Communication Essay

To begin, you need to complete your Week 5 Exercise (see instructions below). Be sure to use and cite Bevan in your response, for any choice you make. Once you have completed the Week 5 Exercise, read the instructions below to learn how to complete the entire notebook.

Week 5 Exercise Instructions (choose one option):

Option 1: Social support

• Think of a time when someone provided you, or you provided someone, with social support.
• What type(s) of social support outlined in Bevan and Sole did you or they use?
• What type of verbal and nonverbal cues were used to provide this support.
• Was it appropriate for the situation and why?

Option 2: Relationship equity

• Report on a time when you felt you were in an unbalanced relationship.
• Did you feel underbenefited or overbenefited?
• Based on what you have learned in Bevan and Sole, what are some specific verbal and nonverbal messages or behaviors you might use to restore equity in a close relationship?
• How would you use different messages or behaviors if you were underbenefited versus overbenefited?

Option 3: Are you a chameleon?

In chapter 11, Bevan and Sole report on the value of being a chameleon, where you can change your communication style to suit the scenario. This requires being highly aware and mindful of yourself, others, and the choices you make.  In this exercise, you will test this theory:

• Put yourself in a challenging position in your personal or professional life. If you are at work, speak up at a meeting or talk to your co-worker or boss about the topic.  If you at home, have a difficult conversation with someone you care about.
• Before you have the conversation, think about the cultural norms for this exchange. What are they?  Are you following or violating those norms?
• As you have the conversation, be mindful of where you are emotionally, and where they are. Report on those emotions and the role of empathy and emotional intelligence in the exchange.
• How did it go? Did you feel you were closer to being a “chameleon?”

Instructions for completing the Communication Notebook:

• Describe your findings for the four exercises.
• For each exercise you will then complete step 2 for each by applying what you have learned during this class on the basic principles of effective communication, ideas of the self, or culture to your exercise results.
• For each exercise you must cite at least two resources to support you and one can be a video.
• For the final document, you must use and cite two course readings (and one must be Bevan and Sole) and two course videos.
  • Note that you will be required to use and cite Bevan at least once for each exercise, but you should use them much more.
  • Review the Final Paper Video Options document for a list of videos you can use.

NOTE: Be sure to carefully review your work and the grading rubrics to ensure you have completed all required elements. Score yourself on each grading rubric and make adjustments to areas where you scored yourself low.

The Communication Notebook final paper

• Must be 1,200 to 1,600 words of your own content (5 to 6.5 double-spaced pages) in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize an academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must use and cite Bevan, at least one course reading, and two course video resources.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications. Your reference list must have at least four references.

I would like to use option # 1 Social Support if possible.

There is a text that must be used for reference. Information on locating book will be provided.

Week 5 Paper Advice

You should have already read the “communication notebook final paper training” and done the quiz. If you are still confused, read the following reminders:

1) We care about what you have to say, BUT we want to read an informed version of you. Cite and apply the work of experts to support you in making your key points. Otherwise, it is just you talking. If you read your replies and see that you could have written the content before taking this class, you have not met the requirements. Show us what you have learned. If you haven’t learned anything, go back and review Bevan and other course readings again!

2) Students sometimes skip whole sections of the instructions for papers like this. Please don’t do that and lose points unnecessarily! Remember: the instructions say that you must use Bevan, one other course reading, and two course videos. Be sure to do this.

3) To ensure you have used enough experts to support you:

· Scan through Bevan and find something you can say from her for each and every question. This shouldn’t be hard, as all of our themes are from that book.

· Look through the document called “video bank” in the week 5 “resources” box. You will need two. Find two that interest you and/or will help you make some points related to the exercises you did.

3) To ensure you have done everything that is required:

· Carefully go through each item that was in the original exercise language and be sure you haven’t skipped anything. If the instructions suggested you write one to two sentences, you will probably want to write two. Provide as many details as possible.

· Review the grading rubrics. We know we’ve said it before, but we will say it again. Those rubrics are exactly what you will be graded on. So, if you skip something entirely from that group, you will score a zero there. Be sure to read all of the grading criteria and if it mentions Bevan, you would be wise to do more than just mention her. Carefully and thoughtfully engage with her.

· When you are done, count the sources you have cited in your replies and make sure that your reference list has at least four items (Bevan, one other course reading, and two course videos). Again, if you don’t use all this required content, you will lose points.

Okay. Once again, feel free to reach out to your instructor with any questions. Good luck!