UW Bothell Course Descriptions
UW Tacoma Course Descriptions
Glossary
Detailed course offerings (Time Schedule) are available for
COM 200 Introduction to Communication (5) A&H/SSc
Introduces theories and research in communication. Explores the myriad ways scholars approach fundamental issues of contemporary human communication. Focuses on theories and research of communication (e.g. relational, group, political, cultural, and international). Acts as a gateway to knowledge about the communication discipline. Course overlaps with: BIS 178.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 200
COM 202 Introduction to Communication II (5) A&H/SSc
Introduces students to four core principles that undergird the study and practice of communication - communication literacy, research inquiry, theories and concepts, and community engagement. Principles discussed and developed in the context of social interaction, rhetoric and critical studies, and communication and culture.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 202
COM 210 Introductory Communication Topics (5, max. 10)
Introduction to a specified area of communication scholarship.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 210
COM 220 Introduction to Public Speaking (5) A&H/SSc
Designed to increase competence in public speaking and the critique of public speaking. Emphasizes choice and organization of material, sound reasoning, audience analysis, and delivery. Course overlaps with: CM 220.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 220
COM 231 Introduction to Rhetoric (5) A&H/SSc
Introduces students to the over two thousand year old discipline of rhetoric. Through contemporary examples of texts and images from politics and popular culture, students will explore concepts such as: the public, identity, persuasion, difference, and ethics. Course overlaps with: ENGL 306.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 231
COM 233 Introduction to Language and Society (5) A&H, DIV
Introduces the study of sociolects, the varieties of language that arise from differences in cultural and societal groups, often reflective of power inequalities. Raises awareness of the role that society and the individual play in shaping sociolects via the systematic observation and critical discussion of linguistic phenomena. Offered: jointly with ANTH 233/LING 233; A.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 233
COM 234 Public Debate (5) A&H/SSc
Examines public debate in a democracy by developing a rhetorical perspective of public argument and skills to evaluate debates critically. Develops an understanding of rhetoric, values, audiences, tests of reasoning, and sources of information. Sharpens critical skills and applies them to contemporary controversies in the public sphere. Course overlaps with: TPOL S 275.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 234
COM 238 Rhetoric and Popular Culture (5) A&H
Explores the rhetorical dimensions of popular culture (e.g., film, television, music, advertising, and video games) and their important, albeit often tacit, political and social implications. Themes include the ways popular culture shapes civic life, the influence of popular culture on identity, and the relationship between commerce and culture.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 238
COM 270 Interpersonal Communication (5) A&H/SSc
Introductory course on face-to-face communication in social and personal relationships including acquaintanceships, friendships, romantic partnerships, and both hated and loved ones. Learn to maximize communicative effectiveness in relationships with knowledge of how communication functions.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 270
COM 289 Communication Power and Difference (5) SSc, DIV
Explores how communication - from face-to-face to mass media messages - reinforces or challenges conceptions of power, privilege, and difference along racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, class, ability, religion, and other important lines. Examines how communication practices, particularly media, shape inequality as well as our understanding of ourselves and the world.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 289
COM 292 Study Abroad: Communication I (1-10, max. 15)
Communication courses taken through a UW approved study abroad program. Content varies and must be individually evaluated. Recommended: COM 200.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 292
COM 294 Multimedia Skills Workshop (1-5, max. 5) SSc
Hands-on workshops addressing specific multimedia and/or journalism applications and skills. Topics vary.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 294
COM 301 Navigating Information Networks for Mass Media (5) SSc
Builds familiarity with social media networks and social network analysis, a quantitative methods of analysis that looks at relationships between actors and patterns within networks. No prior programming or statistical experience beyond high school math assumed.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 301
COM 302 The Cultural Impact of Information Technology (5) SSc/A&H
Utilizing approaches from the history of technology, cultural studies, and literary theory, seeks to analyze the cultural and social impact of information technology. Considers how information technologies impact our relationships with others, our concept(s) of self, and the structure of the communities to which we belong. Offered: jointly with CHID 370.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 302
COM 303 Social Effects of Technology and Social Media (5) SSc
Examines the impact of information/communication technology and social media on individuals and society. Adopts a variety of theoretical, empirical, and popular understandings to assess how technology may bring about social change. Recommended: COM 300.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 303
COM 304 The Press and Politics in the United States (5) SSc
Journalists' role in elections and public policy. Relationship between news coverage and political campaigns. Study and analysis of local political newswriting, reporting, and response by local and state political figures. Extensive off-campus experience included. Offered: jointly with POL S 304.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 304
COM 306 Media, Society, and Political Identity (5) SSc
Explores how society and culture are both represented in and shaped by communication technologies and media content. Media include film, advertising, news, entertainment television, talk shows, and the Internet. Explores how media represent and affect individual identity, values, and political engagement. Offered: jointly with POL S 306.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 306
COM 320 Advanced Public Speaking (5) SSc/A&H
Practice in preparation and presentation of a variety of types of public speeches based on study of their structure and form; emphasis on organization and delivery. Prerequisite: COM 220.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 320
COM 321 Communications in International Relations (5) SSc
Looks at communications in relations between international groups and states. Examines the range of functions and roles communication media play in international affairs, global issues, and intergroup relations. Also examines the strategic use of communications by various groups. Offered: jointly with POL S 330.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 321
COM 322 Global Communication (5) SSc
Introduction to the history, purpose, channels, content, technologies, policy, and regulation of international communications systems. Issues covered include disparities in media development between post-industrial and developing nations, imbalances in international news and information flow, and the emergence of global communications. Offered: jointly with POL S 329.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 322
COM 333 Contemporary Rhetorical Theory (5) A&H
Introduces major Western theories about the relationship between humans and their symbol systems. Emphasizes themes that have preoccupied 20th and 21st Century thinkers on the subject of rhetoric: the public, identity, ethics, difference, the "masses", and persuasion.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 333
COM 336 Speech Consulting (1, max. 5)
Practicum for UW Speaking center. Enrolled students consult three hours a week in the Center. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 336
COM 339 The Business of Media in the Digital Age (5) SSc
Examines the production of media within changing social, technological, and economic contexts. Emphasizes how new technologies can change the market for media goods and media experiences and the ways in which mediated production pervades contemporary economic life.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 339
COM 340 History of Mass Communication (5) SSc
History and development of communication from prehistoric times; rise of mass media; political and economic context of newspapers, radio, film, and television.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 340
COM 343 Effects of Mass Communication (5) SSc
Effects of mass communication on individuals and society. Relevant theories applied to research evidence, addressing such topics as effects of stereotypes, violent and sexual imagery, and persuasive messages on our knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 343
COM 351 Interviewing Principles and Practices (5) A&H/SSc
Interviewing principles and practices, with emphasis on information gathering, selection, and persuasive interviews. Purposes and types of interviews, structure of interviews, and influence of communication patterns on interview outcomes.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 351
COM 359 Writing for Mass Media (5) SSc
Training in gathering information through interviews and observation and from written record and other public sources. Practice in organizing and writing this information for presentation in a mass medium such as a newspaper, newsletter, or magazine.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 359
COM 360 Foundations of Journalism and Public Interest Communication (5) SSc
Introduction to multimedia content-creation for journalists and public-interest communicators serving the public, nonprofits and other community entities.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 360
COM 361 Advanced Journalism and Public Interest Communication (4) SSc
Advanced multimedia content-creation for journalists and public-interest communicators serving the public, nonprofits and other community entities Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 361
COM 362 Community Journalism and Public Interest Communication: News Lab (5) SSc
Content creation for community clients and partners. Prerequisite: COM 361.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 362
COM 364 Media Responsibility in a Diverse Society (5) SSc, DIV
Examines important cultural roles of journalists and media makers in a society rooted in systems of privilege. Students examine their own values and identities, interrogate media conventions, and develop a deeper understanding of how organizational decisions and social systems affect media representations. Prerequisite: COM 361.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 364
COM 370 Family Communication (5) SSc
Survey of current theories and research on family communication. Questions about what it means to be a "family." Major theories that guide family communication. Looks at the course of family life, family structures, types, and processes. Recommended: COM 270.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 370
COM 373 Group Communication (5) SSc
Introduces basic social processes within and between human groups, along with the scientific methods behind their discoveries.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 373
COM 375 Communication Ethics (5) A&H/SSc
Ethical problems in interpersonal and public speech communication. Alternative ways of evaluating and responding to moral problems in a variety of communication situations.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 375
COM 376 Nonverbal Communication (5) A&H/SSc
Reviews the nature of nonverbal communication as part of the human message system. Discusses research on the types of cues that are part of the nonverbal system, reviews some communicative functions allowed by nonverbal cues (e.g., emotional expressions, relational messages, deception, coordination, or interaction), and ties nonverbal communication to language.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 376
COM 377 Organizational Communication (5) SSc/A&H
Surveys organizational communication theories, models, and processes. Students learn to apply these in organizational communication exercises, analyze cases, and practice communication and leadership strategies for effective organizing.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 377
COM 378 Social Approaches to Interpersonal Communication (5) SSc
Investigates interpersonal and relational concepts through a social lens. As students talk about important concepts/processes in the study of personal interaction, they will be looking at them as products and enactments of values and beliefs. They look at the challenges in interpersonal relating and interacting as well as at ways in which these challenges can be negotiated more successfully. Prerequisite: COM 270
View course details in MyPlan: COM 378
COM 381 Content Analysis (5)
Introduces content analysis, a research method used in the discipline of communication. Students work in groups to design and execute a content analysis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 381
COM 382 Social Scientific Approaches to Communication Research (5) SSc
Comprehensive introduction to research methods employed in basic and applied communication research, including sample surveys, content analysis, experimentation, and elementary statistics.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 382
COM 383 Qualitative Communication Research Methods (5) SSc
Introduces students to a range of qualitative research methods for analyzing communication. Students design and execute a qualitative communication research project. Course overlaps with: HCDE 412.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 383
COM 389 Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Media (5) SSc, DIV
Introduction to media representations of gender, race, and sexuality. Offered: jointly with AES 389/GWSS 389.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 389
COM 392 Study Abroad: Communication II (1-10, max. 15)
Communication courses taken through a UW approved study abroad program. Content varies and must be individually evaluated. Recommended: COM 200.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 392
COM 407 Communication Technology and Politics (5) SSc
Employs some core concepts of political communication and theories of democracy to examine the emerging role of information and communication technologies in candidate and issue campaigning; online voting; protest and advocacy movements; law-making and electronic governance in the United States and internationally. Offered: jointly with POL S 451.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 407
COM 411 Political Communication Seminar (5, max. 10) SSc
Contemporary topics studying how communication affects citizen engagement with public life. Offered: jointly with POL S 454.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 411
COM 414 Mass Media and Public Opinion (5) SSc
Examines the foundations of the idea of public opinion in a democratic environment and the role of mass communication in the organization, implementation, and control of that opinion. Considers these relationships from the perspectives of societal elites, media, and citizens. Offered: jointly with POL S 452.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 414
COM 418 Communication and the Environment (5) SSc
Examines how communication about the environment influences beliefs, values, and treatment of the natural world. Topics include new coverage of the environment; media strategies and rhetoric used by activists, government agencies, and industry to address environmental issues; representations of the environment in popular culture; and/or political argumentation about environmental policy. Offered: jointly with ENVIR 418.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 418
COM 420 Comparative Media Systems (5) SSc
Provides students an understanding of policies that shape national communication processes and systems. Uses comparative analysis to identify both similarities and differences among media structures of nations at different levels of development. Primary emphasis on broadcast media. Offered: jointly with JSIS B 419/POL S 468.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 420
COM 423 Communication and Social Change (5) SSc
Examines both theory and application involved in using communications media as a tool for addressing political, social, and economic development issues. Utilizes a case study approach to look at localized applications of traditional and new communications tools in the pursuit of sustainable development.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 423
COM 431 Rhetorical Criticism (5) A&H/SSc
Study of approaches to rhetorical inquiry that aid in the description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of discourse. Applies various critical models to a chosen artifact.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 431
COM 435 Historic American Public Address (5) A&H/SSc
Rhetorical criticism of historical public speeches, essays, and declarations. Includes readings of public texts in their historical and political context to increase understanding of those texts, their rhetorical construction, and the culture from which they arose. Covers the beginnings of the nation to the middle of the twentieth century.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 435
COM 436 Contemporary American Public Address (5) A&H/SSc
Rhetorical criticism of contemporary public messages. Includes reading of public texts in their context to increase understanding of those texts, their rhetorical construction, and the culture from which they arose. Covers mid-twentieth century to the present.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 436
COM 437 Rhetoric of Health and Medicine (5) A&H/SSc, DIV
Examines how language and argument shape definitions and understanding of health, wellness, illness, and disability; how the meaning of health has become a site of argument and controversy amid varying intersections of power and privilege; and how socioeconomic status, immigration status, the environment, race, and gender (among other markers of diversity and difference) impact access to and practices of health and wellness.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 437
COM 440 Mass Media Law (5) SSc
Survey of laws and regulations that affect the print and broadcast media. Includes material on First Amendment, libel, invasion of privacy, freedom of information, copyright, obscenity, advertising and broadcast regulation, and matters relating to press coverage of the judicial system. Offered: jointly with POL S 461.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 440
COM 442 History of Media Technology and Regulation (5) SSc
Impact of pre-1980s media technologies - printing, telecommunications, broadcasting, photography, and more - on individuals and institutions, especially government, business, and the mass media. How laws and policies have changed to govern new media forms.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 442
COM 443 Indigenous Films, Sovereign Visions (5) SSc/A&H, DIV
Explores fiction, documentary, experimental film, and digital media by indigenous artists from around the world. Focuses on personal, political, and cultural expression. Issues include media and sovereignty movements, political economy, language revitalization, the politics of decolonization, and indigenous aesthetics. Offered: jointly with AIS 443.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 443
COM 444 Public Relations and Society (5) SSc
Overview of issues, strategies, and role of public relations professionals in various areas of American society, including media relations, government relations, community affairs, and consumer relations.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 444
COM 445 Journalism and Literature (5) A&H/SSc
Explores the relationship between journalism and fiction writing in the United States. Examines writers who began their careers as journalists and forged a fiction-writing philosophy related to what they learned in journalism. Readings in fiction and journalism.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 445
COM 452 Crisis Communications (5) SSc
Study of the functions of communications professionals during crises. Covers public relations professionals as advocates for organizations and companies in crisis and the news media as advocates of the mass public. Discussion of cases.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 452
COM 456 Networked Journalism (5) SSc
Transformation from mass-mediated journalism to networked journalism, with emphasis on experiments in new-style news and the changing relationship between journalists and public.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 456
COM 457 Journalism Portfolio (1) SSc
Students assemble an online portfolio of academic, professional, and creative work. The portfolio project serves as vehicle for students to engage in self-assessment about their professional and academic growth and to assist them in career planning. May not be repeated if a grade of 0.7 earned. Prerequisite: COM 362.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 457
COM 458 Reporting Global Issues (5, max. 10) SSc, DIV
Practicum in the journalism that examines or localizes international trends or international developments in one or more of the following subject areas: health, medicine, science, politics, environment, culture, demographics, or business. Focus of course varies by term. Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 458
COM 459 Narrative Journalism (5) SSc/A&H
Introduces the rigorous reporting and literary writing techniques of narrative journalism. Concentrates on producing nonfiction narrative articles for publication. Offered: jointly with CHID 459.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 459
COM 460 Special Reporting Topics (4, max. 8) SSc
Topics vary. Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 460
COM 461 Data Reporting (5) SSc
Introduction to reporting with data. Includes locating data, requesting data sets, analyzing data and telling visual written stories from data. Students examine ethical and technical challenges these tools present to media and society. Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 461
COM 464 Writing with Voice (5) A&H
Focuses on point-of-view writing that challenges assumptions of the omniscient voice and pushes traditional journalist boundaries. Students are encouraged to experiment with transparency and authenticity in their tone and - through a series of written assignments - explore points of intersection between their own experiences and larger issues. Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 464
COM 465 State Government Communication (12) SSc
Participation in the state legislative session winter quarter. Students work as reporters for news outlets or are embedded in communication teams in state agencies. Students receive a stipend and live in Olympia. Application required. Offered: W.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 465
COM 467 Feature Writing (5) A&H
Focuses on the many types of newspaper and magazine articles that do not fall into the category of hard news, including histories and backgrounders, how-to and explanatory, consumer information, statistical pieces, first-person, and participatory. Includes practice in writing these forms. How to market freelance manuscripts. Prerequisite: COM 360.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 467
COM 468 Media Ethics (5) SSc
Explores ethical issues and ethical decision-making as they pertain to journalistic and media practices.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 468
COM 470 Discourse: Analyzing Talk and Texts (5) A&H/SSc, DIV
A critical and practical introduction to contemporary theories/methods in discourse analysis: how verbal communication (together with visual communication) is used in conversational talk and mediatized texts to construct identities and relationships; and how power and ideology are reproduced through these everyday social interactions. Offered: jointly with LING 470.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 470
COM 472 Empirical Approaches to Interpersonal Communication (5) SSc
Examination of theories and research on the development and deterioration of interpersonal relationships. Emphasis on the nature of interpersonal interaction, the role of language and nonverbal communication in relationships, functional and dysfunctional interaction patterns, and the dynamics of interpersonal networks.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 472
COM 474 Communication, Conflict, and Cooperation (5) A&H/SSc
Role of communication in resolving informal conflicts and in facilitating interpersonal and intergroup cooperation. Review of empirical literature. In-class simulations and exercises.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 474
COM 477 Multisector Collaboration for Social Change (5) SSc
Explores dynamics of inter-organizational, multi-sector collaboration. Includes discussions, development of communication strategies for interorganizational interactions, and analysis of real-world instances of multi-sector collaboration. Recommended: either COM 377, COM 423, COM 474, or EDUC 472.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 477
COM 478 Intercultural Communication (5) SSc
Investigates intercultural communication theory and its application for varying levels of human interaction: interpersonal, intergroup, and international.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 478
COM 479 Technology and Politics in Taiwan (5) SSc
How technology, especially digital technology, is applied in politics, specifically using Taiwan as the focal case. Topics include how politicians use digital technologies for campaigns in Taiwan, information attacks that try to influence Taiwanese politics, and how social media mobilizes Taiwanese citizens in social movements. Offered: jointly with JSIS A 410.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 479
COM 481 Online Communities (5) SSc
Communities formed through digital communication networks and social media. How people build communities, engage in collaboration and conflict, and also develop communities in online environments. Involves study and use of online communities.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 481
COM 482 Interpersonal and Computer Mediated Communication (5) SSc
Examines how individuals and groups use mediated channels like social media, texting, and video chat to communicate interpersonally. Uses a variety of theoretical, empirical, and popular understandings to critically assess how mediated interpersonal communication influences our self-presentation, our self-expression, our relationships, and our world. Recommended: COM 300.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 482
COM 483 Communication Approaches to the Study of War (5) SSc/A&H
View course details in MyPlan: COM 483
COM 484 Cultural Codes in Communication (5) A&H/SSc
Social and cultural codes in interpersonal communication, with special reference to contemporary American subcultural groups and their communication patterns.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 484
COM 485 Fieldwork in Communication Studies (5) A&H/SSc
Theory and practice of participant observation, intensive interviewing, and discourse analysis in the study of communicative practices. Prerequisite: COM 484.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 485
COM 486 Communication and Culture in Rome: Study Abroad (12) A&H/SSc
Explores the historical and contemporary connections between Rome culture and communication. Through intensive fieldwork abroad, students acquire skills of observation and understanding that can be applied to navigate intercultural experiences and reflect on their influence on various interactions.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 486
COM 487 Representing Chicanidad and Latinidad in Media (5) A&H/SSc, DIV
Focuses on a critical analysis of dominant/indie media texts to understand how Chicanidad, specifically, and Latinidad, generally, has been represented in mass media through time. Discusses what representations have stayed the same, or changed, and why it matters to cultural critics and media and communication scholars.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 487
COM 488 Race, Gender, and Power in Asian American Media (5) SSc, DIV
Examines the cultural, political, and social facets of Asian American media since 1915 within such key issues as racial and sexist stereotypes, white privilege and hegemony, identity, and agency and empowerment. Informed by critical theories of race and ethnicity.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 488
COM 489 Black Cultural Studies (5) SSc, DIV
Examines how images of blackness have been (re)constructed through identity formation and entrenched inequality. Topics include black women's bodies, black men's bodies, blackface minstrelsy, black queer studies, black power, and black hybridities. Offered: jointly with AES 489/GWSS 489.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 489
COM 490 Representing Beyond the Binaries: Mixing Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Media (5) SSc, DIV
Cultural studies approach to examining the mixed formations that race, sexuality, and gender take in the contemporary United States media. Draws upon multi-disciplinary scholarship in examination of the media. Offered: jointly with AES 490/GWSS 486.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 490
COM 492 Study Abroad: Communication III (1-10, max. 15)
Communication courses taken through a UW approved study abroad program. Content varies and must be individually evaluated. Recommended: COM 200.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 492
COM 494 Careers in Communication (1)
Helps students prepare for careers in communication. Focuses on identification of key skills, creating an effective resume, articulating interests and experience, doing informational interviews, and creating a professional-style web profile and website. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 494
COM 495 Special Topics in Communication (2-5, max. 15)
Lecture, seminar, and/or team study. Topics vary.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 495
COM 496 Honors Seminar (5) A&H/SSc
Preparation for researching and writing senior honors thesis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 496
COM 497 Honors Thesis (1-15, max. 15) A&H/SSc
Researching and writing honors thesis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 497
COM 498 Independent Research (1-5, max. 10)
Work on research projects designed and conducted by undergraduate students.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 498
COM 499 Directed Research (1-5, max. 10)
Work on research projects designed by faculty members.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 499
COM 500 Communication Theory Development (5)
Covers the philosophy behind theory development, discusses the basic components of theories, and reviews significant theoretical contributions in communication from social scientific and humanistic traditions. Introduces students to the process of conceptualization and theory design through reading and discussion of relevant bodies of communication scholarship.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 500
COM 501 Methods of Inquiry (5)
Overviews some of the most important methods of inquiry used to investigate communication phenomena. Includes textual criticism, content analysis, ethnography, experimentation, survey research, and historical approaches. Explores the utility of different methods for investigating research topics, defining and measuring concepts, reading texts, and investigating theories.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 501
COM 502 Communication Scholarship and Public Life (5)
Examines potential connections between communication scholarship and government, markets, civil society, and the general public.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 502
COM 511 Content Analysis (5)
Content analysis as a technique for making inferences from texts. Includes quantitative, qualitative, and computer-assisted approaches to analysis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 511
COM 512 Critical, Social, and Practice-Based Approaches (5)
Explores approaches to communication research developed from understandings of human communication as inherently social, grounded in tool-mediated action, and interwoven with power relations. Covers a range of theories that are associated with these approaches, and the implications of these theories for methods of data collection and analysis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 512
COM 513 Fieldwork Research Methods (5-, max. 10)
Methods of fieldwork research in communication studies, with emphasis on participant observation, ethnography, and discourse analysis.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 513
COM 514 Critical Discourse Analysis (5) A&H
Introduction to systematic analysis of linguistic and visual discourse in face-to-face and mediatized talk and texts; critical examination of the reproduction of power, control, and ideology through linguistic and related semiotic practices of everyday life.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 514
COM 515 Rhetorical Criticism (5)
History and method of rhetorical criticism. Application of critical standards to various rhetorical artifacts.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 515
COM 517 Survey Research (5)
Faculty-directed project in survey research in which basic principles of survey design, including sampling, observation, measurement, data analysis, and data interpretation, are all applied. Prerequisite: elementary statistics or permission of instructor.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 517
COM 518 Cultural Studies Methods (5)
Explores the history and methods of cultural studies. Introduces major debates in the field. Applies cultural studies methods to various artifacts.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 518
COM 519 Visual Cultural Studies Methods (5)
Explores the history and methods of visual culture. Introduces major debates in the field. Applies visual cultural studies methods to various artifacts.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 519
COM 520 Statistical Methods in Communication (5)
Reviews the steps taken in social scientific research on communication, with emphasis on the conceptualization, operationalization, and analysis of quantifiable variables. Highlights understanding of computer application of univariate and bivariate statistics, focusing on both parametric and nonparametric tests.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 520
COM 521 Advanced Statistical Methods in Communication (4)
Discusses complexities in quantitative research on communication. Focus on multivariate data design and analysis, including multiple and logistic regression, ANOVA and MANOVA, and factor analysis. Prerequisite: COM 520.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 521
COM 522 Comparative Approaches to Social Research (5)
Issues of commensurability, equivalence, and ethnocentrism. Explores strategies for producing comparative research. Students gain research-design skills by developing comparative research project proposals.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 522
COM 523 Interviewing for Social Research (5)
Strategies, issues, and challenges associated with interview-based social research. Issues of validity, ethics, sampling, recruitment; interview design, conduct, and analysis. Students develop and carry out interview-based research projects.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 523
COM 525 Community-Based Research Methods (5)
Various models of community-based research (CBR), with explicit focus on methodological frameworks that guide such work. Students review collaborative efforts involving non-profits, foundations, and other community organizations, while engaging in their own partnerships and research projects.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 525
COM 527 Global Communication Research Methods (5)
Methodological issues particular to the design or analysis of research that deals with data from different countries, cultures, or sub-cultures. Prerequisite: COM 501 or equivalent.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 527
COM 528 Designing Internet Research (5)
Focuses on designing Internet research, assessing the adaptation of proven methods to Internet tools and environments, and developing new methods in view of particular capacities and characteristics of Internet applications. Legal and ethical aspects of Internet research receive ongoing consideration.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 528
COM 530 Philosophical Issues in Rhetorical and Communication Theory (5)
Survey of selected philosophical controversies among speech communication theorists, and analysis of one philosopher's approach to communication. Topics include paradigm descriptions of communication, rhetoric and knowledge, linguistic analysis and communication, hermeneutics and dialogue.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 530
COM 531 Rhetoric in Society (5)
Selected works of major rhetorical theorists such as Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Campbell, Whately, Perelman, and Burke. Examines how rhetorical themes are responsive to and symptomatic of societal conditions and values.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 531
COM 532 Classical Rhetoric (5)
Development of the classical tradition in rhetorical theory, criticism, and pedagogy from the sophists to Augustine; analysis of the contributions of major figures and works to that tradition.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 532
COM 534 Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric (5)
Critical analysis of theories of twentieth-century rhetoric.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 534
COM 538 Theories of Communication Technologies (5)
Provides a theoretical foundation for study in the area of communication technology by examining different theories of the social, political, and cultural implications of technological change. Takes a broad view of theories of communication innovations, tools, and technologies. Offered: A.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 538
COM 539 Theories of Technology and Society (5)
Provides an theoretical foundation for study in the area of communication technology and society by examining different contemporary theories of the social, political, and cultural implications of technological change. Takes a broad view of theories of communication innovations, tools, and technologies - including historical, critical, and comparative approaches.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 539
COM 540 The Rhetoric of Science (5)
Examines selected topics in the rhetoric of science, underscoring the interplay of language, situation, culture, and prior tradition in the quest for exact knowledge of the natural world. Scrutinizes scientific communication in intradisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and extradisciplinary contexts.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 540
COM 551 Political Communication (5)
Surveys classic works and new directions in political communication, including functionalist, structuralist, constructivist, network, and comparative approaches, reflecting a range of methods. Examines political organizing, electoral and legislative processes, civic (dis)engagement, media and politics, public deliberation and opinion formation, political identify and discourse. Offered: jointly with POL S 551.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 551
COM 552 Social Construction of News (5)
Examines social, political, economic, technological, and cultural influences on the news. Identifies constraints on journalists and explores how those constraints shape the news and information that journalists and media organizations produce.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 552
COM 553 Public Opinion and Communication (5)
Conceptual and methodological approaches to public opinion and communication as historical and behavioral phenomena. United States and international perspectives.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 553
COM 562 International Communication Systems (5)
International communications and contemporary issues that affect the functioning of global communication systems. Interdisciplinary focus.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 562
COM 563 Black Cultural Studies (5)
Takes a critical approach to studying media representations of blackness. Drawing upon traditions in African studies and cultural studies, students engage through theory and practice by presenting on academic works, historicizing events, and unpacking cultural texts.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 563
COM 564 Media, Myth, and Ritual (5)
Examines the way media operate in a secular society with many of the characteristics that traditionally have been imputed to spirituality and religion. Analyzes media's mythological and ritualistic function in society by taking an interdisciplinary approach informed by religious studies, cultural studies, journalism, and communication theory.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 564
COM 565 Mass Media Structure (5)
Research on the structural aspects of mass communication.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 565
COM 567 Gender, Race, and Communication (5)
Analysis of the role of media in the construction of reality, production processes, and their influence on media representation of women and people of color. Offered: jointly with GWSS 589.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 567
COM 570 Organizational Communication (5)
Examination of social scientific theory and research on communication in organizations. Topics include quantitative and qualitative approaches to process of organizational communication, function and structure of macro networks, superior-subordinate relationships, and the role of communication in organizational change, development, and effectiveness.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 570
COM 571 Theories of Technology and Society (5)
Provides a theoretical foundation for study in the area of communication technology and society by examining different contemporary theories of the social, political, and cultural implications of technological change. Takes a broad view of theories of communication innovations, tools, and technologies - including historical, critical, and comparative approaches.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 571
COM 576 Interpersonal Communication (5)
Social scientific research and theory on the role of communication in developing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Nature of interpersonal communication, relationship change processes, interpersonal control through communication, and personal communication networks.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 576
COM 577 Communication in Small Groups (5)
Reviews major small group communication theories and the history of research on small groups. Topics include structuration, democratic decision making, symbolic convergence, and the influence of personality, gender, and ethnicity on group communication. Involves students in original research projects on communication in small group settings.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 577
COM 578 Intercultural Communications (5)
Focuses on the nature of communication between different cultures, including the processes as they occur on sojourns, immigration, negotiations, and conversations across national boundaries. Specific topics include identity formation and expression, intercultural relationships, stereotyping, prejudice, and group affiliation.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 578
COM 579 Family Communication (5)
Central theories and major processes as the foundation for family communication. Ideologies that stigmatize and marginalize post-nuclear family types. Covers the three "R's" of (post-nuclear) family theorizing: remaking, resistance, and resilience.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 579
COM 580 Nonverbal Communication (5)
Reviews primary theories and research on nonverbal communication. Focus on developmental and social aspects of nonverbal cues, including review of communicative functions served by nonverbal channels. Topics include paralinguistic systems, relational messages, deception, acquisition of cue use, and emotional expression. Emphasizes research methods and influences of culture and context.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 580
COM 581 Social Production and Distribution of Digital Content (5)
Explores theoretical and applied analysis of "user-generated" digital and distribution, as well as their economic cultural impact. Examines specific issues related to monetization and messaging, particularly in storytelling, advertising, campaigning, advocacy, and entertainment.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 581
COM 590 Selected Readings (1-5, max. 10)
Selected readings assigned by faculty.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 590
COM 591 Independent Research (1-5, max. 10)
Research projects designed and led by students with faculty supervision.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 591
COM 592 Directed Research (1-5, max. 10)
Student participation in faculty-directed research projects.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 592
COM 593 Communication Internship (1-5, max. 15)
Provides students an opportunity to connect their scholarship with communities outside academia by engaging in a project that uses communication theory to inform practical work.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 593
COM 594 Professional Proseminar (1, max. 6)
Helps students develop a range of professional competencies. Focuses on a particular topic such as computer-assisted research, technology in the classroom, obtaining funding for research, writing for academic publication, career choices after graduate school, and ethics in research and teaching.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 594
COM 596 Communication Pedagogy (1, max. 3)
Development of effective teaching and professional skills. Emphasizes interactive teaching, leading discussions, lecturing, planning courses, evaluating resource materials, grading and evaluation, teaching philosophies, and effective classroom management and communications. Required of all graduate students who accept teaching assistantships. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 596
COM 597 Special Topics in Communication (3-5, max. 35)
View course details in MyPlan: COM 597
COM 600 Independent Study or Research Project (*-)
Prerequisite: permission of Supervisory Committee chairperson. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: COM 600
COM 700 Master's Thesis (*-)
View course details in MyPlan: COM 700
COM 800 Doctoral Dissertation (*-)
View course details in MyPlan: COM 800
