SDSU Why Communication Concepts Are Related Paper

Course Learning Objectives Met By This Assignment:

• Ability to Formulate Claims: Demonstrates ability to articulate researchable claims specifying the interrelationship among variables.
• Ability to Conduct Scholarly Research: Demonstrates ability to locate and appropriately cite and list recent, relevant, and reasonable scholarly research, consisting mostly of peer-reviewed journal sources.
• Ability to Select Research Topics Relevant to the Course: Content demonstrates relevance to the assignment and to the communication discipline.

Instructions

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a set of three (3) hypotheses that explains how and why communication concepts are related. The paper is different from a typical literature review or research assignment in that most assignments ask students to summarize research. In contrast, the syllogism paper attempts to develop an explanation for why/how communication variables are related via a set of three hypotheses that are supported by prior research.

Papers are primarily graded on five areas:

(1) Proposition wording/claims: Conceptual soundness of the three hypotheses, including their wording and collective organization;

(2) Scholarly research: Quality of the scholarly journal research used to support each hypothesis;

(3) Topicality/integration of course content: relevance to communication and course learning objectives.

(4) Writing: Proper use of APA formatting.

(5) Originality: Does your set of hypotheses offer a new explanation for how communication concepts are related, or does it simply restate what is already known.

Formatting & Requirements

1. Document Format: See Example Papers (available through Canvas)
2. Content & Length: 1 page.
3. Minimum Number of References: At least 2 scholarly journal articles for each of your first two hypotheses, and therefore a minimum of 4 total scholarly journal articles.

Off-Limits Topics/Variables:

• Relationship satisfaction
• Self-disclosure
• “Amount of social media usage” (e.g., as social media use increases, _________ increases; specific communication behaviors via social media okay – see example on template)
• “Amount of communication” (e.g., the more communication, the more _____).