Communication

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Honors Project Course Information

COMM:485—Honors Project in Communication (3 credits)
Prerequisites: COMM:398, approval of honors preceptor

Independent study project leading to completion of honors research, creative or service project.

General Information

During your Junior Year you should take COMM:398 Honors Project Preparatory for communication majors. This 1-credit class will help prepare you for the completion of your project. You will learn the requirements for an honors project, select your sponsor and readers, then prepare and submit your project proposal, and get started on your background research.

Due Dates

The Honors Project should begin in the Junior Year, to be completed in the Senior Year.

Honors Project Deadlines: These deadlines represent the latest you can submit your work during the semester you will graduate. If you do not meet these deadlines, your graduation will be delayed.

Proposals

The Proposal must be received by the Honors office by the thirteenth week of the semester in which the student completes 96 or more college credits, which is typically the second semester of your Junior year.

The abstract is part of the project proposal process and should be a 200 word abstract explaining what you plan to do. It is to be submitted as part of the Proposal Cover sheet. See the Honors College site for the Proposal Cover Sheet. Follow the directions on the Honors College website for your proposal submission to IdeaExchange for the Honors College Collection.

Projects

1. Initial drafts to your research Sponsor: You should plan on meeting with your sponsor weekly while working on your project. Your sponsor will need to see drafts of all your work. Expect revisions to be requested! Your completed project (final draft) must be in the hands of your Sponsor no later than 5 PM on Friday of the eighth week of the semester in which you will graduate. Your sponsor will have one week to review the completed document and request last minute changes. If you can turn this in earlier, it would be better.
2. Subsequent drafts to your two readers: When your sponsor is satisfied with the final draft of your project it is ready for circulation to your readers. You and your sponsor will receive feedback from your readers. Working with your sponsor, you will incorporate the revisions requested by your readers and send the paper back to them for final review. You need to allow a minimum of two weeks for this process.
3. Draft to the honors advisor: As soon as your readers and sponsor are satisfied with your project, it should be sent to the honors advisor for review.
4. Draft to the School Director: As soon as the honors advisor approves your project, it should be sent to the School Director for review. The School Director requires two weeks to review the project. It is due on the School Director’s desk on no later than Friday of the 12th week of the semester in which you will graduate. If you can get it in earlier, it would be better.
5. Submission of an abstract to the Honors College office electronically. The abstract of your project will be included in graduation materials. Please prepare it according to the guidelines listed below and submit it electronically. Please send an abstract as early as possible, but not later than the final day of the thirteenth week of the semester in which you will graduate. If you don't submit your abstract by this date, it will not appear in the graduation booklet. Please, let your sponsor or the honors advisor see your abstract before you submit it to the honors college.
6. Final submission of your project to the Honors College office. Your research project should be submitted electronically. Scan the completed signature page and append it to the front of your project file. Your project must be received in the Honors office no later than 5 PM on the final day of the 14th week of the semester. If you have audio/video documents to submit, send multiple files to the honors college. The text file is the one that should contain the signature page image.

Courtesy Alert! It is disrespectful to expect your Sponsor, Readers, the Honors Adviser or School Director to read and respond to any of your work without adequate lead time. These are very busy people with many students, classes, and administrative duties. You cannot expect any of them to drop everything to review your project. Two weeks is considered appropriate lead time. If they are able to respond more quickly, you have been granted a favor.

Please include the Honors Research Project signature page as a cover page with your project when you submit your final project to the Honors College. (Please include lines for signatures and lines for printed names of those listed). Instructions are available for how to submit your finished project on IdeaExchange.

Sponsors

The role of the Sponsor is to guide you through the process of completing your project. Your Sponsor will:

• Help you narrow down your topic and establish the goals for your project.
• Review drafts of your project and suggest revisions.
• Advise you when your project is ready to be seen by your Readers.
• Assign the grade for the project. Sponsors will give the grade to the Honors Advisor when the project is completed. If you do not complete the project during the semester in which you enrolled for the project credits, an Incomplete grade can be given provided your sponsor is satisfied that you have made substantial progress toward project completion.

Sponsors and Readers

Your Sponsor must be a full-time tenure-track member of the School of Communication faculty. You will be told who is eligible to serve as a sponsor in the Honors Prep class. Your Readers may be full or part-time faculty, contract professionals, administrators, or industry professionals from within or without the School of Communication. However, it is strongly recommended that you do not use part-time faculty as they may not be available for more than one semester. The Honors Adviser will give final approval for your chosen Sponsor and Readers.

Completing the Honors Project on Time

You will need at least two semesters to complete your Honors Project. You may enroll for your project credits any time after completion of the Honors Prep class, which is a prerequisite for the Honors Project class.

Academic Standards

Proposals

All Proposals submitted to the School of Communication should meet the following academic standards. Proposals are short documents, 2-5 pages comprising the following:

• Title – this is considered a draft, the title may change by the time the project is completed
• In the initial section of your proposal, describe what you intend to do. Describe the project’s purpose, design, methodology, and limitations. Be specific.
• Next, address such questions as these: What do you expect to learn from doing this project? What will be accomplished by the completion of this project? What makes it worth doing? What will be the benefits of the project for people other than yourself?
• In a third section, describe the final presentation of the project. What will be the written product of your work on this project? If the project is to be performed or presented, what will be the occasion and the audience?

Projects

All Honors Projects submitted to the School of Communication should meet the academic standards listed below for the specific type of project you are completing. All Projects must submitted to IdeaExchange and include the following sections:

• Title
• Abstract – This is a brief description of the project. Follow Honor’s College guidelines.
• Project – see the Project Specific Standards below for guidance.
• References – This should be a list that contains all of the research studies, web sites, books, and other materials you consulted, the interviews you conducted, etc. Use APA style.
• Appendices – Append any additional materials to the end of your project.

Project Specific Standards

The following are generic guidelines for different types of Projects. These guidelines may be modified to adapt to your specific Project in consultation with your Sponsor.

Human Subjects: Any research involving human subjects must be approved by the IRB before the study begins. All researchers, including student researchers, must complete the CITI online training in order to submit a request for IRB review. You will complete CITI certification as part of the Honors Prep class. Your Sponsor will help you through the process of applying for IRB approval. Because this can take time to complete, you should plan on completing the process by the end of the fall semester (if you are graduating in the spring). This would allow you to begin gathering your data at the beginning of spring semester.

Empirical Research

Empirical research studies follow a standard format that asks you to review past research, identify a research question, and gather data to answer that question. Your paper should include the following sections:

• Introduction & Literature Review – Gives background information about the research problem. It gives a literature review of similar studies, explains the reason(s) for conducting the research and offers any additional information that might be needed to understand the research problem or research that is being described in the paper.
• Methods – Gives a detailed description of how the research was conducted. Some methods that could be used include Quantitative, Qualitative and Rhetorical designs. This is occasionally referred to as Methodology.
• Results – The ‘answer’ to the research inquiry (Hypothesis and/or Research Question(s). The Results section shows, describes and analyzes the data found by the research.
• Discussion – Discusses the implications of the results found. The Discussion section may also compare, contrast and discuss the data obtained to other research articles on similar topics. It is sometimes called the Conclusion or divided into a ‘Discussion’ and a ‘Conclusion’ section.

Rhetorical/Critical Analysis

Rhetorical/Critical Analyses follow a logical sequence that asks you to identify the topic, artifacts and theoretical methodology; review previous studies; apply the theory and draw conclusions. Your paper should include the following sections:

• Introduction – Introduces the topic and the argument that will be made or issue(s) to be explored. Identifies artifacts to be examined and methodology (e.g., feminist criticism, neo-Aristotelian criticism, genre criticism, Marxist criticism, etc).
• Literature Review – Reviews relevant scholarship on the topic.
• Critical Analysis – Provides critical analysis of the artifacts. Interprets the artifacts through the critical lens identified in introduction (e.g., feminist, neo-Aristotelian, genre, etc).
• Conclusion – Summarizes the project's main ideas, emphasizes significance of the study to the larger body of scholarship.

State-of-the-Art Reviews

These are research studies that do not gather any new data or engage in hypothesis testing. Instead, they gather together all the research that can be found on a particular topic and try to make sense of it with the ultimate goal of saying “This is what we know; this is what we have some evidence for but are uncertain about; this is what we know nothing about.” These reviews are particularly valuable for theorists and researchers as they consolidate the literature on a topic and point out the areas that need more work. State-of-the-Art Reviews may review hundreds of research studies. For a student project, we would expect the number of studies reviewed to be no fewer than 25-30 of the latest studies. The Project, therefore, would contain the following sections:

• Introduction and Rationale – Describe what the topic is about and why it is important to study it.
• Literature Review – This is a detailed, organized review of the known research on this topic. You will need to evaluate the usefulness of the research you review. Some research is well done, other research is not very well done.
• Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research – Describe what we know and what still need to find out regarding this topic.

Event Planning

Public Relations majors often choose to do a service project for a client where they plan and organize an event for that client. Such events may take the form of fund-raisers, celebratory dinners, special meetings, informational booths at conferences, etc. You should plan on providing the following documentation in your final Project:

• Description – Describe the nature of the event and your role. Identify the Sponsor. Describe the timeline for the event.
• Literature Review – Review any relevant literature you used as background materials for planning your event and setting your goals. You will want to review literature that discusses how to plan effective events.
• Goals – Describe the criteria that were set for success in this event. Did you achieve those goals (e.g. come in under budget, attract enough participants, etc.)? Why/why not?
• Recommendations – Based on your experience, what should future planners of this kind of event do? What worked and what didn't work?
• Artifacts – Include any and all artifacts you can that demonstrate your participation in the event (e.g. copies of brochures you created, copies of agenda you created, copies of informational materials you handed out, copies of letters of appreciation from the client, media reviews of the event, selected photographs of the event, etc.) You should provide hard copies of as many of these as possible. You may also burn them onto a CD and include the CD in a plastic sleeve. Your Project Sponsor can help you decide what to include, how to organize it and how to present it.

Educational Materials/Training Materials/Media Kits

Some students choose to prepare educational or training materials or media kits that will be of use to people working in their field. Such Projects typically require background research and the production of materials and instructions for their use. The final Project should include:

• Description and Rationale – Describe in detail what the purpose of this project is and why it is important. Indicate how it will be of use to its target audience.
• Literature Review – Review any relevant literature you used as background materials in designing your training/instructional materials.
• Introduction to the materials and how they are to be used – This is intended for the target audience. If you want them to organize people into a group and present them with a slide show or have them go through exercises, you need to explain to the presenter how to organize the situation and how and when to use your materials. If it's a media kit, provide a table of contents to the different elements (e.g. brochures, PSA's, press releases, etc.) with recommendations for their use.
• Artifacts – Include all of the materials you've prepared for this Project in hard copy form wherever possible. These might include print-outs of PowerPoint Presentations, workbooks, forms, tests, etc. If some of your artifacts are multi-media, then burn them on a CD/DVD and include a copy in a plastic sleeve.

Media Projects

These Projects are usually video productions, audio productions, or multi-media productions (web sites, interactive CD's, etc.). In each case expect to provide the following:

• Description – Describe what the production is about and your role. If the work was done for a client, identify that client. Describe the potential audience for this production. Describe the timeline for the project.
• Literature Review – Review any relevant literature you used as background materials for your project.
• Goals – Describe the criteria that were set for success in this project. Did you achieve those goals (e.g. come in under budget, produce a quality product, etc.)? Why/why not?
• Recommendations – Based on your experience, what should future producers of this type of production do? What worked and what didn't work?
• Credits – Because media productions incorporate work from many different sources, it is important to acknowledge those contributions. Your “credits” for this type of project may include technical assistants, actors, writers, graphic images, music, etc. You should list those contributors in writing in the paper and they should be acknowledged on screen in the credits for your video or in appropriate places on your web pages.
• Artifacts – For web pages, print out hard copies and include them in your final paper. For all types of media projects you must burn a copy of the video, audio or web site onto a CD/DVD and include it in a plastic sleeve. For video productions you should include a copy of your script and/or storyboard.

Music Videos or any project that portrays gratuitous violence or is offensive to the dignity of the human person (this includes but is not limited to, gratuitously offensive language, negative racial or ethnic stereotyping, gratuitous visual violence, explicit sexual behavior) are not appropriate senior honors projects.

Communication Audit

A Communication Audit uses rigorous auditing tools to examine the communication flow, structure, and concerns in an organization. Communication audits follow a standard format that asks you to review past research, identify the topics of concern, and gather data to address those areas of concern. Your paper should include the following sections:

• Introduction & Literature Review – Gives background information about the areas of focus. It identifies the literature which discusses the communication concerns, explains the reason(s) for conducting the research and offers any additional information that might be needed to understand the communication problem being described for the purpose of both assessing these problems, as well as providing a theory based foundation for the suggestions to managing them.
• Background – Provides a short glimpse into the organization being audited, the concerns that form the rationale for the audit, and any additional information that will put the audit into context. Students should include an organizational hierarchical chart and any other materials that will contextualize the rest of the audit.
• Methods – Gives a detailed description of how the audit was conducted. The methods section should include a breakdown of the organization’s demographics (if relevant), a description of the procedures and audit tools used, and a blank copy of all measures collected.
• Analysis – This section shows, describes and analyzes the data found by the audit. All aggregate data appears here with descriptions of what was found.
• Findings & Conclusions – This section lays out the implications of the results found. This section pulls together the individual data points from the analysis and identifies threads of meaningful results that simplifies the results for the organization. This section should draw overall conclusions and identify recommendations that correlate with each of the main findings of concern.
• Implementation Guide – The implementation guide provides a list of resources, services, web pages and consultants that are necessary to implement all suggestions made in the previous section. Any recommendation made must have a way to carry it out and provide sources to make sure the organization can do so.

General Guidelines

• You must receive a grade of "B" or higher on your Honors Research Project to graduate as an Honors Scholar. If you do not achieve this grade you may still meet the requirements to graduate as an undergraduate student in your major. Please contact your Honors Advisor for more information.
• When there are multiple students involved in an Honors Research Project, each student should be included as authors on the final report, even if they are not part of the Williams Honors College. Every student should receive the proper recognition for thier contributions.
• Every committee must be composed of a Sponsor and two Readers. More information on these roles is available here.
• Students expecting to work on an honors project involving the use of human subjects should be aware that such projects may need to be evaluated by the University of Akron Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB reviews all proposals for research involving human participants to insure appropriate ethical and safety standards are observed. Depending on the nature of the proposed research, IRB review and approval may be required prior to moving forward with your study. In the same way, any research involving live animals will require review by the University of Akron Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC). Please communicate with your project sponsor regarding the need for IRB or ACUC consideration as it relates to your specific project. Information concerning research applications and review procedures can be obtained via the University of Akron Office of Research Administration (ORA).