The Assignments:

1. Biography: An assigned biography report on Journalism and Communication figures. Details

2. Observation exercise: You will attend an event, record your observations/impressions, and turn in a report on the observation. Details.

3. Interview: You will select an expert/authority to complete an in depth interview with about your topic. Details.

4. Literature review: You will go to the University Library and use databases, as well as other resources, to find books and articles on your proposed research project.  You will need to turn in an annotated bibliography on two books, two articles from professional journals, and two articles from scholarly journals related to your topic.  Details

5. Internet site evaluation: You will prepare a detailed summary and analysis of  five Internet/World Wide Web sites related to your final project. You will evaluate the site based on criteria explained in class.  Details

6. Survey Plan / Questionnaire: You will plan out a scientific survey (you will not actually conduct it) related to your final proposal. The plan will need to include information about the population, sample size, sampling technique, margin of error, confidence level, method of delivery (mail, telephone, face-to-face or online) and rationale. You will need to develop a questionnaire related to your topic for distribution to a sample of people. You will not administer the questionnaire, but you will suggest how the data would be used in your final project. Details

7. Final Project proposal: You will actually work on pieces of this throughout the semester as you complete the assignments listed above.  The final project will include almost all of the assignments done as class assignments---appropriately revised. Specifically, the proposal will include: A topic statement, rationale, research question,  and all supporting data developed during the semester (questionnaire, interview, archival, and online resources). You will submit a proposal for a final paper, but you will not actually write a final paper. NOTE: Since the goal of this course is to teach you how to gather information and how to evaluate it, it is possible to conduct research in this class that can be used for a term paper or research project for another class! However, you should inform the other instructor that you have done some of the research for the paper in this class.  Details

8. Class participation: You are expected to complete in-class assignments such as listening and observation exercises. You are expected to read the assigned chapter(s), use the study guides and be prepared to discuss the content in class.

9. Online Participation: You are expected to monitor and participate in class email projects. You will also be expected to do the online study guides before class.

10. Extra Credit: Crowd coverage analysis; Biographies.

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last updated 12/30/02