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Alberts, J.K. "The Role of Couples’ Conversations in Relational Development: A Content Analysis of Courtship Talk in Harlequin Romance Novels." Communication Quarterly, Spring 1986. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.

The Role of Couples’ Conversations in Relational Development: A Content Analysis of Courtship Talk in Harlequin Romance Novels, relies largely on references to the Harlequin series. This article dives deeper into the conversations that the characters have in the novels and the aspects and steps of developing romantic relationships. The stages of romantic relationships were referenced in accordance to what Knapp had previously established being initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating and bonding. (p. 128) After referencing Knapp’s stages of relationship development, J.K. Alberts analyzes ten novels from the Harlequin series to exemplify the stages. Alberts uses examples and quotes conversations from the text in the analysis of the novels to prove the relation as well. In conclusion, Alberts states that from the research presented in the article can lead to many other things but even though “romantic literature may have its drawbacks as a research database; however, it is a widespread and important cultural artifact that should not be dismissed out of hand.” (p. 141)

J.K. Alberts uses multiple examples to support the initial idea that there are many steps and important conversations in establishing romantic relationships. Because the Harlequin romance novels are so popular and have been around for so many years these novels were a strong choice in representing the stages of relationships. The way Alberts quotes directly from the text to exemplify different stages and different language context while also using research from a few different people, it helps the reader to understand the stages fully. The stages are also very clear and relatable to real life situations which help to be able to understand how these may both relate to novels and also real time relationships. One thing that could have been more focused is that the author referencing many different people who have done research in the past and it may have been more beneficial to focus solely on Knapp because their research seems the most expansive and relevant to the content of this article.

The information presented in this article is very relevant to my topic and will be very helpful when I write about the stages of romantic relationships in novels later in the semester when composing my paper. The stages that were developed by Knapp are also very informative and will be very useful to dive deeper into stages of theses relationships in novels.

Connolly, Jennifer, Wendy Craig, Adele Goldberg, and Debra Pepler. “Mixed-Gender Groups, Dating, And Romantic Relationships in Early Adolescence.” Journal of Research on Adolescence (Wiley-Blackwell) 14.2 (2004): 185-207. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.

In this article Jennifer Connolly talks about the stages of romantic relationships in people from grades five to eight. She conducted her own study and uses this as evidence for her claims that “they [mixed gender activities] were influential in heightening young adolescents’ romantic interest as well as leading to romantic relationships.” (200) Much her this article presents information about the way young adults tend to have social circles that then lead to romantic interests in relationships. It provides different measures to gauge the views of the participants of the study, including romantic activities, romantic interest, and pubertal maturation. At the end of the article the results of the study are shown and explained in relation to dating stages and models of romantic relationships during early adolescence.

This source was originally published in 2004 but seems to still be relevant. Also with multiple contributors to this source and the fact that it is scholarly and was published in a journal also helps its credibility. Throughout the work there are many references to other research that was done in addition to the study that was conducted specifically by the contributors about this topic. The end of the article where the results were discussed was good and overall the article contained solid material, but I think that there were a lot of elements pulled into the article and a solid central theme. The article had a lot of moving parts and to focus on fewer of these and make the claims with research that way may have been helpful, rather than have so many parts to consider.

Overall for my research this will help because it has in depth research about the stages of romantic relationships between young people. Because I am comparing these stages to those of novel I think the way that these stages are defined and the process in which these typically occur will be helpful in coming to my conclusion.

Reese-Weber, Marla. “Intimacy, Communication, And Aggressive Behaviors: Variations By Phases of Romantic Relationship Development.” Personal Relationships 22.2 (2015): 204-215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27. Oct 2016.

Reese-Weber’s article focuses largely on three stages of romantic relationships, intimacy, communication and aggression. She takes into consideration that relationships vary and do not all follow the same pattern, but there are general forms and stages that these relationships take. Reese-Weber also uses studies completed previously to help represent “how positive and negative qualities of relationships may differ due to the romantic relationship context.” (211) The research and references that the author uses all refer to the point of trying to understand the “developmental context” of romantic relationships in order to understand the qualities of them. (205)

This article has a very clear focus and uses a lot of information to provide reason to the claims that are made. The author also refers to research from other people to defend her points while using a study by Solomon and Knobloch with figures and statistics. One thing that could be better about this article is that there are so many references to other people and research that is gets to be a little heavy on the information and studies whereas less may have been more with the information the author provided. Overall, this article has a very clear focus and uses good examples to prove the points Reese-Weber tries to make.

For my research paper I think that this article will be helpful because there is a strong basis for the claims that are being made and the three stages of relationships are another way for me to compare these of real life to that of the stages in novels. There is a lot of good content in this article that could work well with the content in Jennifer Connolly’s article. Both articles give me a solid perspective and basis to discuss stages of relationship development in real life.