Other Communication Commons^™

Video Game Engagement, Gender, And Age: Examining Similarities And Differences In Motivation Between Those Who May Or May Not Play Video Games, Joseph Camarata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than …

The Importance Of Branding In Small Businesses, Amber J. Rabie

Senior Honors Theses

The Land of Milk & Honey Farm exists to provide quality food produced in facilities that practice good stewardship to the Earth. It is a small business devoted to loving, careful stewardship and the production of quality goods. The mission of The Land of Milk & Honey is to combine traditional farming practices with a sustainable and environment-friendly approach to agriculture. It aims to provide customer satisfaction by being respectful and responsible over animals and the earth, and by producing quality products. To reach this objective, the farm intends to educate consumers and provide an alternative source for truly farm-fresh …

The Stories We Tell, Abigail A. Hoekstra

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of Dorothy Allison as she comes to terms with her past and strives to move beyond it, to be empowered and embodied by it. In this short memoir, Allison explores the relationship she has with her mother and how that relationship has influenced her individuality and character, whose complacency has restricted Allison. Allison breaks away from the stories she has been told to tell a new story of abuse and disembodiment in which she finds love, and in turn, embodiment; the unification of her body and spirit. Story-telling and …

Accessing Healthfulness Through Intrapersonal Communication: The Correlations Between Health Locus Of Control And Health Outcomes Behaviors, And Perceptions, Laura S. Gavin-Breier

Scholar Week 2016 - present

No abstract provided.

Institutional Review Boards And Writing Studies Research: A Justice-Oriented Study, Johanna Phelps-Hillen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this multi-method dissertation project I conduct policy analysis and utilize results from a discipline-wide survey (n=258) to examine the intersection of Writing Studies researchers’ disciplinary affiliation, research context, and personal disposition in relation to the local implementation of federal policy regarding human subjects research. I elaborate on the context of this project, discussing the September 2015 release of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise and update the Common Rule, 45.CFR Part 46, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s formal comment in response to the proposed rule’s provisions. I discuss the process of designing and implementing …

College Preparedness: A Program For High School Education Professionals, Cullen Gilbreath

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

This project focuses on building a college preparedness program for high school students with the intention of preparing each student for success at an institution of higher learning. The project deliverable is a website containing a college preparation program for high school education professionals to implement in a high school junior or senior level class. The webpage URL at the time of this documents writing is: www.cgilbreath1.wixsite.com/prospectcollegeprep. The program is accessed through the website with the following college prep material: A curriculum guide, college prep checklists, presentations, notes, active learning activities, and program evaluation tool that can be used to …

A Longitudinal Study Of Parental Anti-Substance-Use Socialization For Early Adolescents’ Substance Use Behaviors, Youngju Shin, Michelle Miller-Day

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The present study examines the role of communication in shaping norms and behaviors with significant personal and societal consequences. Based on primary socialization theory and the general theory of family communication, parental anti-substance-use socialization processes were hypothesized to influence early adolescents’ substance use norms and behaviors. Using longitudinal data (N =1,059), the results revealed that parent-adolescent prevention communication about substance use in the media and parental anti-substance-use injunctive norms were positively associated with early adolescents’ personal anti-substance-use norms, which, in turn, led to decreases in recent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. It was also found that family expressiveness and structural …

Science In The Sun: How Science Is Performed As A Spatial Practice, Natalie Kass

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes how spatial organization impacts science communication at the St. Petersburg Science Festival in Florida. Through map analysis, qualitative interviews, and a close reading of evaluation reports, the author determines that sponsorship, logistics, exhibitor ambience, and map usability and design are the factors most affecting the spatial performance of science. To mitigate their effects, technical communicators can identify these factors and provide the necessary revisions when considering how science is communicated to the public.

Narrative Persuasion 2.0: Transportation In Participatory Websites, Yuhua (Jake) Liang, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This research applies narrative persuasion theory to participatory websites. Specifically, the study examines the joint effect of online review structure (narrative/nonnarrative) and source attributes (expert/nonexpert) on attitude strength (attitude certainty and intensity). Results demonstrate that source attributes moderate the relationship between transportation and attitude intensity but not attitude certainty. These findings advance transportation theory by illuminating that readers glean source attributes on participatory websites, and these attributes modify transportation effects. The findings offer implications for participatory websites and design features that may facilitate or hinder readers in their quest to make decisions based on the reviews they read.

Transitioning College Media From Print Focused Business Models To Digitally Focused Business Models, Celina Oseguera

Journalism

The noticeable downturn in print advertising indicates a need for change in the news industry business model. College media is not immune to this decline and need for change. A change in business model calls for transitioning to an alternative system that does not primarily rely on print products and advertising — a digitally focused business model. Many college media organizations around the United States have started to pursue this type of model, changing the way they produce and present news in the process. Taking into account the state of print focused business models in the general and collegiate news …

The Toxic Screen: Visions Of Petrochemical America In Hbo’S True Detective (2014), Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This article argues that the use of toxic visual and narrative tropes in contemporary dramatic television can expand our capacity to envision and critique the deadly effects of industrial pollution. The HBO series True Detective is an exemplary case study in how evocative toxic images can be integrated into familiar television narratives to animate society’s deadly relationship with toxic chemicals. The petrochemical mise-en-scène of True Detective enlivens the toxic image with inferential power, or visual enthymemes, that invite audiences to draw connections between traumas that unfold through narrative action and omnipresence of toxic iconography. Developing a concept of the toxic …

Resolving The Civilian-Military Divide Through An Examination Of Select Members Of The United States Army Profession, Caitlin Bankhead

Masters Theses

Since the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the American public and the Armed Forces have steadily drifted apart. This has resulted in a division between the people of the nation and the individuals that defend its values. Consequently, as this division increases, the American public is thankful of military servicemen, but believes that service is something others should do. Conversely, the military’s sole purpose is to protect and defend the nation, its people, and its values, but it has become more isolated. Additionally, military service is becoming a family tradition in which outsiders cannot easily understand the values and pride …

Parental Messages About Substance Use In Early Adolescence: Extending A Model Of Drug-Talk Styles, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Young Ju Shin, Janice L. Krieger, Michael L. Hecht, John W. Graham

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study extends a typology of parent-offspring drug talk styles to early adolescents and investigates associations with adolescent substance use. Data come from a self-report survey associated with a school-based, 7th grade drug prevention curriculum. Mixed-methods were used to collect data across four measurement occasions spanning 30 months. Findings highlight frequencies of various drug-talk styles over time (i.e., situated direct, ongoing direct, situated indirect, ongoing indirect, never talked), messages adolescents hear from parents, and comparisons of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use by drug talk style. This study advances understanding of parent-adolescent communication about substances and holds practical implications for drug …

Negotiating Refugee Empowerment(S) In Resettlement Organizations, Sarah Steimel

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In-depth interviews with both organizational staff and refugee-clients in two American refugee resettlement organizations explore how empowerment is communicated to and understood by refugees being “empowered.” This study found that while organizational staff professed empowerment focused on self-sufficiency as self-determination, in practice their communication to clients defined self-sufficiency a priori in economic terms. Refugee-clients instead constructed empowerment(s) in economic, educational, personal, and family terms. These findings highlight the need for changes in US resettlement policy and for theoretical and practical understandings of refugee empowerment to recognize polysemic and conflicting empowerments in different life arenas and from different positionalities.

Call For Manuscripts, Joseph P. Mazer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Submissions are invited for publication consideration in Volume 30 of the Basic Communication Course Annual (2018). Managed by the Basic Course Division of the National Communication Association and published by the University of Dayton, the Annual publishes the best scholarship available on topics related to the basic course and is distributed nationally to scholars and educators interested in the basic communication course. Each article will be published online and indexed on the journal’s website.

All manuscripts submitted to the Annual will undergo blind peer review. Two or three members of the editorial board read and review each manuscript. The …

Centering Information Literacy (As) Skills And Civic Engagement In The Basic Communication Course: An Integrated Course Library Collaboration, Liliana Herakova, Jennifer Bonnet, Mark Congdon Jr.

Basic Communication Course Annual

In an era of proliferating “fake news” stories (Fisher, Cox, & Herman, 2016; Mikkelson, 2016; Rutenberg, 2016; Tavernise, 2016), and a “post-truth” political climate (Higgins, 2016; Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), the need to pair public communication and civil discourse with information literacy instruction is more important than ever. A recent study by researchers at Stanford University revealed an alarming trend among students from middle school to college: while students at various stages of their formative education may have a facility with social media use and Internet navigation, they are easily deceived when asked to determine if the information they have read …

Embracing Social Media In The Basic Communication Course: Recommendations For The Digital Age, Soo-Kwang Oh, Jennifer S. Owlett

Basic Communication Course Annual

For communication scholars, the “bread and butter” (Dance, 2002), or “front porch” (Beebe, 2013), of the discipline is the basic course. The basic course is “that communication course either required or recommended for a significant number of undergraduates; that course which the department has, or would recommend as a requirement for all or most undergraduates” (Morreale, Hanna, Berko, & Gibson, 1999, p. 3). Most departments provide either a public speaking or hybrid course as their basic course (Valenzano, Wallace, & Morreale, 2014). Part of maintaining this “porch” is understanding what adaptations are needed. The basic communication course has undergone several …

Universal Adaptation: The Need To Enhance Accessibility In The Basic Course, Michael G. Strawser, Brandi N. Frisby, Renee Kaufmann

Basic Communication Course Annual

It is well-documented that the basic course is the front porch of the communication discipline (Beebe, 2013). Regularly part of general education, the basic course introduces students who may never experience another communication course to communication-based content. Because of the prominence of the basic course in general education, the scope of participating students is vast in terms of motivation and ability. This varied population may present several challenges for basic course instructors. One oft-forgotten issue, or an afterthought in course design, is the development and implementation of accessible basic course delivery and materials for students with disabilities. We believe it …

Adapting The Basic Communication Course For A Globally And Technologically Mediated 21st-Century Context, Michael G. Strawser, Janet K. Mccormick

Basic Communication Course Annual

The global marketplace is ripe for a reiteration (or a reminder) of the characteristics of an effective international communicator. Thankfully, the basic course, the “front porch” of the communication discipline (Beebe, 2013), may serve as a catalyst for pinpointed transcultural communication skills training. As communication knowledge and skills training increases in domestic and global importance (Morreale, Myers, Backlund, & Simonds, 2016), it is imperative that the basic communication course adapts to meet the demands of an international job market for communication practitioners. As such, this forum piece will address desirable international professional communication behavior and position a revised basic course …

Capitalizing On The Inevitable: Adapting To Mobile Technology In The Basic Communication Course, Brandi N. Frisby

Basic Communication Course Annual

It is undeniable that college classrooms have evolved. Students are reliant on, and connected to, friends, family, and endless amounts of information through convenient, affordable, and mobile technology (Kuznekoff & Tisworth, 2013). Although Wei and Leung (1999) reported students found classrooms to be the least acceptable public place for cell phone use, this has not deterred the classroom from becoming “deeply saturated” by mobile devices (Kuznekoff, Munz, & Titsworth, 2015, p. 344). Instructors report technology challenges their “beliefs about the nature of learning and their role in the classroom” (Fairchild, Meiners, & Violette, 2016, p. 99). Despite student and faculty …