COM 20300 - Communication Theory

This is a foundational course that introduces students to a wide range of communication theories in the areas of interpersonal and organizational communication, persuasion, rhetoric, mass media and cultural studies. Students will read, evaluate, and synthesize communication research from the social scientific, interpretive, and critical paradigms. They will also learn how to write literature reviews using APA format.

Preparation for Course
P: COM 10100.

Cr. 3.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. Identify, describe and apply communication theories across the discipline’s traditions.
2. Be able to apply various theories to “real life” contexts and/or situations (i.e., personal examples, current events, television and film).
3. Identify the paradigms under which the theories belong.
4. Define epistemology and ontology and explain how they differ in the social scientific, interpretive, and critical paradigms.
5. Be able to locate communication research articles at the library or through the library’s website.
6. Identify the key elements of scholarly journal articles.
7. Accurately summarize scholarly journal articles.
8. Synthesize research on a given communication topic in form of a well-written literature review that could be the foundation for one’s own research project.
9. Be able to cite in APA format.