Overview
Communication Studies 445: Directed Readings in Communication Studies is a three-credit undergraduate course that provides you with an opportunity to extend your general knowledge of communications to finding solutions for more challenging scholarly problems.
The design of this course is based on the assumptions that you have already taken a number of courses in communication studies and that, either as a result of taking those courses or on the basis of some other life experience, you have developed a serious interest in some particular issue or phenomenon that you would like to explore within the framework of the discipline. For example, you might wish to investigate in more depth the precepts of a particular theorist or group of theorists, or to pursue advanced readings in a specific aspect of communications methodology and approaches.
Outline
Assignment 1: Topic, Thesis Statement, and Annotated Bibliography
In this assignment, you narrow and analyze the general topic you decided on in discussions with the course professor before registering. You will then generate a thesis statement to guide your research and reading, and compile an annotated bibliography of materials you propose to use as the basis for your essay. The topic, thesis statement, and annotated materials list is submitted to the course professor for comment and grading. The method of evaluating your project and the grading scheme that will apply are negotiable with your course professor. In the scheme we recommend, this set of items is given a grade that counts for 15% of the composite mark for the course.
Assignment 2: Literature Review and Formal Outline
After you produce a review of five or six of your best sources, based on your reading and note taking, you draw up a formal outline of your essay. The literature review and outline together make up the second assignment that is to be submitted to the course professor. According to the scheme recommended here, this segment of your project is accorded 25% of the composite mark for the course. Again, however, this evaluation scheme is negotiable with the course professor.
Assignment 3: Final Essay
Your final task is to write the essay that you outlined in Assignment 2. This essay should be about 30 pages (7,500 words) long. We recommend that it be graded out of 60% of the composite mark for the course. Again, this evaluation scheme is negotiable with the course professor.
Evaluation
CMNS 445 is divided into three parts or assignments, each of which focuses on a particular set of tasks. The course organization may be modified in consultation with the course professor to ensure that it is appropriate for your project. To pass this course, you must complete all three assignments and achieve a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent). The recommended weighting of the components of that composite mark are presented in the table below.
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1: Topic, Thesis Statement, and Annotated Bibliography | 15% |
| Assignment 2: Literature Review and Formal Outline | 25% |
| Assignment 3: Final Essay | 60% |
| Total | 100% |
Materials
This course either does not have a course package or the materials are open-source and available to students at no cost. This course has a
Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee. All course materials for CMNS 445 are available online from the course site.