Com 100

For the Self-Reflection Paper, you can choose to write either about 1) a time something happened that changed your self-concept, OR 2) a time when you found out your perceptions of someone (or someone’s perceptions of you) were inaccurate. DO NOT WRITE ABOUT BOTH. As you develop the paper, focus on your own communication, making numerous references to concepts, terms, and ideas discussed in the textbook and class as you explain the causes and effects of communication as related to your self-concept or perceptions.

This paper is designed to test how well you have understood the material and how well you can apply it in reflecting on events in your life.

I expect detailed descriptions of the behavior/events in question in the description section of your papers.  Remember, I do not know the who, what, when, or where things took place so your descriptions need to be as clear as possible. I don’t need to know full names, but at least something that provides me with an understanding of the relationship between you and any necessary people in your story (i.e. my mom, my dad, brother, etc…).

In the analysis section, you should be specific as to how the events and communication that took place between you and others in the description section relates to the course concepts in the analysis section of your papers. When writing your paper, make sure you are supporting your statements with evidence. For example:

“I knew that my perceptions about my interaction with this stranger at the bus stop were inaccurate. I believe that my misperception was due to the fact that I’ve never interacted with someone who had bright yellow spikey hair before. I didn’t have any schema to compare this interaction to and so I believed this person to be weird when in fact they were very normal (Adler, Rodman, & Du Pre, 2018).”

In the Conclusion of the paper, you will want to sum up by reviewing the main points of your paper and illustrating the lesson that you learned from writing the paper.

In regard to formatting, papers should be a minimum of 4 full-length pages, but no more than 6. The text should be double-spaced with standard margins (1-inch on all sides), Times New Roman or Arial with 12-point font. Each section of your paper is graded both on content (for example, accuracy of definitions and quality of your ideas) and writing (spelling, grammar, clarity, and punctuation).

How should I setup the paper?

Introduction: Paragraph #1 is an introduction that includes a thesis statement that describes the specific issue that you have chosen to discuss.  Define the general construct your paper deals with clearly.  Make reference to your book when defining these concepts and cite it using APA citing!  Examples for how to cite our book are noted on page 3 of this document. If you use anything other than the book, you will need to go to the Owl at Purdue website on page 3 and research how to cite that material.  Finally, preview how the rest of the paper will be structured (i.e., what will your main points be?  Make sure these are in the same order in which you address them in your paper. (10 points)

Description: The next two or three paragraphs should feature a description of the people involved, the location, and the nature of the interpersonal transaction.  You will need to be brief but also specific about what happened.  Cut out extra wording and avoid repetition.  You’ll need to provide enough detail here to allow you to explain why the concept applies in part three.  Here, you’ll need to provide direct quotes from the conversation or observed interaction.  Don’t explain what it means yet or why it happened. (10 points).

Analysis: The remainder of the paper (usually several paragraphs) utilizes the concepts, terms, and ideas that you defined in paragraph one to explain and analyze the behavior described in the second part of the paper. It is likely that you will get into more detail regarding concepts and issues in this section of the paper. For example, if your topic deals with perception, you should have defined the term perception in your introductory paragraph. In this section, you might talk more specifically about how each part of the perception process played out.  In the second section of the paper, you described when, where, and what happened, but these paragraphs explain why and how it happened.  What works?  What doesn’t?  Why?  For the Self-Perception Paper, if you could revise this interaction what would you do differently?  What would you leave the same? You should be citing from the book in this portion of your paper.  (25 points)

Conclusion: Finally, end with a brief concluding paragraph that revisits your main points (quickly) and describes what you learned from the experience.  (5 points)

Finally, the standards listed below should give you an idea of how I differentiate between various papers in terms of grades.

An “A” paper (90% or higher) demonstrates an outstanding grasp of the literature relevant to the issue, presents an excellent analysis, and is written in a clear and engaging manner with only very minor (if any) typos and grammatical errors.

A “B” paper (80–89%) demonstrates a very good grasp of the literature relevant to the issue, presents a good analysis, and is generally well written with only a few typos and/or grammatical errors.

A “C” paper (70-79%) demonstrates a satisfactory grasp of the literature relevant to the issue, presents an acceptable analysis, and is written without many typos and/or major grammatical errors.

A “D” paper (60-69%) is unsatisfactory in terms of the literature incorporated into the paper, the analysis, and/or the clarity of the writing. Often there are major grammatical errors, many typos, and/or the topic is only addressed in a very superficial manner.

An “F” paper (under 60%) does not meet the minimum requirements of the assignment, usually because the paper does not fit the assignment as outlined in the syllabus and class, does not incorporate enough relevant literature from the textbook or lecture, fails to provide much analysis, and/or is written in an incoherent manner.

How do I cite our textbook in APA format?

Full Citation (for the reference page):

Adler, R. Rodman, G., & Du Pre, A. (2018). Essential Communication (2nd Ed.) New York, NY: Oxford Univesrity Press

If you are quoting directly from the book, it would look something like this:

According to Adler, Rodman, and Du Pre (2018), “the thesis statement tells your listeners the central idea of your speech…(p. 181).”

If you are citing within a sentence, but paraphrasing:

Adler, Rodman, and Du Pre (2018) state that the central idea of your speech is stated in conjunction with your thesis statement.

If you are writing in your own words, but learned the information from the textbook, you should cite at the end of the sentence like this:

Essentially the central idea of your speech is stated in conjunction with your thesis statement (Adler, Rodman, & Du Pre, 2018)

For help with APA citations for any other materials, please visit:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

How will my work specifically be graded?

Introduction:

__ The introduction clearly identifies which option will be discussed in the paper (2 points)

__ The introduction defines the general concepts that will be discussed in the paper (4 points)

__ Appropriate APA citations are incorporated (2 points)

__ The introduction concludes with a clear preview of what will be discussed in the rest of the paper. (2 points)

Description:

__ The description identifies the appropriate people, places, and nature of the interpersonal transaction. (4 points)

__ Enough detail is provided for the reader to understand the events that transpired. (4 points)

__ The description provides a logical progression (2 points)

Analysis:

__ The analysis section applies course concepts to various parts of the events. (5 points)

__ The course concepts are used appropriately. (5 points)

__ The analysis section is thorough in explaining the connection between the concepts and the events. (10 points)

__ Appropriate APA citations are incorporated (5 points)

Conclusion:

__ The conclusion summarizes the ideas presented in the paper. (2 points)

__ The conclusion highlights what was learned from applying course concepts to the events. (3 points)

Miscellaneous Deductions (No Limit):

__ Spelling and Grammar Errors

__ Page Length

__ Formatting (Margins, font size, headers, etc…)

__ Other

Total: ____/50