When completing assignments that required you to apply to material (such as short papers), ask yourself: Did I address ALL parts of the assignment? Did I go beyond common knowledge and basic explanation? Did I incorporate information from the chapter and provide detailed examples? Use examples; go beyond the “common knowledge” response; anyone can tell me that a person used words to communicate, but a person who read chapter 4 and studied verbal communication can tell me about their use of connotative vs. denotative meaning, strategic ambiguity, etc. Are myarguments connected? Am I making Dr. G guess what I mean? Are my arguments more implied than concrete?

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT “I saw a lot of nonverbal communication when the women were talking” – Such as…? Give me examples of the nonverbal communication; break it down using what was discussed in the chapter   “In terms of similarities both the men and women used words” – And…? Remember, you should give me the answer beyond common knowledge. How did they use their words? Go back to the chapter; what did you learn about how we use language—how does it match what you observed? “Culture played a role in a major way” – What do you mean by a “major way”—what made it major? What role did it play?

ALMOST The women used a lot of nonverbal communication when discussing their trip to Cancun. I could apply paralanguage, kinesics, and haptics to this observation. – Ok, you use terminology from the book, which is great. But you string them together AND you don’t show me that you know what they mean. Give me an example of how you can apply paralanguage and see that the use of their voice communicated they were upset or happy. Consider this, if I’m completing the assignment 5 minutes before class I could try to string some words together, right? J Show me you know how to apply those words correctly.   The guys sat real close to each other, used a lot of hand gestures, and used a lot of eye contact. – Good, you’re on the right track. Take it a step further for me and go beyond that common knowledge. What did those hand gestures or eye contact seem to communicate. OR how can you factor in concepts from the chapter. For example: “They used a lot of turn taking gestures throughout the conversation such as when….” OR “they used their gesturing to help regulate the conversation, which is a common function of nonverbal communication. For example….” OR “when considering proxemics I could draw a lot of meaning from the way they were sitting with each other. The fact that they were close together hints to their closeness”

GOOD I could tell that the women had a close relationship. This was communicated through their use of playful touch. For example, they often would slap each other on the arm and the other person didn’t seem upset or alarmed. They were also sitting very close to each other—within the intimate space zone--and no one seemed upset, so there was no issue with territoriality. – Here you provide examples and factor in terminology. You discuss the function of touch and give me an example; you mention territoriality and your description helps me see that you know what it means.   While observing, it was easy for me to decode the information because the women used connotative meaning that I understood. For example, when they said that “the party got live fast” I knew what subjective meaning they were attaching to the word “live.” This could be because of the speech community we share, both being from the same generation. – Again, you factor in terminology and show me that you know what the terms mean through your discussion and/or examples.

Remember… Don’t add fluff Redundancy? Organize your thoughts Logical flow Don’t make reader guess about the connection; make it explicit Review format guidelines in the syllabus