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Communication Journal
(100 points)

Objectives:
• Identify important concepts in course content
• Collect data on communication experiences
• Apply communication concepts to real life communication experiences
• Evaluate your communication experiences and your communication competency in a variety of contexts

For each chapter in the text, noted below, you will write a 1-2 page reflection of a communication experience encountered during your daily life. Using the four-part structure provided, respond to each of the four major tasks to create your written reflection. Each of your chapter reflections will then be compiled into a single communication journal to be submitted for grading on the final day of class. Feel free to be creative in your construction of the final journal, embellishing with drawings, news clippings, ticket stubs or other artifacts which represent your communication experiences and reflect your communication competency. Please provide a Table of Contents and a cover for your journal.

1. Identify and define, in great detail, a major concept from the chapter that you feel is important (i.e. a concept that the text discusses for at least a few sentences.) Provide your own definition of the concept, as well as the definition provided by the text noted by quotation marks.
2. Present a narrative of a communication experience you have had with the course concept selected. Make sure that you vividly describe the experience to ensure that your reader grasps the key elements, context and people involved. Pay attention to detailed descriptions of behavior and emotions you and the other person were experiencing and engaging in. Your goal is to tell the narrative in a manner that allows the reader to picture the event in their minds.
3. Apply and analyze the specific experience using the concept you have selected. Carefully explain how your experience is an example of the concept you identified. Ask yourself, what specific things occurred in the communication experience to make it an example of ________? Connect the concept with your personal experience so that the reader can follow your thorough explanation and draw similar conclusions.
4. Evaluate your communication experience. To do so, identify what you learned about your communication skills and yourself in this specific encounter. Explain how you might modify your behavior in the future based on your new understanding of the communication concept.

Chapters requiring journal entries:
• Chapter 1 – Human Communication
• Chapter 2 – Perception & Self
• Chapter 3 - Verbal
• Chapter 4 - Nonverbal
• Chapter 5 – Listening & Critical Thinking
• Chapter 6 - Interpersonal
• Chapter 7 - Intercultural
• Chapter 9 – Small Group Communication
• Chapter 11 – Media Literacy

I strongly urge you to work on this assignment throughout the semester by completing each reflection when you read each chapter, rather than leaving the entire burden of this assignment to the final week of school when you are likely to have many conflicting demands on your time. Communication Journals will NOT be accepted LATE and represent 10% of your grade.

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