application paper analysis guidelines
1. Select a context for your analysis. This typically means dyadic communication (two people), although some situations might involve your family, social media, and social network (e.g., roommates, friends with cliques, etc.). The point here is that you need to focus on one segment of communication between two or more people that you have witnessed, or you have/had yourself.
2. Look for one (and only one) construct, domain of behavior, theory, principle, or research finding regarding interaction. Again, this first application paper has a focus on material covered
3. Be sure to summarize the idea and elaborate on it enough for me to know that you know and understand the idea. Paraphrase the summary (no direct quotes) and indicate what page(s) contained the idea.
4. Organization: Write your paper according to the following organization.
a. Provide background to help me understand the interactional context that you investigated (2 paragraphs).
b. Select and develop one concept, principle, or research finding regarding interactional communication, referencing the textbook. Elaborate this idea so a typical university student could understand the idea you choose.
c. Provide examples that specifically illustrate the idea above. Be sure to highlight actual communication behaviors. Be as specific as you possibly can. You might have to generate dialogue from memory; that is OK.
d. Offer conclusions about the conceptual and practical implications of your analysis. Include an assessment of positive insights regarding your application of the one idea to communication behaviors
4. Limit your paper to 2-4 pages, double-spaced and in 12-point font that is legible.
5. Make sure your paper is stylistically clean and grammatically correct. I do deduct points if the paper is not stylistically clean. You should follow a style manual (e.g., APA). Or MLA
