A Short Paper on Interpersonal Communication

To date, many communication scholars investigate the concept of communication from the standpoint of the traditions that have considered context as the fundamental component for the most favorable understanding of meaning in any communicative behavior (Romero-Trillo Maguire, 2011). The present paper illuminates contexts that give any instance of communication its meaning.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Short Paper on Interpersonal Communication specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The term ‘context’ has been defined by Bosco et al (2004) as â€Å"†¦a series of factors that contribute to reconstructing the meaning intended by a speaker in a communicative exchange† (p. 467). A thread of extant literature (e.g., Berger 2005; Hargie, 2010 ) demonstrates that the core of any communicative behavior is shared meanings between people as we don’t merely exchange words when we communicate; r ather, we always endeavor to comprehend what each other’s words and behaviors stand for , represent, or imply. Following this description, Bosco et al (2004) argue that known contextual factors come into play to assist individuals in a communicative exchange to reconstruct meaning. The first contextual factor that will be discussed is pattern. Available literature demonstrates that for people to be able to share meaning in any communicative exchange, their communication must reveal a pattern that is grounded on elements that are recognizable, repetitive and repeatable (Romero-Trillo Maguire, 2011). The patterns of communicative exchange that people are used to, and that they share with others in their social interactions, facilitate them to behave in new but related ways, and to comprehensively understand new forms of behavior (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1989). A patterned behavior such as a communicative instance, according to this particular author, implies that it is not only guided by rules and principles, but is predictable, observable, and analyzable. In an expressive act â€Å"do you like wine?’ posed by one woman to her boyfriend, for example, the boyfriend may be guided by the contextual factor of pattern to respond differentially depending on how he understands his girlfriend’s communicative intention. If the couple has been engaging in drinking, the boyfriend may respond â€Å"Yes, please†.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, if the couple has just met, the boyfriend may respond ‘I have a tumbler of wine with every meal’. This example serves to demonstrate how communication is behavior with a pattern as it shows the ordered forms of responses that can be given by the boyfriend depending on the shared meaning of the communicative exchange. The second contextual factor is organization, which denotes that there e xist standardized and known ways of doing things that people engaged in interpersonal communication must follow every time they wish to communicate if they expect to realize the meaning of their communication (Berger, 2005). Organization, according to Hargie (2010), brings order into the communication process, thus is instrumental in ensuring agents in a communicative instance benefit from the internalization of meaning. A simple example is that it would be practically impossible for a native Chinese with no formal training in English to communicate with an Englishman with no formal training in the Chinese language. This example demonstrates that the Englishman and the Chinese must follow standardized and known ways (train in each other’s language) if they wish to communicate. The third contextual factor deals with rules. It is clear that every instance of communication is guided by rules, although people learn to interact with others communicatively without necessarily being able to state the rules or principles that guide their interaction (Romero-Trillo Maguire, 2011). This implies that the rules and principles that guide our communication with others operate below our level of consciousness as they are not always subject to conscious intent (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1989). This particular author introduces the concept of practical consciousness, which implies the knowledge of how individuals communicate with others appropriately using the rules that they know but which they are not supposed to verbalize in the practical sense. Leeds-Hurwitz (1989) also introduces the concept of tacit knowledge to demonstrate how a lot of our knowledge of communicative interaction is 1) unspoken during the communication process, 2) hidden from the communicators’ awareness, and 3) kept in the background as people interact and communicate.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Short Paper on Interpersonal Communication specifically for you fo r only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In my interactions with friends (see appendix for transcript), I overheard one ardent football fan telling her male friend that the ‘Pensioners’ would win the match by three goals. The male colleague refuted this claim and said the ‘Citizens’ would win the match by a two-goal margin. Although we shared the same table, I could not participate in the discussion since all I knew was that the match involved ‘Chelsea’ and ‘Manchester City’ football clubs. However, the two ardent football fans were able to communicate and identify meaning as they shared some rules which guided their communication but they were not under any obligation to express these rules; that is, give them direct discursive expression (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1989). The last contextual factor relates to the observable nature of communicative interaction, which holds that individuals can learn to observe social action – d eliberately and closely – with the view to describe the underlying patterns (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1989). To a large extent, this factor relates to the non-communication cues formed by people when they are engaged in communication. Indeed, extant literature demonstrates that behavior can be observed as it naturally occurs in the everyday world and in real-life situations (Romero-Trillo Maguire, 2011). When patronizing a bar, for example, a person can observe the non-verbal cues of most women patrons to describe underlying patterns of behavior even without necessarily communicating with the subjects. Some movements and body positions, sustained eye contact, sexy facial expression and telling body language, for instance, are enough observational characteristics to communicate to a male patron that he might be dealing with a sex worker. References Berger, C.R. (2005). Interpersonal communication: Theoretical perspectives, future prospects. Journal of Communication, 55(5), 415-447. Bos co, F.M., Bucciarelli, M., Bara, B.G. (2004). The fundamental context categories in understanding communicative intention. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(3), 467-488.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hargie, O. (2010). Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice. Oxford: Taylor Francis. Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1989). Communication in everyday life: A social interpretation. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Romero-Trillo, J., Maguire, L. (2011). Adaptive context: The fourth element of meaning. International Review of Pragmatics, 3(2), 228-241. This essay on A Short Paper on Interpersonal Communication was written and submitted by user Estrella B. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

How to Write Outstanding College Level Book Reports

How to Write Outstanding College Level Book Reports Theres nothing quite like enjoying a really solid piece of literature. Hours can pass while youre diving into a new world that the author has created. Your enjoyment of your novel may dissipate slightly when you are trying to figure out how to write a college level book report about it- but it doesnt have to be that way. Analyzing (and maybe even critiquing) novels is a useful skill that will help you both in and outside of the classroom. In this post we will outline the best strategies of painlessly writing a book report. Its important to note that there is no one generic book report assignment. This isnt necessarily a step-by-step guide, but it can help get you started thinking about the specific requirements that your instructor has for you.Know the assignmentWhen you start out your book report assignment, its important that you know exactly what your instructor is requiring. Does your instructor want you to explore the books theme and write a five-paragraph essay on it, or are yo u supposed to be writing an essay about a particular character? Read through the assignment sheet very carefully and make sure that you understand all of the instructions. If you have questions or are uncertain about something, be sure to ask your instructor.Actually read the bookEven though it may be tempting to take a shortcut and watch a movie adaptation of your book or even to read the Sparknotes, definitely resist that urge. Not only will your report be more thorough if you read the book the whole way through, but reading and understanding themes and outlining a novel plot is an invaluable experience. Youll be able to understand books on a completely new and more appreciative level. When you are reading the novel for your book report, write down page numbers or passages that pertain to the assignment or that you think might be interesting to mention.Try to really sink into what the author is trying to say by asking yourself the following questions:What is the main theme of the book? The theme is the meaning or the entire reason behind writing the book. An author doesnt typically write just to write something down. What motivated them to pen this novel?What is happening to the characters? Typically novels are told from the perspective (either in the first or third person) of the main character, though some novels have multiple perspectives. Is this character a good character or are they flawed? What kinds of obstacles is the character going through? What did they learn during the course of the story?What is the plot of the book? There are several different kinds of plots, and its helpful to know what kind your chosen novel has in order to help you analyze it better. Some stories are quests: that is, the main character is on a journey to accomplish a goal (think Lord of the Rings). Some stories are overcoming obstacles- whether thats internal or external. What kind of plot does your novel have and why do you think the author chose that particular type?Write a good introductionAfter youve read your book thoroughly and youve thought about the characters, themes, plot, and some good quotes, youll be ready to start writing the book report. Like any other paper, a good book report needs an explanatory introduction that is easy to understand. When writing the introduction, be sure to include the title of the work, the author, and a sentence or two on what you will be overviewing in the report. Even though it may not be required to have a thesis statement in your book report, writing one in your paper might keep it more focused and help you narrow down what you will be writing in the body paragraphs.For example, if we were writing an introduction about a book report over Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird, we might write something like this:In Harper Lees iconic coming of age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee confronts the audience with the idea that systemic racism was rampant in the U.S. court system in the early 20th century in the South. She illustrates this idea with the unfair trial of convicted rapist Tom Robinson, whose lawyer Atticus Finch handily proves is innocent, yet is still sentenced with a crime he did not commit. Through the eyes of the young main character, Scout Finch, the audience is able to learn about these injustices with the innocent eyes of a child.As you can see, we mentioned the name of the book, the author, and we also outlined what we would be discussing throughout the body paragraphs in the book report. Not only will this let the reader know what this report is about, but itll also help you stay organized when you are writing the paper. Note that nowhere in this paragraph does it say that we really liked the book. Whether or not we liked the book is irrelevant in the report. What the book report is trying to do is to objectively understand a books relevance and importance wit themes, characters, motifs, etc. (Though of course its perfectly okay and encouraged to like the book that you are r eviewing.)Implement the ideas in the body paragraphsThe meat of your book report will be in the body paragraphs. These paragraphs will expand on the ideas that you brought up in your introduction paragraph and allow you to introduce the novel in depth to your reader.SummaryThough no two book report assignments are the same, its likely that your instructor is going to want to see some summarization in your book report. Your summary of the novel shouldnt be too lengthy (this is a report after all, so its typically quite short). If your instructor has assigned a five-page book report, dont summarize the book in four and a half pages. As a general rule, commit about 1/3 of the paper to a summary just so you can make sure the reader understands your analysis of it without having read it.AnalysisOnce you are done writing the summary of the novel, then you can get into your actual analysis of it. You may remember that we brought up systemic racism in the U.S. court system in the South in o ur essay on To Kill a Mockingbird. In our summary, we would then explore those ideas that we brought forth to the reader. How does Lee illustrate this idea throughout the novel? A good way to show how the author is making this point is through direct quotations from the book that you believe are a good showcase.In your analysis, you should also be discussing theme (or what was the authors purpose behind writing this book) and character. No two analyses are the same, which is what makes book reports and literary criticism so interesting. Everyone will read the novel through their own personal lenses and experiences and come up with a completely different interpretation of what the author intended for us to come away with.Again, its crucial to keep looking at your instructions for your book report so that you know exactly what you need to be discussing. Even if you write a brilliant report over the theme of systemic racism in the court system in To Kill a Mockingbird, it wont do you a ny good when you were actually supposed to write about the relationship between Scout and Atticus Finch and why it mattered. Paying attention to instructions is one of the biggest keys to success in writing a book report.ConclusionAs with all other conclusions, focus on wrapping things up neatly. Though you may be tempted to just say in the conclusion that you either loved or hated the book, this doesnt make for a very interesting paragraph. When you are writing your conclusion on your book report, think about why this novel matters. If you didnt like it, think about why you didnt like it. Think about how well the author gets his or her point across. Should this book be read widely to gain a critical understanding of a subject? Why or why not? Would you recommend this book to others? The genre of book reports generally seeks out the opinion of the writer, so make sure that you let your voice be heard.RevisingLike any other paper that you write, its crucial to go back through and rev ise if you are turning in the final copy. Its extremely rare that youll write something that doesnt have any mistakes or reworking to do. Once you have written the first draft, take a short break to get your eyes off the paper for just a bit. Come back to the paper after the break with a set of fresh eyes and try to read through it for grammar and spelling mistakes (spell check doesnt get everything!) and then once again for content. Make sure that everything makes sense and is very explanatory. After all- you have to assume that your audience hasnt read your book yet so you want to make sure that you are explaining it well enough to someone who has never read a sentence of it and still be able to understand.If you are uncertain about sentences or even entire passages of your book report, ask a friend or your instructor to take a look at your work. Sometimes it helps to get an outside opinion since youve been closely working with the text.Book reports teach us more than just how to write a reportThough we do a lot of research and studying about subjects that may not be applicable after college, book reports may be one of the only exceptions to that. Novels, no matter how abstract the concept, teach us about human behavior and life through plots and characters. Understanding how to break down an authors intent on their stories will absolutely be relevant to your life. Having the curiosity and the skills to understand a novel with a more complex understanding will undoubtedly enrich your reading experience.Remember than an effective book report will have an introduction that mentions the book title, author, and include the points you will be making throughout the body paragraphs. Your body paragraphs will expand on those ideas that you brought up in the introduction, using quotes from the book, analysis, and summary to aide you.Finally, be sure that once the book report has been written that you are carefully looking at spelling, grammar, and the content of your paragraphs. Get a friend, your instructor, or even a professional editor to look at your book report to make sure you are on the right track.