Syllabi for Dr. Gossett's Classes

COMM 1440: HONORS CLASSICAL ARGUMENT
	
Purpose of the Course:

COMM 1440, Honors Classical Argument, is a course specifically created for students 
in the University Honors Program and is designed to enhance the critical thinking, 
logical reasoning, research, and oral advocacy skills of the students.  The course 
is based on the assumption that humans create, develop, and maintain civilizations 
by advocating ideas (i.e. arguing) among others on the important public policy 
issues of the day.  Deciding what constitutes the best course of action in the 
public policy arena is not always immediately apparent--even among informed, 
well-intentioned people.  As a consequence, people argue about what we should do 
and how we should be governed.

This is a course in critical thinking and argument.  This course will teach you how 
to analyze public policy problems, critique various solutions, devise new solutions, 
and provide oral arguments to defend your solutions.  As you will discover, the 
ability to argue is a sign of health, not of pathology, and civilized societies 
attempt to settle disputes and disagreements through argument instead of coercion 
(e.g. Tiananmen Square 1989).  In order to be able to present strong arguments on 
public policy, one must be aware of what is happening in the public arena.  
Consequently, you will be expected to keep track of current events, think about them, 
speculate as to outcomes, and be willing to argue with your classmates about those 
current events.  In short, this course (and hopefully your entire college education), 
instead of providing the answers to public policy problems, will assist you in 
learning how to ask the questions that will promote public discussion and lead to 
innovative new ways of dealing with recurring problems.

This course is taught in a lecture/recitation format.  As indicated on the 
syllabus, some days you will meet in lecture, and on other days you will meet in 
a recitation section taught by a well-prepared teaching assistant.  In lecture and 
in recitation, you are expected to complete the assigned readings for the day and 
come to class prepared to discuss the concepts in the readings.  

TEXTS:	The Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle (Modern Library edition)
Plato, Gorgias
Plato, Phaedrus


COMM 3010 Communication Perspectives

Purpose of the Course:
This course is designed to equip students with concepts and skills necessary to review communication research, to engage in critical research about communication behavior, and to write scholarly papers in an appropriate format. 

Texts for the Course:
Rubin, Rebecca B., Alan M. Rubin, and Linda J. Piele.  Communication Research: 		
Strategies and Sources.  5th ed.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed., 2001.

Writing Tips for COMM 3010

COMM 3440  Public Address Studies

COMM 4440 Freedom of Speech

Purpose of the Course:
This course is different from many COMM courses you will take because the subject 
matter does not fall neatly into any of the three emphases in the department.  In 
fact, you will discover that the course incorporates concepts from rhetorical 
studies, performance studies, and communication processes.

The purpose of this course is to increase your knowledge and enhance your 
understanding and appreciation of legal issues in communication through a study 
of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  This course 
will have theoretical and practical application because most of the subject areas 
in the field of communication are influenced by the unique status afforded the 
discipline by the First Amendment.  This course is designed to provide the student 
with insight that will facilitate an understanding of how the system of freedom of 
expression works toward establishing a balance between individual and societal 
rights.

This course is not designed to indoctrinate you to think in a particular way 
about the cases, concepts, and doctrines we study.  At the same time, the professor 
starts with the presumption that, in the realm of public policy, there is no 
viewpoint that is too offensive to be expressed and discussed.  The consequence of 
this position is that any idea expressed through speech, broadly defined, 
presumptively should enjoy protection against government censorship.  You will 
discover that speech is not neutral and is used by persons and groups, both noble 
and base, to express ideas.  Consequently, much of the speech that we study is 
controversial, inflammatory, and vulgar.

This is an upper-level course.  Students are expected to attend each class 
session, to have read and synthesized the material to be covered that day, and to 
be prepared to participate actively and intelligently in class discussions. It is 
impossible to participate intelligently if one has not completed the reading 
assignment for the day.  Part of your grade is based on the quality of your 
participation in class.  Therefore, you must attend and must be prepared to 
participate.  Students also are expected to understand the characteristics of good 
writing, should be capable of conducting 
independent research, and should be capable of reporting the results of research 
in appropriate form.

Texts for the Course:
Tedford & Herbeck, Freedom of Speech in the United States, 4th ed., 2001.
Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet (any edition).

Topics Covered:	The meaning of speech, speech and national security, 
prior restraint, fighting words, picketing, symbolic speech, speech in the schools, 
speech and religion.

COMM 5080 Introduction to Graduate Study in Communication Studies

Purpose of the Course:

This course is designed to introduce the student to the field of Communication 
Studies and its major research areas.  In addition it is designed to acquaint 
graduate students with a systematic introduction to the nature of research in 
communication and to promote scholarly and professional growth.  You will engage 
in, report on, and evaluate various aspects of communication research.  Grades 
will be given in accordance with the quality of the written work submitted and 
oral contributions in class.  In this course you are expected to observe the 
characteristics of scholarly writing, and all written work is expected to conform 
to the conventions described in the style guide appropriate to your area of 
emphasis. The final paper in this course will consist of the initial 
components of a proposal for a research paper on some aspect of communication 
chosen by the student.   

Graduate studies are very different from one's undergraduate experience.  In 
graduate school, the student is expected to develop his/her ability to analyze 
theoretical concepts and to sharpen one's skills in thinking, reading, and 
scholarly writing.

Readings:
Rubin, et. al., Communication Research: Strategies and Sources., 5th ed. 2000.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed., 2001.

Topics Covered:	

Electronic research in Communication;  State of the Field in Communication; 
Selecting a problem area for research;  Discovering gaps in knowledge;  Formulating 
a research problem; Methodology; Review of Literature; and Language and Style

COMM  5440 Public Address Studies

Purpose of the Course:

Public Address Studies is a course that examines a variety of speeches and is based on the assumption that the study of history, speeches, and politics is important to understanding our culture.  When taught as American Public Address, the course usually focuses on 20^th century political rhetoric because many of the ideas that have shaped our culture have emerged during political campaigns.  When taught as British Public Address, the course focuses on political oratory that emerged throughout British history and the lives of its great orators, including Fox, Pitt, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd-George, Churchill, Thatcher, and Blair.

COMM 5540 Seminar in Freedom of Expression

Purpose of the Course:
The purpose of this course is to increase your knowledge and enhance your understanding and appreciation of legal issues in communication through a study of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  This course will have theoretical and practical application because most of the subject areas in the field of communication are influenced by the unique status afforded the discipline by the First Amendment.  The course is designed to provide the student with insight that will facilitate an understanding of how the system of freedom of expression works toward establishing a balance between individual and societal rights.

Texts:

Tedford & Herbeck, Freedom of Speech in the United States, 4^th ed., 2001.
Franklyn S. Haiman, "Speech Acts" and the First Amendment. 1993.