SCOM 1000 Human Communication

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT III

GUIDELINES

Communication with a Friend or Family Member

 No late assignments or excuses will be accepted!

Content requirements:  

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 encourage you to think critically about your human communication experiences and practices.  

You will have read significant material prior to this assignment.  Write this as a research paper.  It is not an essay or narrative.  

Plagiarism will result in a zero for the assignment and/or the course and could lead to expulsion from the college.   

Understand that any documents submitted to the drop box are automatically checked for plagiarism.  Plagiarism means, according to Merriam-Webster, “to steal and pass and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own; to use (another's production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.” 

You will need a minimum of three legitimate research sources.  The person about whom you will write is not a source because you will not be interviewing that person for the assignment.  That means you are expected to have a minimum of three sources documented properly.  

http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/  

The major objective for this assignment is:  

Explain your own interaction in an interpersonal relationship you have with a  friend or family member.

The content of your paper will be derived from your experiences with the person, from your knowledge gained in the course, and from information you will find via scholarly research.  Using some of the terminology you have learned in class and from your research, tell about the communication practices between you and the friend or family member and what it means to you.  Each paper should fully explain the interpersonal communication concept (terms) that you are discussing and what you think about the concept (term).  Respond to the following questions in your brief paper:  

Identify your common, or typical, communication practices with that friend or family member and explain your relationship using the concepts that you are learning in class and in your research.  

Using human communication concepts, identify one or more of your own communication practices that could be improved when dealing with that friend or family member.  

Using human communication concepts, identify some examples of poor communication on your part and on the part of the friend or family member.  What could you do to improve communication between you and that person with whom you are in an interpersonal relationship?  What could the other person do to improve?  

Explain a situation in which you would change something that you have done in the past with that friend or family member and explain the likely outcome had you changed.  How would you apply it to the future?  

Sources:                                                 

-- You may use online libraries, such as Galileo, but none of the sources can be Internet sources.  Textbooks for this class, your other classes, 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.  Such field or discipline specific encyclopedia are acceptable.  

-- The minimum of three legitimate research sources must be on a separate page at the end of your research paper, 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.  To repeat from above:  You will need a minimum of three legitimate research sources.  The person about whom you will write is not a source because you will not be interviewing that person for the assignment.  That means you are expected to have a minimum of three sources documented properly.  

Formatting requirements:  

Failure to follow these instructions will result in a letter grade penalty for each infraction.  There is an associated rubric for this assignment that is posted in iCollege.  It is suggested that you review it prior to submitting this assignment.   

1.   MS-Word word processing format:  These papers will be done in MS-Word format and will be submitted to the instructor in a .doc or .docx file via the appropriate dropbox.  

2.   Put your full name, paper title, and date of submission in the upper left corner.  DO NOT use a header or footer for this.  For example:

Jeff Koerber

SCOM 1000 Online

Human Communication Report II

November 4, 2009 (or whatever date the assignment is due)

Number each page center bottom.  You may use the footer for the page numbers.  

3.   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.  The sources will not count in the minimum number of text pages.  

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.  Your title will be centered after a double space below your name and other information as stated in number 2 above.  

Failure to follow the instructions will result in a letter grade penalty for each infraction.  

4.   Poor grammar, spelling, appearance, failure to follow procedures, etc. will result in a lowered grade.