Communication

Your first written assignment will be a short paper where you accomplish two primary objectives.  First, you will summarize the content of a scholarly article in the discipline of Communication, and second, you will present, explain, and justify your determination of the theoretical underpinnings (metatheoretical assumptions) of that article.

Details:

1. Locate a scholarly journal article published in an academic journal in the field of communication.
   1. This must be focused on some aspect of communication.
   2. It must be a report of research (not a book review, editorial, etc.)
   3. It must have been published since 2003.
   4. It must be published in a peer-reviewed Communication Research Journal.
   5. Finding the right article is the single most important thing you do can do to be successful on this assignment. I STRONGLY encourage you to find one early and run it by me ahead of time to be certain it meets all these requirements.
2. First, write a brief summary of the article (1.5-2 pages).
   1. Provide a general explanation of the purpose of this research study.
   2. Identify the research questions or hypotheses guiding the research.
   3. Explain the methodology used to conduct the research.
   4. Summarize the key conclusions from the research report.
   5. Briefly explain any shortcomings or limitations you found in the research.
3. Clearly and unequivocally identify the authors’ theoretical foundations (1.5-2 pages).
   1. You should clearly state whether the author(s) was working form a scientific or interpretivist perspective.
   2. Fully and completely justify your determination. Be very specific about what it is that the author(s) said or did that influenced your decision. You should provide a minimum of 3 specific reasons you selected the theoretical foundation you chose. Each specific reason should have its own paragraph for explanation.