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CJ 301: Intercultural CommunicationResearch Paper: “Civic, Social, and Environmental Issues in Diverse Populations”OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENTObjective 1: To investigate intercultural communication-based conflicts and tensions experienced by individuals from one or more of the UW-System recognized cultures/populations/communities. To make this project manageable for all students in this course, we will focus the project topic on Native Americans.Objective 2: To investigate civic, social, and/or environmental issues pertaining to one of the cultures/populations/ communities the UW-System has outlined as representative of local diversity in the state of Wisconsin.A civic issue relates to the rights and duties of citizenship that a person engages in at various levels, often locally (i.e., city/town, county, state). It includes access to a public education and to political systems (e.g., participate in governing, ability to vote, access governmentally-protected civic rights).A social issue relates to how individuals interact with one another within their own culture and across/ between cultures. Examples include the denial of inclusion in community-centered clubs/groups (e.g., the Boy Scouts of America’s long history of denying membership to boys and men who did not identify at heterosexual and golf clubs/country clubs that do not allow membership for women); the unequal access to institutions/places that are (or believed by some that they ought to be) governmentally protected (e.g., current attempts to enable business owners to refuse services to individuals who identify as LGBTQ.An environmental issue relates to places where we live, work, and/or play (In the context of this course, it’s not about protecting nature/wilderness for the sake of nature). An example is “environmental justice.” Often, environmentally dangerous things (e.g., toxins, garbage dumps or incinerators, factories) are placed in communities wherein minority and economically disadvantaged individuals live, work, and play. These same communities may have little choice but to live, work, and play in locations where environmentally dangerous things are already located. This leads to or causes environmental (i.e., air, water, soil) issues (such as decreased human health, property values, and/or access to things like shopping) that minority individuals contend with in disproportionate ways.Objective 3: Learn about varied examples/situations of intercultural communication – and the communication failures/problems – happening in the US. In this case, we are looking at current events. We find these events in the news-based media we regularly consume as informed citizens (e.g., news stories, social media reports, websites of activists).In the spirit of invitational rhetoric, as we examine these newsworthy events and the intercultural problems or failures represented in these events, it is important to begin our assessment by recognizing that (for the purposes of this COMMUNICATION course) it is the COMMUNICATION that is happening BETWEEN people that failed or is failing or is/was problematic. It is far less productive to approach these examples as instances where one communicator (e.g., European Americans, the media, police, one of the four designated cultures/populations/communities) failed or are the problem. This later approach leads to defensiveness and resistance that only continues the communication problems and failures.Objective 4: To use strong research skills to make sense of communication-based academic research/scholarship that will help you develop an understanding of how structural inequities – perhaps inequities in communication or that are manifest via communication – contribute to different civic, social, and/or environmental issues experienced by individuals in the culture(s) you choose to investigate.Objective 5: To utilize intercultural communication knowledge gained through this course and/or other communication courses to help propose communication-based solutions to the issues you uncover.Objective 6: To demonstrate strong writing skills by paying attention to proper grammatical conventions as well as creating strong arguments (claim, data, warrant) and strategically structuring those arguments to build an effective message. This includes accurately utilizing the standard citation style of the communication discipline – APA style.ASSIGNMENT DESIGNThis assignment is divided into smaller elements/steps that should help you accomplish the objectives listed above. During the semester, you will complete:Current Events Element(30 points)Due: Oct. 13Explication of Terms(20 points)Due: Nov. 3Annotated Bibliography(40 points)Due: Dec. 4 Final Paper (150 points)Due: Dec. 18 (noon)This accounts for 240 points or approximately 31% of your final grade. The points listed to the right of each project element represent the portion of those 240 points that you can earn with each element. The elements are described below.Element A: Current Events Element_______________________________________Read the collection of news and related stories/content on our topic put into D2L (under the content tab). Some of these items will also be read and discussed for class, many others will be available for you to read on your own. For this part of the project, you will read these materials to be more informed of the scope/size of what is happening within our intercultural communication topic. For is element, you should then construct a paper (minimum 3-4 pages) that:Explains in broad and neutral terms (not showing sides) terms the intercultural topic. This is the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of the situation. In the syllabus, I referred to you as a communication consultant who is brought in to assist with this communication situation. As an ethical (and hopefully successful) communication consultant, you cannot have taken sides before or during your consultation – and you even want to retain your objectivity as your consulting concludes. That neutrality and objectivity must be seen in your writing here.Meaningfully (more deeply than above) explains who each relevant agent is (which could be a single person or an entire community or demographic of people) and how or why each agent is involved with this ICC conflict or tension. As with “a,” you will want to be neutral in your description and presentation of information about each agent (i.e., each “side” of the issue). For example, in a police-involved shooting as an example of ICC you may have the family, the community, the law enforcement officers involved, the law enforcement community, local business owners, and the media as agents (perhaps even more agents). If each of these groups needs to be at the real or metaphorical table to engage in some form of invitational rhetoric to work through this situation, explain who each agent is and why is each deserving or needing of a seat at the table? What is a fair and accurate description of their viewpoint(s) on the situation? Provides a deep overview of the intercultural COMMUNICATION problem(s) or challenges or failure(s) between these agents. A problem statement, in its simplest form, highlights “This is one problem I see happening with the communication.” “This is a second problem I see happening with the communication” Each problem is identified and deeply described. These statements should guide your later research in building the annotated bibliography for this project (and this process is associated with the LE goals UWEC expects for this course). These problem statements will also be important to how you structure your final paper.As you explain what COMMUNICATION problems you have identified, will deeply explore, and eventually try to solve for, keep in mind a “reasonable” consulting goal. Trying to do this paper on ending the problem racism, for example, is impossibly large. Trying to do this paper on finding a resolution to one act of racism as expressed in some communication – with its associated communication variables – as it occurred in one location/community in one short time period with a limited number of people…MUCH MORE DOABLE!REMEMBER: The problems and challenges and failures you are studying in this class and this assignment are with the way agents/participants are COMMUNICATING, not with the participants themselves and not with their culture. The solutions you will eventually propose for the problems are with the COMMUNICATION practices people engage in, not with the communicators as people. In other words, while you would hope that the agents you are offering your consulting skills to would practice invitational rhetoric, you are doing so as well as you write this paper.Offers a rationale for the importance of studying this ICC topic. If your paper was shared with/read by others, what do you believe your research can do to further/better similar situations if/when someone applies your research to a new/different intercultural communication conflict or tension? What do you hope to gain in your ICC knowledge?Element B: Explication of Terms ElementAn explication is the identifying of definitions and explanations from “in-use” connotative applications of a term by agents involved. It is not the taking of pre-existing denotative definitions from dictionaries, encyclopedias, or other similar sources. It is collecting those connotative definitions from the “texts” (e.g., newspapers, websites, journal articles, speeches, artwork, protest signs, etc.) one is examining. It is like creating your own entries in an encyclopedia based on just your ICC case study. So, in the context of being the communication consultant, you might look at what each different agent is “saying” when they use a particular term. “What do they mean by that” kind of use of the term. You will likely find, in subtle or dramatic ways, that a single term is being used by every agent…they’re just not using it in exactly the same way – and every different way is equally important at this point. So, you can build a collection of varying definitions and explanations around a single term. The variation may, in part, be one element of the communication problem in Element A.In our case, you could be looking to create definitions and explanations for terms related to the “intercultural” in our ICC topic. Alternatively, you might be looking to create definitions and explanations for terms related to the “communication” in our ICC topic.For this assignment – and you will incorporate this work into your final paper – I want you to do an explication of 2 terms relevant to your project. For each term, you should separate out and then define and explain each variation in the use of each particular term. For example, in a project your instructor once did studying environmental communication, he found seven different ways the one term/concept “place” was used in various texts associated with his project. So this one term (and you have to find two for your project) had seven different definitions and explanations that were explicated. It turned out that these differences about “place” where one important consideration at the heart of communication disputes about the environment. Before doing this explication, it might have been easy to assume every communicator was using the term “place” in exactly the same way. Or, it may have been easy to read into every use of the term “place” my own (and not the author/speaker’s own) definition. Recognizing that one seemingly simple term was being used in so many different ways offered a lot of explanation of why various agents were having disputes. As you are generating your list of definitions for your terms, keep in mind that upon study and reflection there may be reasons to condense two or more seemingly overlapping definitions because there is not enough to separate the two. Likewise, what you originally thought was one definition might suddenly seem have enough variation to seem like two definitions because what makes them distinct is more central than what makes them similar. To do your explication, you will use the current event materials from D2L. However, by the final paper, you may have added to that by also including definitions and explanations from the academic journals you’ll read.So what should this part of the project look like? This:I. Identify the first term you have selected. Why did you selected it? Why is explicating it important?Definition 1 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 2 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 3 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 4 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Etc.What was discovered or learned, as it applies to your project, by doing this explication? II. Identify the second term you have selected. Why did you selected it? Why is explicating it important?Definition 1 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 2 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 3 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Definition 4 and explanation or description of how the definition is used.Etc.What was discovered or learned, as it applies to your project, by doing this explication? The explication of these 2 terms should be at least 3-4 pages long. It should be written like paper where each term is talked about over a couple paragraphs.Element C: Annotated Bibliography ElementAs already noted, one useful way to think about this assignment is to see yourself as a communication consultant. Now that you know about the situation you’re working in as a consultant (from Elements A & B), you need to read the existing academic scholarship that is communication-based in nature. That [INTERCULTURAL] COMMUNICATION-BASED RESEARCH/SCHOLARSHIP has been done in three areas:On cultural issues or topics very similar to your own as they have been studied through a communication lens (i.e., Native Americans).On communication issues or topics similar to your own, just involving a different culture (e.g., African Americans, Latinx Americans, Asian Americans, Jewism Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBTQIA Americans).On communication issues or topics that are about so-called best practices, where the cultures involved may not be relevant (e.g., invitational rhetoric, deliberation, mediation, community-building, debate, round-tables). From the journal articles that will be put into D2L, you are going to construct an annotated bibliography. The annotated bibliography should only contain academic RESEARCH articles. When writing an individual bibliographic annotation for one of the sources you should (an example is also given below): Begin each annotation for each journal article with the accurate citation at the top of the page. (You should use APA not just for this citation here, but for constructing the entire paper and doing your reference page.)The first full paragraph of the annotation should be a summary of the entire article in your own words. In the summary you should talk about what the main goal of the author(s) was in doing this research as well as any other major points the author included (e.g., key arguments, study design, key findings, proposed solutions, key definitions).In the second paragraph, reflect on the content of the article. You will only want to identify potentially useful elements of the article that have a connection to your specific research project. This could include information about the topic/context the researcher(s) was studying, about the communication practices that were occurring, about communication theory or concepts, etc. Only include key content from the article you think you might include in your own paper as well as an indication of why those ideas are important to your paper. This paragraph will help you remember the key ideas about this article you may need to include when writing the full paper later in the semester.Each annotation should be approximately 1 page in length. The goal with the annotation – and in particular the items including in the second paragraph – is to have material you could cut and paste into your final paper. Doing an annotation does mean that you must read, from front to back, the journal articles you selected for your annotated bibliography.What does an annotated bibliography look like? Here is one example from a journal article (not about intercultural communication):Mahan-Hayes, S.E. and Aden, R.C. (2003). Kenneth Burke’s “attitude” at the crossroads of rhetorical and cultural studies: A proposal and case study illustration. Western Journal of Communication, 67, 32-55.The authors examine the role of rhetoric (communication) in society. They conduct a textual analysis of the television program Talk Soup as well as an analysis of interviews they conducted with fans of the program. Their analysis is based upon the earlier scholarship of Burke and his concepts of the representative anecdote, equipment of living, and of frames (acceptance, rejection, and transition), all of which the authors identify within the program and the interviews. The authors explore how the subjects they interviewed use the program to explain and make sense of their own life situations. In particular, the authors identify how the interviewees find explanation for economic hardships and efforts to achieve the American Dream within the narratives of the program. Mahan-Hayes and Aden’s effort to draw from Burke, and in particular his discussion of attitude, suggests that when viewers select entertainment programs to watch, they may do so because of how the program(s) provide models, answers, or justifications for certain behavior in their lived experiences. Further, viewers are attracted to certain programs and not others because of the program’s potential to offer these models, answers, or justifications that fit within a larger framework of attitudes, values, or beliefs the viewer holds. Therefore, recognizing this relationship between a program and a viewer’s choice of entertainment could provide insight into the use for and gratification/benefit from viewing choices. These author’s work, and in particular how they conducted this research – perhaps more than what they discovered – could easily be applied to violent video games. They also noted that other kinds of programs, and one could argue other kinds of mediated entertainment, could be used for or in similar ways. Grading/Assessment of the annotated bibliography: I am asking you to construct this annotated bibliography to help you with the construction of your paper. Because this is for your benefit (Really!!!) —and not something I can easily examine for 40 students in the course to see if the information you’ve found/description you have provided is correct or incorrect for each and every annotated bibliography —I will not be reading every annotation written by every student. I will randomly pick one annotation and use the associated rubric to assess that single annotation.The number of annotations you chose to do will factor into your grade for Element c (and there are 40 points available for this element). You must complete 7 annotations to be eligible to earn a perfect score, 6 to be eligible to earn an A-, 5 to be eligible to earn a B-, 4 to be eligible to earn a C-, and 3 to be eligible to earn a D-. Completing fewer than 3 annotations will result in an F on the assignment. As you can imagine, reading 7 journal articles involves time and labor. Do not procrastinate. These articles are likely to be between 15 pages (on the very short side) and 30 pages (on the long side).As you are doing Element C, you keep a few things in mind. 1) If, in Element A, you develop a strong understanding of our topic, you should be able to identify some ways in which the communication between people was failing and from this you should be able to ask “If I know that the failing was X, what do I need to think about in the articles to help me to learn about X as a problem.” 2) You should be thinking about this reading process as your own personal effort to increase your knowledge of a communication topic(s) AND knowledge of academic writing styles (Did you ever think of modeling your writing on what published authors are doing…and how your professors might respond if you did this well?). If you are to be a life-long learner, it will require reading challenging materials for the rest of your life. 3) One other note as you are reading articles: When you find a good article, don’t ignore the sources this author(s) used. If their work is good and applicable to your project, their sources (both other journals and books) might be good as well. And you could go get them to incorporate into your project.Element D: Final DraftWhen you have reached this point, you have learned quite a bit about our topic area(s). Your task now is to write a paper that thoroughly investigates at least TWO specific COMMUNICATION problems for our situation. The body of your paper is going to do three things noted below.The first section (main point) of the paper sets up the context for what was happening: Here is where you draw extensively from Elements A and B. As the communication consultant, here is where you describe what was happening in the community/location we are studying. This should be at least three pages, depending on what you need to explain about each of the agents involved and their points of view as well as the overall situation. Since you have read some journal articles, any content from those articles about comparable EVENTS and INTERCULTURAL concerns could be added to this section of the paper – especially if you are wanting to draw comparisons to what a communication scholar studied and what you are studying as events or about certain agents. Since you did the explication, some of that work might be applicable here too. Finally, don’t forget about including any content from class that needs to be worked into our understanding of the situation.The second section (main point) identifies each of the two problems you should select: The next step, broken down into two subsections, is to utilize your annotated bibliography to write about each COMMUNICATION problem/challenge/failing that the community of agents – your population and varied numbers of others agents – experience. You may have new insight or understanding since you wrote the annotated bibliography that needs to be a part of this project. Ultimately, this step is focused on writing two clear problem/challenge/failing statements. This entire section of the paper – and the two subsections – is like the first step in a problem-solution speech in CJ 202. Since you are writing about two COMMUNICATION problems, think about these two problems as two sub-points in the second main point of this paper. If each of the two problems are sub-points, then under each sub-point are sub-subpoints where you might elaborate on aspect A, B, C, etc. of this one problem and then aspect A, B, C, etc. of the second problem. Since you have read some journal articles, any content from those articles about comparable COMMUNICATION problems MUST be added to this section of the paper – especially if you are wanting to draw comparisons to what a communication scholar studied and what you are studying as intercultural communication problems. Since you did the explication, some of that work might be applicable here too. Finally, don’t forget about including any content from class that needs to be worked into these sub-points and sub-subpoints. This should be at least five pages.The final section (main point) identifies and explains the solutions to the problems noted above: Here you might once again have two sub-points under the third main point of the paper. This would especially be the case if you have unique COMMUNICATION-based solutions to problem one that don’t apply to problem two. For example, you might notes that for problem one it is necessary to do A, B, C, and D. For problem two, it is necessary to do X, Y, and Z. Alternatively, you could have multiple sub-points under the just one solutions main point. For example, if all or most of the solutions to problem one also apply to problem two, you’ll could list and explain the solutions and then note their fit to problem one or two.The communication-based solutions you suggest to problems one and two could be YOUR solutions OR they could be solutions you found in the journal articles you are using. Since you have read some journal articles, any content from those articles about comparable COMMUNICATION solutions should be added to this section of the paper – especially if you are wanting to draw comparisons to what a communication scholar studied and what you are studying as intercultural communication solutions. Since you did the explication, some of that work might be applicable here too. Finally, don’t forget about including any content from class that needs to be worked into these sub-points and sub-subpoints.REMEMBER: Communication-based solutions are what need to happen COMMUNICATIVELY. Real-world solutions are reasonable to this situation and not fanciful. A solution may involve some combination of the PEOPLE involved (putting all the responsibility on just one group is seldom a good idea) and/or it may involve the MEDIUM/CHANNEL that is used to communicate and/or it may involve the CONTEXT/ SITUATION where communication should occur and/or it may involve the MESSAGES/CONTENT of the communication. In this research paper, you want to clearly articulate the solution steps or procedures you are proposing as well as articulate WHY your selected solution is a good solution (what aspect of the problem does it solve or fix for?).As a part of this solution main point, it is here that you might acknowledge if there are aspects of some participants’ cultural worldview that make them more (or less) able to recognize the problem and articulate/participate in plausible solutions. Are there issues of power (who has it/who does not) that your solution needs to address and/or that might keep any solution from being implemented? Are there relevant histories or narratives that are being ignored or not brought to the deliberation table? Are there identity challenges/threats that are relevant for any or all the participants – even if these threats seem ridiculous to others? Are there communication skill sets and/or language/wordings issues that are relevant to those involved? Are there nonverbal issues that are relevant? Is popular culture relevant? Are the participants’ knowledge levels and access to information sources relevant? Are relationship expectations between participants relevant? Are conflict issues relevant? This third section should be at least 5 pages.Other Structural Aspects of the Final Paper:Cover Page (paper title, your name, the course)Brief introduction that explains the structure of the paper itself. As you look at the research articles for the annotated bibliography, see how authors introduce their topic in broad terms (why it is important to study some aspect of ICC), briefly note how their specific instance is a worthwhile/fitting example of the ICC that should be studied, and then preview the main points/sections of their paper.Conclusion. Speaking in specifics about the increased understanding any reader of your paper would have on identifying problems in/challenges to communicating interculturally and then finding solutions to those problems/challenges is a great way to conclude. It shows your deeper thinking. Explaining your own deeper understanding of the intercultural communication in your situation(s) that is offered by your paper is also great. Reference Page in APA style (making sure the body of the paper is also in this style).Paper Formatting: Likely minimum page length of 15 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins. The font should be “normal.” There is no automatic point deduction for going over or under the page limit. You will lose points if you do not address important issues, but I will not automatically deduct any points if you do not get to 15 pages. If you can be a concise writer, go for it! At no stage should this paper read/appear like a draft of freethinking or a pasting together of your annotated bibliography without any editing or additions. That means you should have proofread and organized your paper before you turn it in. This is an upper-level course and my expectation is that you can write a college-level paper that is largely free of grammatical and technical errors. Change your settings in Microsoft Word, if necessary, to increase the rigor with which it checks grammar and spelling!Use proper APA citations. Cite when appropriate! Don’t plagiarize! Some tips include: Punctuation almost always goes inside quotation marks and outside of parentheses. Learn what a “block quotation” is and when it should be used. Citations belong to the sentences that have the cited material in them – not at some later point.For the final paper, DO NOT use a hard-cover, three-ring binder. With 41 students, they will be too hard to carry. With 41 students, I will have too many left in my office for semesters to come (I already have too many sitting on shelves from years gone by). ................
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