Description
THIS IS WORTH 50% OF MY GRADE, SO I NEED A GOOD GRADE!!!!!
This 200-point assignment requires you to analyze, from a relational communication
perspective, the (a) development, (b) maintenance, and/or (c) termination of a dyadic
interpersonal relationship from your own life or from a movie, TV show, book, play, etc.
You may NOT use relationships from any of these movies:
50 First Dates
Hitch
The Breakup
The Office
The Notebook
The Story of Us
Twilight (or any of the sequels)
When Harry Met Sally
To analyze the relationship, use theories/research findings other than social penetration
theory that you have encountered in lecture and/or the readings. The parts of the paper
and their corresponding point values are given below.
Description (40 points). Describe the two participants in the relationship that you will
analyze. Review what you know about the participants, including what you know about
them from cultural, sociological, and psychological levels of analysis. One of the main
participants may be YOU if you chose a relationship in which you are a participant. You
should thoroughly describe each participant in the relationship, similar to how a
character is introduced in a novel or a movie – tell us who they are. In addition to
cultural, sociological, and psychological levels of analysis you could also explain how the
information was learned about each participant (i.e., how was the information
revealed)? NOTE: You should not be analyzing the relationship in this section – analysis
of the relationship should be in the next section; this first section should only describe
the two people in the relationship.
Theoretical Analysis (120 points). Summarize the theories/research findings that you
have chosen to use in your analysis. Then, show how those theories/research findings
“explain” or add insight to the development, maintenance, termination, and/or
communication that takes place within this relationship. To do this convincingly, you will
need to be well versed in the language of the theories/research findings that you
choose. Using the terminology and concepts specific to those theories/research
findings, describe how the various features of the relationship and the communication
correspond to the parts of the theories or the research findings. NOTE: This section is
worth the most points; it should be the longest section of your paper.
Future Speculation/Conclusion (40 points). Some suggested questions to help you write
this section: How do you think this relationship will progress in the future? If the relationship has already terminated, will it ever be revived? What obstacles will the participants have to negotiate going forward? What do theories and/or research findings predict about the future of this relationship? Are there things about this relationship that the theories or research findings do not explain well? If so, what are they? How would you explain them?
Other information:
-When you write your paper, USE THE THREE HEADINGS THAT CORRESPOND TO THE
THREE DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE PAPER DESCRIBED ABOVE (i.e., Description,
Theoretical Analysis, Future Spectulation/Conclusion).
-The paper should be approximately 5-7 pages long double spaced (not including title
page or reference page – 5-7 pages of text). The highest scoring papers tend to use the
full seven pages. The point values should be used as a guide to give you an indication of
how much space to dedicate to each section (e.g., do not spend 50% of the paper on the
description). Format using APA style.
