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COME 329: Application Paper

• In my Political Communication class my senior year, I wrote a paper about another topic not taken seriously in an academic context: memes. Memes are spread online, and while at times they have no meaning, other times they have influence over political elections, or make people think of candidates a certain way. According to Hall and Sinclair, memes examine “humor, intertextual reference, and anomalous juxtaposition”, and have a role in the marketplace of ideas for the reason that they make a difference in the voters’ minds. I believe it critically analyzes the message of memes because at face value, they might not mean much, but by looking further, there can be political insight.

COME 384: Technological Psychosis

• Technological Psychosis is the idea that technology is taking over, and relates to the ever-growing presence of technology in our daily lives. In this paper, I use the idea of miscommunication and relate it to a movie without present-day technology: 1994’s “Pulp Fiction”. I included it here because in studying a single scene for the movie and speculating on the contents of the briefcase, it is analyzing the movie much more critically than the average viewer.

COME 384: Black Mirror Essay

• I wrote this Black Mirror essay during my junior year for Communication Technology Social Change, and I thought it belonged here because forms of media (like episodes of television shows or movies) deserve academic merit, and even though one can watch media without critical analysis doesn’t mean they should. Any form of media can be studied and looked at further than surface-level, and it’s papers like these that explain exactly why I studied Communication and Media Studies in college. I love being able to read further into certain areas of study, and using media academically.

COME 467: Image and Sound Essay

• This paper is another example of me reading into something that maybe most viewers would not normally: the scene before Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s final fight scene at the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I look at the different camera angles used, the music present, how George Lucas decided to position each actor, and their word usage. I wrote this in my senior thesis class for second semester: Television Criticism. This paper is part of my culmination as a communication scholar, and I chose to write about Star Wars to further prove the point that all media has academic merit. There are ways to critically analyze gaming journalism, episodes of Black Mirror, popular movies, and Star Wars, just as seriously as one can analyze works of Hall and Sinclair, Marshall McLuhan, or major media conglomerates.

COME 252: Low Standards of Gaming Journalism

• In my Writing for Media Class, I wanted to further prove the point that gaming isn’t taken seriously in an academic context, and that it should be. This paper specifically talks about why gaming journalism differs from other forms of writing, and that in order to effectively judge a game’s quality, one has to not only know what they’re talking about, but also be good at the game they are playing. Too many journalists play a game, struggle with it, and then rate the game poorly because of their own personal struggle. I want “less serious” forms of media to be taken seriously in the world, and this paper seemed the way to prove that. My professor criticized this paper, and instead wanted me to write about news journalism, but that exactly proves my point: it’s not fair to dismiss certain media for the simple reason that people don’t take video games seriously.

COME 252: Cybersecurity Guest

• In the same Writing for Media class, we had to write a news article about one of the SNC guest lectures that semester. I attended one of these Great Decisions Lectures, and learned about FireEye and the world of cybersecurity both domestically and internationally. It was eye-opening to me, seeing how much information one country could possibly find on another, and how warfare has evolved to include technology and cybersecurity. It was scary to think about, because with this spread of information that seems great on a surface level, it also opens so many possibilities for cyberterrorists and enemies of the state.

COME 324: Drunk Driving Paper

• I included this paper in the Communication Inquiry section, but thought it also fit in the Appropriate to Context section because there was a level of accommodation to make it as a persuasion paper. It was not simply an analysis of a commercial, or a project, but rather a call to action to stop any kind of drunk driving, and the dangers that one can find with acting this way.

COME 329: Good Citizen Essay

• The Good Citizen essay was also included in Communication Inquiry, but it is in here as well because in any other context, people will think of themselves as good people, and think that they are doing their part to help the common good. In political communication, however, messages had to be created and altered to adapt to being a good citizen, and fitting in Hall and Sinclair’s parameters.

COME 124: Conglomerate Paper

• During my sophomore year, I wrote one of my first communication papers. I was assigned 20th Century Fox from a list of media conglomerates, and with this paper, I discussed the company’s history, subsidiaries, recent acquisitions/selloffs, global presence, synergy, and controversy. I believe this is engaging in communication inquiry because 20th Century Fox is/was a major media company, and an important part of media research is learning some of the larger names in the business

COME 324: Drunk Driving Paper

• In my junior year, I took a Persuasion class, and in it we had a group project as our final. In this assignment we needed to create a public service announcement and release it in some way. We chose to make a Facebook page and post a series of articles, videos, and documents talking about the dangers of drunk driving. We took some inspiration from one of the Budweiser Super Bowl commercials discussing the same topic. This paper engages with communication inquiry because public service announcements are very prevalent in the communication field, and it is important to be able to efficiently send a message in order to discuss such relevant issues.

COME 329: Good Citizen Essay

• I wrote the Good Citizen essay during my senior year for my Political Communication. The paper is a self-reflection essay, and takes on the question if one follows Hall and Sinclair’s three parameters of being a good citizen: a shared identity, a knowledge of the issues facing society, and active engagement in civic life. I included this essay in the communication inquiry category because it is important to be able to consider one’s place in the political world, and the responsibilities that each citizen has in society.

COME 384: Tetrads Essay

• The Tetrads Essay examines Marshall McLuhan’s theory that each new form of media works through four tetrads: what it enhances, what it retrieves, what it flips when pushed to its limits, and what it obsolesces. I studied Discord, a communication app mainly used for gaming. Even though gaming isn’t taken very seriously in the academic world, even programs such as these can be applied for serious consideration. I wrote this paper for my Communication Technology and Social Change class.

At SNC, if you decide to major in Communication and Media Studies, you have the choice between a concentration of communication classes or media classes. With the introductory classes, one is communication, and the other is media; these should help influence your choice. Depending on how comfortable you feel with either class, the choice is yours: delve into the world of interpersonal communication, public speaking, or into the world of technology, social media, and television.

I personally chose media studies, because the looming omnipresence of technology will only grow as time goes on. Social media is always growing and is even becoming a viable business practice for companies looking to appeal to the younger generations.

It is my belief that any student who takes on the Communication/Media Studies major is looking to more efficiently reach an audience, whether it is to one single person, a small group of people, or through a medium, such as television or the news. I learned about the world through television, newspapers, and online blogs, and it has made me think more about what I say and how I say it. I had to read a variety of research studies, whether they were qualitative, quantitative, longitudinal survey, cross-sectional survey, or any other research in the mass communication field.

After graduation I want to work in social media, representing either one company or a variety of companies through Twitter, Instagram, or acting as a personal relations representative through online comments. I believe that more and more companies will be looking to increase their online presence in order to stay relevant with the young people, and I want to be the one to reach out to them and not only convince them to buy a product, but to change their perspective on what a company can do online.

Besides classroom experience, I also have been able to work for SNC’s Independent Council, running their Instagram page as well as running the Facebook page for SNC Campus Safety. With this, I had to learn how to navigate such social media platforms, what kinds of posts get attention, and what people want to hear from a college page.

Fall 2017:

COME 124: Principles of Mass Communication

Spring 2018:

COME 122: Interpersonal Communication

Fall 2018:

COME 324: Persuasion

COME 364: Media Law and Regulation

Spring 2019:

COME 252: Writing for Media

COME 384: Communication Technology in Social Change

Fall 2019:

COME 329: Political Communication

COME 331: Gender and Media

COME 468: Mass Communication Theory

Spring 2020:

COME 352: Media Effects

COME 467: Television Criticism

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