Q COM 240 – Interpersonal Communication Professor JD Pryce Application Research Paper Application Research Paper: (20%) o You will type a 5-6-page (approximately 1000-1500 words) double-spaced (1-inch margins) application research paper to exhibit your knowledge and understanding about an interpersonal communication behavior or issue within a specific personal relationship. For example, you may want to examine elements of cultural communication with a new friend, conflict with a parent, listening skills with a romantic partner, power issues with a co-worker, forgiveness with a friend, etc. As an overview, you will synthesize research from at least four scholarly research journal articles related to your communication topic and/or this type of relationship, and then link this new knowledge to the specific personal relationship you have selected for analysis. Topic Approval: o You will submit a topic approval that explains the relationship at hand and the main area of focus for your research. Why this relationship? Why this particular focus or why the particular topic? Article Check: o In order to make sure you will have relevant research for your topic, you will provide evidence of finding articles early in the process. You will find two research articles related to your paper. For each article, you will type an APA citation, provide a brief summary of the article (150-200 words), and indicate why this article is important and/or how you plan to use this article in your paper. Paper Sections: Introduction and Literature Review: 3-4 pages o You will begin your paper with an introductory paragraph enticing your reader to continue (attention getter), introduce your topic and provide rationale why you are interested in this interpersonal topic and relationship, and continue with an overall thesis and preview for the paper. You will then complete a literature review (based on journal articles) that synthesizes the current research about your topic. Your review should be more than just a summary of each source; integrate and find common themes in the research and support these ideas with various scholarly articles. This section should not link your research with your relationship yet; keep this section all about what research has to say about your topic. Your literature review will include a minimum of 4 research-based scholarly sources; 3 of which must be peer reviewed journal articles. Application/Analysis: 2 pages o After you understand the research, apply the research to relational behaviors you see taking place in the relationship selected by you. Describe the relationship and the communication behaviors in the relationship and reference how the research supports these behaviors. What’s happening in the relationship? How does conflict, listening, identity (your topic) take place in this relationship and what from your research helps you understand the relationship? Are there positive and negative effects of communication behavior on this relationship? In other words, examine the communication in this relationship through your scholarly lens. There should be some inherent logical link of the research to the relationship. COM 240 – Interpersonal Communication Professor JD Pryce Application Research Paper Strategies and Conclusion: 1 page o After you have applied your research to the communication in this particular relationship, step back and think about this particular relationship or relationships in general. How does this type of communication affect relationships? Based on this topic, provide some strategies for improving relationships. How will you monitor your own behavior? How are you going to approach your relationships in the future? Why is it important to know this communication concept? End your paper with a concluding paragraph reviewing the main areas of the paper and provide some final “golden nuggets” of what you learned about interpersonal relationships and communicative behavior. References Page: o You will turn in a reference list of your sources using APA (6th ed.) writing style.