Current approaches to communication theory. Emphasis on a comparative approach to communication problems, and on a critical analysis of theoretical foundations. Theories considered include: systems theory, 20th-century rhetorics, reductionism, ethnographic studies, critical indicators, and critical cultural studies. Prerequisite: COMM 118.

Introduction to the structure, process, and logic of quantitative empirical research in communication. Topics include research design, measurement, descriptive and inferential statistics, and basic multivariate analysis. Students acquire an ability to critique various methodological approaches and techniques. Preparation for more advanced courses. Required of all Communication graduate students.

Building on the introductory course, (COMM 493E: Seminar-Screenwriting), an intensive workshop where students receive continuing, in-depth feedback on their work in progress, as they strive for professional competence in feature-length theatrical screenwriting or writing for episodic television. Analysis of two professional screenplays and the films or shows produced from them as students delve into the writer's art and craft.

This course uses tools from the study of everyday interaction to explore one-on-one interactions in the electronic media. The course focuses on two genres in two different media: television news and call-in radio. Alongside theoretical studies, the course uses data sessions to analyze different television and radio segments. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Comm majors.

This Integrative Experience course examines the role of different kinds of nonverbal behaviors (i.e., body orientation and posture, gaze direction, gestures, space, etc.) in establishing a joint focus of attention, coordinating turn-taking, conveying meaning, sustaining institutional realities, telling stories, and navigating interpersonal relationships. We will investigate nonverbal behaviors both in ordinary face-to-face conversations and in a variety of professional settings, including courtrooms, doctors? offices, and the workplace.

This course examines how the rise of new technologies is changing the landscape of politics. We will examine the social science literature on media and politics, and explore how the emergence of digital communication, including the Internet, mobile technology, social media, and big data, are transforming the nature of political communication.

Why do we put certain films into categories? What constitutes a film genre, how do we recognize it, and what do we do with it? This course examines these questions and more by considering a specific genre over the course of the semester. We will learn to think of genre as a way of comparing and contrasting different films. Genre will also be thought of as a way of creating expectations and measuring experience and meaning. The power of film genre is that it allows us to understand film as a text and film as a social practice at the very same time.

This course examines how language and culture (broadly defined) are implicated in our everyday communication. We will investigate how preconceived beliefs, taken for granted cultural norms, and the language we speak shape how we experience the world and thus shape our "reality." We will examine how a person communicatively accomplishes cultural identities as well as implications of divergent communicative norms and practices for interacting across cultural boundaries.

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