Mass Communication Commons^™

Conflicting Advice On Oral Citations In Top Public Speaking Texts, Katherine N. Kinnick, Emily Holler

Basic Communication Course Annual

Learning to develop and deliver effective oral citations is an important speechmaking skill that helps to enhance the credibility of the speaker, the persuasiveness of the source, and reduce unintentional plagiarism. A content analysis of oral citation guidelines in the most widely-used public speaking textbooks reveals that they take different approaches to the topic of oral citations. The texts differ on the bibliographic elements that should be included in an oral citation, when an oral citation is necessary, and how oral citations should be introduced. In some cases, examples of citations in student speeches and chapter text do not follow …

Driveway Moments: Developing Syllabi According To Kenneth Burke, Kristen Lynn Majocha

Basic Communication Course Annual

Have you ever remained parked in your car in order to hear the end of a song or a news story? This is called a driveway moment (Pine, 2007). Kenneth Burke refers to this fulfilling of our desires, the desire for the conclusion, as an “appetite” that humans have for form (Burke, 1931). Songs have form, movies have form, literature has form. As teachers of the Basic Communication Course, we should recognize this appetite for form and incorporate form into our syllabi. Form in the way Kenneth Burke describes—form that has one part leading to the anticipation of another part—is …

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Submission Guidelines

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Index Of Titles And Authors, Volumes 1-23

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 24

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (298 pages, 12.1 MB)

“All Girls Are Barbies”: A Feminist Critique Of Nicki Minaj’S Barbie Persona, Camellia Sarmadi

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Getting The Message Across: Message Dissemination Through The Social Media Platform As A Public Relation Tool As A Media Richness Perspective, Ana Isabel Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Prior studies that evaluated social media recommended the use of social media in PR efforts. But they lacked the theoretical framework to fully evaluate the richness of the communication medium. Through Media Richness Theory, the investigator assessed the perceptions of 162 PR professionals to shed light on the richness of social media as a communication tool and, most importantly, as an effective tool for the purposes of PR. While this study revealed that social media is not a fully "rich" communication outlet, there are components that provide value to PR professionals. This study suggests that social media not simply be …

Requirements Specification For Dsic: Distribution System For Information And Collaboration, Alex Abrahamian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

There seems to exist an invisible barrier between people that should be connected but for whatever reasons (don't hang out in the same circles, don't go to the same meetings, or are geographically separated) haven't met each other yet.

Normally these people will only meet when others bring them together or they are thrown together on a project. DSIC aims to preempt the person discovery process by allowing a way for people to post ideas, events, and other collaborations in a single place that can then be searched by other users.

The system utilizes postings, user profiles, and a tagging …

The University Of Nebraska At Omaha's Criss Library Mobile Resources: A Study Of User's Preferences, Teonne A. Wright

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

In March of 2010 the University of Nebraska at Omaha Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library launched mCriss, the library mobile website to support the educational objectives of on-campus and distance students as well as the research goals of UNO faculty and staff. The study investigators conducted an online survey of UNO students, faculty, staff, alumni and UNO Library Friends ages 19 and older. The purpose of this study was to collect data on UNO community member use of mobile devices and UNO Criss Library mobile services, to determine if participants: are aware of the different aspects of the …

Pragmatism And Meaning: Assessing The Message Of Star Trek: The Original Series, Anne Collins Smith, Owen M. Smith

Faculty Publications

The original Star Trek television series purported to depict a future in which such evils as sexism and racism do not exist, and intelligent beings from numerous planets live in a condition of peace and mutual benefit. As many scholars have observed, from a standpoint of contemporary theoretical analysis, Star Trek: The Original Series contains many elements that are inimical to the utopia it claims to depict and thus undermine its supposed message. A different perspective may be gained by drawing on the American pragmatist movement, in which the value of an idea is judged by its effectiveness, how it …

Deadly Silence: An Assessment Of Emergency Alert Systems For Lincoln County, Georgia, Gretchen B. Keneson,

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Rural counties have a predisposition to sustaining catastrophic losses during natural emergencies. These counties tend to have poorer economic conditions that exacerbate attempts at hazard mitigation.  Emergency Alerts Systems (EAS) are the most efficient and effective ways to provide information of impending danger.  This study will compare and contrast different EAS to determine which would accommodate the needs of a community. The most successful way for most counties to alert citizens is through the use of a combination of redundant systems. For pastoral Lincoln County, Georgia the optimal systems are an alert siren and auto call capabilities.  Both of these …

Index Of Titles And Authors, Volumes 1-22

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editor's Page, David W. Worley

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Immediate Feedback: A Means Of Reducing Distracting Filler Words During Public Speeches, Michael Hazel, Colleen Mcmahon, Nancy Schmidt

Basic Communication Course Annual

Research demonstrates that immediate feedback is effective for speech instruction (King, Young & Behnke, 2000; Smith & King, 2004). However, feedback interventions can be a double-edged sword depending on the type of feedback and performance task (see Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). Thus, given the mixed effects reported in feedback intervention research, the present studies examined an immediate feedback intervention aimed at reducing distracting filler words during public speeches in a classroom setting as well as how the intervention impacted state/trait anxiety and self-perceived communication competence.

Results from study one indicate that immediate feedback effectively reduces filler word use during speeches …

A Grade-Norming Exercise To Increase Consistency And Perceived Consistency In Grading Among Public Speaking Instructors, Bessie Lee Lawton, Mary Braz

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study reports the results of a grade-norming training exercise in a mid-Atlantic university. The study’s goals were to improve consistency in grading among Public Speaking instructors, and to see whether self-report normative perception behavior and self-efficacy also improved. Four training sessions on speech evaluation were conducted with a group of instructors over the course of one semester. A control group was asked to evaluate speeches independently at the same time period, but its members did not have any training. Results show that the training led to greater consistency in grading over time in the training group compared to the …

Improving The Basic Communication Course: Assessing The Core Components, Kristen Leblanc, Lori Vela, Marian L. Houser

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study seeks to examine the effective means of assessing whether goals and objectives set within a basic communication course are met. The study outlines specific techniques used to evaluate learning outcomes to ensure that the course retains its relevance and general education status. A pretest-posttest design is utilized to determine whether students’ scores on cognitive, behavioral, and affective assessment instruments improve from the beginning to the end of the semester. Results indicate students’ scores improved on each of the primary learning indicators for the course including: an assessment of communication knowledge, conflict management skills, and intercultural communication apprehension. Discussion …

Rethinking Evaluation Strategies For Student Participation, Kevin R. Meyer, Stephen K. Hunt

Basic Communication Course Annual

Basic communication course instructors encourage student participation in the classroom by employing a variety of strategies, including graded participation. The present study examined the methods that basic course instructors use to facilitate and assess student participation in the classroom through focus groups interviews exploring how students perceive graded participation in the basic course. The findings suggest that while there are conditions in which the focus group students enjoy participation, there are also conditions in which they perceive such strategies as a power issue for instructors and reject the notion that participation accurately measures their level of involvement and learning in …

Tales Of Teaching: Exploring The Dialectical Tensions Of The Gta Experience, Jennifer M. Hennings

Basic Communication Course Annual

In universities across the United States, an increasing number of departments are turning to graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to teach introductory courses. As GTAs assume a larger percentage of university teaching responsibilities, it becomes even more important to understand the tensions and challenges that GTAs face. The majority of research on GTAs focuses on the perceptions of students and GTA supervisors, and few researchers have talked directly to GTAs. This research fills that gap by studying the GTA experience from the GTA perspective. Using relational dialectics theory, this study identifies three key tensions that emerge from GTAs’ stories about role …

Assessing The Impact Of Learning Communities As An Alternative Delivery Model For The Public Speaking Course, Katherine N. Kinnick, Emily Holler, Marla Bell

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study provides empirical evidence of the impact of learning communities on outcomes for public speaking students, including grades, speaking anxiety, and student and instructor perceptions. Subjects (n = 236, half of whom took the course in freshman learning communities and half in traditional sections) perceived the learning community as the preferable environment for public speaking, and students with greater speaking anxiety were more likely to self-select into learning communities. Perception, however, was not reality: Participation in a learning community made no measurable difference in terms of course outcomes of grades or decline in speaking anxiety.

The findings challenge assumptions …

The Effects Of Using Peer Workshops On Speech Quality, Public Speaking Anxiety, And Classroom Climate, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, B. Scott Titsworth, Leann M. Brazeal

Basic Communication Course Annual

This field experiment answered the call to explore alternative pedagogies in communication by testing the use of structured peer workshops in public speaking courses. Peer workshops use systematic and structured peer feedback to assist students in improving their speeches. While strong theoretical reasons for using workshops have been advanced, and evidence from other disciplines suggest that they are effective, no research has specifically examined their use in public speaking. Results of our study show that peer workshops are a viable pedagogical option because they improve students’ speech grades, reduce public speaking anxiety, and improve perceptions of classroom climate. When comparing …

Students’ Communication Predispositions: An Examination Of Classroom Connectedness In Public Speaking Courses, Robert J. Sidelinger, Scott A. Myers, Audra L. Mcmullen

Basic Communication Course Annual

The connected classroom climate centers on supportive student-to-student communication in the classroom, and may provide students enrolled in public speaking courses with a safe and comfortable haven to present speeches.

This study examined student connectedness in public speaking courses and it’s affect on students’ (N = 368) communication abilities. Results revealed positive perceptions of student connectedness related to decreases in public speaking anxiety and public speaking apprehension, as well as increases in perceptions of communication competence.

These outcomes suggest public speaking instructors should consider the relationships that exist among students and how they may further encourage connectedness in their classrooms.

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Submission Guidelines

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.