs. In the summarizing and synthesizing the peer-reviewed research article from a scholarly journal, information should provide just as much detail as is needed for the reader to understand what was done, why, what was found, and what it means in regard to the popular advice article. (Approximately four paragraphs.)
3. Evaluation: In the final section, you should evaluate the quality and truthfulness of the advice you derived from the popular-press advice column you selected and summarized in Section 1 by comparing and contrasting it to the results of the empirical (peer-reviewed, scholarly journal article) studies you summarized in Section 2. Please note that your evaluation will not be comprehensive given that you are evaluating only two studies out of hundreds or thousands that have been written on the topic. You should also note that your evaluation MUST be based on the results and implications from the study summarized in Section 2 of your paper -- although your personal thoughts on relationships are often a valuable source of information that can guide your own relationship experiences, these types of personal reflections and commentaries are NOT appropriate for this assignment. Particular findings from the research results of the scholarly articles must be used as the “data” supporting a clearly articulated warrant (reason) or set of warrants that result in a clearly articulated conclusion or claim indicating whether or not the popular advice column provided reasonable advice, and if not, what was wrong with it or how it should be changed on the basis of the scholarly research. Make clear judgments—was the advice legitimate or not, and why. (Approximately 2-3 paragraphs.)
IV. Examples of Pop-Culture Advice Articles
A. Marriage
1. Cosmo Why Do People Get Married?
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/why-do-people-get-married#slide-1
2. Men’s Health The Benefits of Being Married
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/benefits_of_marriage_and_commitment/index.php
3. Redbook Negotiating For a Happy Marriage
http://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/advice/marriage-contract
B. Flirting
1. Cosmo How to Tell He’s Into You (first meeting)
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/body-language/#/category1
2. Telegraph of London: How to Tell if Someone Likes You
3. Rebook Rekindling an Existing Relationship
http://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/advice/fall-in-love-with-your-husband-again
C. Conversations
1. Cosmo Things You Should Never Discuss With Your Guy
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/how-to-talk-to-a-guy
2. Men’s Health How to Survive Relationship Conversations
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/handling_relationship_conversations/index.php
3. Good House How to Reconnect with Your Partner (Understanding Communication Differences)
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/marriage-sex/how-to-connect-with-your-spouse#slide-1
D. Conflict:
1. Men’s Health How to Fight with a Woman
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/fighting_strategies/index.php
2. Cosmo How to Fight Fair
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/how-to-fight#slide-1
3. Good Housekeeping How to Stop Common Fights
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/marriage-sex/how-to-stop-arguing
V. Helpful Hints
A. For selecting a topic, you might consider an issue particularly relevant to your own
interpersonal relationships.
B. Try this for a search engine.
1. Go to SDSU library website
2. Click "Databases A-Z”
3. Click "P-R"
4. Click "PsycINFO"
5. Click "Choose Databases"
6. Click "Communication and Mass Communication Complete" and then "OK"
7. Enter any search term(s) you choose into the search box(es) [e.g., marriage benefit], then click "SEARCH"
8. On left, click "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, then "UPDATE"
C. For more information about research on the Internet, plagiarism and writing skills, the documents below are in the Assignments folder on Blackboard.
1. A Generic Guide for APA Style
2. Academic Dishonesty Policy (Jan 2013)
3. Citing Films and Lectures
4. Common Errors in Undergraduate Writing
5. Evaluating Internet Research Sources (Harris)
6. Evaluating Internet Resources (Georgetown)
7. Helping Students Write
8. Most Common Types of Plagiarism
9. Popular vs. Trade vs. Scholarly Sources
10. Scholarly vs. Popular Articles
VI. General Standards of Evaluation
A. Normally, an “average” (C) paper should meet the following standards:
1. Be complete; does everything that is expected.
2. Conform reasonably to the page limit and other format requirements (APA).
3. Exhibit sound paragraphing: a topic sentence with adequate support.
4. Provide examples and support where required.
5. Use course concepts appropriately.
6. Be reasonably free from grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.
7. Submitted on time.
B. The “better than average” (B) paper should meet the preceding criteria and also:
1. Reflect a greater depth of research and thought.
2. Defines communication terms and explains principles.
3. Communication examples are specific, complete, support reasoning, varied.
4. Relationship between communicative behavior and causes or effects clear.
5. Recommendations justified by theory; clear, non-trivial, feasible.
C. The “superior” paper (A) not only meets the foregoing standards but also:
1. Demonstrates understanding of unusually difficult concepts.
2. Integrates concepts and themes as appropriate.
3. Makes an original contribution with creativity and depth of thought.
4. Uses direct quotations and paraphrases as necessary.
5. Contains elements of vividness and special interest in its style.
D. A “below average” (D) paper often has the following errors:
1. Assignment incomplete.
2. Little research.
3. Course terms and concepts not utilized or misunderstood.
4. Lack of examples or support for opinions.
5. Quotations and paraphrases not cited.
6. Stylistic errors interfere with message.
7. Obviously done in haste.
E. The “failing” (F) paper:
1. Reflects several of the problems associated with a D paper.
2. Or it uses fabricated supporting material.
3. Or it distorts course principles.
4. And/or is plagiarized.
VI. Specific Standards of Evaluation
A. The rubric below summarizes the criteria for evaluation of course analysis papers. The rubric presents six criteria, each measured on a 5-point scale, providing a general sense of the quality of the paper in terms of the written descriptions of the levels of
achievement. For a full-size copy of the rubric, see the Assignments folder.
B. The rubric is not a precise measurement tool. For instance, the A range is 90-100%. A paper might receive a 5, but that does not mean it is perfect on that criterion. Few are! Similarly, the “C” range includes a “C-“ as well as a “C+.” Therefore simply computing the numbers does not necessarily provide a fair grade. It is not a formula but
simply a feedback device.
C. Nor does the rubric account for plagiarism, late papers, and other issues. Recall that evidence of plagiarism counts against all of these evaluative standards and thereby jeopardizes all credit. Refer to the policies on academic dishonesty in this syllabus.
VII. General Advice
A. Do NOT leave the assignments until the last minute. Good ideas emerge over time. Too often students say, when completing a paper at the last minute, “Now I see what I could have done if I’d only started earlier.” Also, most cases of plagiarism are not willful, but result from carelessness that is often compounded by rushing to finish an
assignment at the last minute.
B. Allow time for editing. A first draft is not a final draft.
C. Allow for technical problems. Difficulties with your computer or the turnitin.com process are not valid reasons for late papers; nor are stolen computers or misplaced thumb drives. Back up your work continuously in case your computer crashes, your laptop is
stolen, or your professor loses your manuscript (!).
D. Protect your work from others especially if you are sharing computers.
“Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy - which many believe goes hand in hand with it - will be dead as well.” --Margaret Atwood
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/margaretat457948.html#mQdwyWzIgwhmi9eg.99
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Levels of Achievement |
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Criteria |
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TOPICALITY: Content demonstrates relevance to the interpersonal focus of the assignment. Ideas are significant, non-trivial; show depth. Weight 10.00% |
The entire project displays a direct discernible link to the fulfillment of the specified assignment. |
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CLAIMS/ ARGUMENT CONTENT: Demonstrates ability to articulate comprehensive arguments that include relevant and appropriate claims, warrants, and evidence. Weight 30.00% |
Consistent, coherent, and consistent development of comprehensively formulated arguments in support of primary claims. |
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Weight 30.00% |
Each selected proposition, argument, or claim is warranted and evidenced by sources high in scholarly credibility (i.e., relevance, recency, peer review, etc.). |
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WRITING/ ORGANIZATION: Demonstrates proficiency in organizing ideas, paragraphing, introductions, conclusions, and transitions. Weight 10.00% |
No errors in organizing ideas, paragraphing, introductions, conclusions, and transitions.
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WRITING/APA: Demonstrates proficiency in APA style guidelines (e.g., paraphrasing citations and quotations; references page). Weight 10.00% |
No errors in APA style. |
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WRITING/STYLE: Demonstrates proficiency in sentence construction, grammar, spelling, punctuation & academic voice. Weight 10.00% |
No typos or errors in sentence construction, grammar, spelling, punctuation & academic voice.
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POP CULTURE VS. SCIENCE ANALYSIS RUBRIC
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