(Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., HUMN 150)

Grading will be on a point system with the final grade determined by the percentage of total points earned (93%=A, 90%=A-, 87%=B+, etc.). 1000 total points will be allocated as follows:

Active participation is the key to learning. Attending lectures and reading are helpful but not enough for most students. To foster an active learning environment in this class, we will provide many opportunities for participation and feedback on your progress in the course. A maximum total of 100 points will be awarded for all forms of participation and in-class assignments.

Missed in-class assignments will not be excused for any reason and cannot be made up. However, students who engage regularly in one or more of the other forms of participation listed above (class participation, online participation, and coming to office hours) may be awarded additional participation points at the end of the semester if it will help the final grade. 

There will be two mid-term exams and a final. Exams will be machine scored multiple-choice  tests. The final exam will cover selected material from earlier units. We have scheduled regular class days for review and will provide a study guide before each exam. A missed exam will result in a failing grade. Make-up exams will not ordinarily be scheduled.

Application Paper

Each student will write an application paper (1500 words). The purpose of an application paper is to apply a communication theory to analyze a practical problem or situation. Specifically, an application paper does three things: (1) explains one of the theories covered in this course, defining the key concepts and presenting the main points of that particular theory; (2) applies the theory to a real communication problem situation, showing how the theory can be used to frame the problem, understand what's going on, and possibly decide what to do about it; and (3) critiques the theory in light of your attempt to apply it (optionally, this may include original suggestions for revising or extending the theory). The paper must cover all three of these aspects (explanation, application, critique) with roughly equal emphasis. 

"Theories covered in this course" means specific theories covered this semester, such as Carey's ritual view, Barthes' theory of semiotics, or Horkheimer and Adorno's theory of the culture industry. We do not mean broader traditions of communication theory such as the semiotic or critical traditions. If you are not sure a particular theory is appropriate for the assignment, please ask.

"Apply the theory" means to describe a real-world communication event or situation (anything from a personal relationship to a problem in international relations) and use the concepts and principles of a theory covered in this course to describe a  communication problem within the situation, explain what is going on, and, if possible, offer practical suggestions based on the theory.

"Critique the theory" means to present an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the theory based on your experience of having applied it. For what specific purposes do you find the theory useful, and why? How does it compare to other related theories? Does the theory seem unclear or off-base in some ways? Is it supported by adequate evidence? Can you imagine ways of changing or extending the theory to make it potentially more valid or useful?

Although this is not primarily a library research paper, you must use at least two high-quality published sources (usually the required reading plus a second source to provide additional information and a different perspective on the theory). By high-quality sources we mean academic books and articles in refereed journals (either print or online). You may use non-refereed websites, etc. as additional sources beyond the two required. Refereed articles can be found by searching academic databases such as ComAbstracts. Also feel free to ask us for suggestions. All sources used in writing the paper should be cited within the text of the paper and in a reference list at the end of the paper in APA style. (See the APA style guide linked to the Course Resources page on CULearn.)

Your paper should be well written and clearly organized (introduction, body, conclusion), and should have a clear central thesis (main point). It should be professionally presented and completely free of typographical, spelling, usage, and grammatical errors. The title of your paper, your name, the date, and number and name of this course should appear at the top of the first page. Pages should be numbered.

Save your paper as an MS Word file and submit it through CULearn (see the Application Paper link on the course home page) by the posted deadline. (Note: Please do not use new file types unique to MS Word 2007. Your instructors may not be able to read those files!) Late papers may be accepted with a grade penalty at the discretion of the instructors. You are responsible for keeping backup copies of your work. Lateness due to hard disk crashes, lost data sticks, etc. will not be excused.

Sample application papers from previous semesters are available on the <meta>discourses website. The students who wrote those papers kindly permitted us to publish them for your use. They are not "perfect" papers, but they are all good papers that illustrate different theories and approaches to theory application. (Note: Some sample papers on the website are about theories not covered this semester, and many of them do not conform to all of this semester's specific guidelines for the assignment. Your paper must be on a theory covered this semester and must follow all of this semester's guidelines.) If you write a really good application paper this semester, we may invite you to publish it on the web for use by future students. Of course, it goes without saying that any paper you turn in must represent your own work. For your protection, we keep files of papers from past semesters and make every effort to detect instances of plagiarism. For information on CU's Honor Code, see below under Policies.

Policies

Equipment Check-Out

The Communication Department has equipment that is available for students in Communication courses to check out. Equipment includes laptop computers, digital video cameras, web cameras, wireless Internet cards, transcribers, tape recorders, and more. Please see http://comm.colorado.edu/tac for more information.

Honor Code

Academic writing frequently quotes, paraphrases, or otherwise uses materials taken from various research sources. Writers are ethically required to disclose all assistance received and all sources of information used by following accepted practices of citation, quotation, acknowledgement, etc.  Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism, a form of academic dishonesty. Other forms of academic dishonesty include cheating, submitting the same work for more than one course without permission, etc. CU-Boulder has established an Honor Code to promote and enforce standards of academic honesty. Please see http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/ for more information.

Classroom Behavior

Disruptive classroom behavior will not be tolerated. See http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html for information about CU-Boulder's classroom behavior policy.

Discrimination and Sexual Harassment

Our policy in this course is to welcome and respect all students equally. Any student who believes s/he has been the subject of discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status  should contact the Office of Discrimination and  Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. See http://www.colorado.edu/odh/ for further information. 

Students with Disabilities

If you qualify for accommodation because of a disability, please submit to us a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Contact the Disability Services Office in Willard 322 (http://www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices; phone 303-492-8671).

Religious Observance

If you anticipate conflicts between religious observance dates and any requirements or activities of this course, please let us know well in advance so we can arrange appropriate  accommodations. 

Class Schedule