Assignment Description

Understanding how to identify and respond to the communicative patterns of others is necessary when one seeks to improve their interpersonal relationships. However, it is just as important to develop the ability to understand and adjust your own patterns of communication if you desire to become a better communicator. Therefore, in this assignment you will be required to write a 3 to 5-page paper analyzing your own patterns of interpersonal communication. You will identify and apply specific course concepts and/or theories from the textbook to conduct your analysis while providing your own personal insights on how you can use this knowledge to improve your communication skills.

This assignment is designed to get you to reflect on what you have learned about interpersonal communication throughout the semester and to come up with a plan for how you can improve your interactions with others. Thus, there should be two distinct parts to your paper:

1.) Your reflective analysis. This section will make up the bulk of your paper. In this section, make sure to explain what aspects of your own interpersonal communication style you are analyzing by providing relevant examples. You must choose (3) three specific areas of your own communication that you feel you need to improve on and select (3) three concepts from the Chapter Outlines located on Canvas that relate to these three areas.

2.) Your plan for improvement. In this section, your plan for improvement, you will provide a minimum of three (3) specific ways you plan to improve your communication with others by using what you have learned throughout the semester. For example: if you decided you need to work on being a better listener in section 1, then you need to explain how you intend to do that? You cannot just write, “I plan to be a better listener by listening more when my partner is speaking”. That is redundant and obvious. Instead, you would write something like, “ I plan to become a better listener by putting away environmental distractions like my cellphone and my laptop when communicating with my partner. By avoiding these forms of “noise” I will be able to focus my attention on whoever is speaking and reduce potential interruptions”. This would be a much better plan.

When completing this assignment, you may decide to analyze one specific experience, or a small set of related experiences, thus you should home in on course concepts/material that help articulate how you intend to improve your communication based on these textbook concepts in whichever scenario(s) you choose.

You may choose to write about topics such as: a set of work-related experiences you have had in the past in which you did not communicate as effectively as you would have liked to (i.e. getting into arguments, unclear communication with co-workers that resulted in mistakes being made, being misperceived by a supervisor because of something you said or how you communicated, etc.); your tendency to be a poor listener and how it has had a negative impact on your relationships; a time when you failed to articulate yourself well enough and wanted to improve the clarity of your communication with others; etc.

Since you will be choosing textbook concepts for this assignment, you will need to provide in-text references that include the definition of each of your concepts as well as a reference page including citations in APA style. Please refer to the APA Template on Canvas as well as the Sample Analysis Paper for examples of in-text citations and reference page citations. Both are found in the “Modules” section under “Analysis Paper”.

1. Your ability to support your analysis through the use of relevant examples

2. Your ability to connect classroom learning to your own patterns of communication

3. The application of appropriate communication concepts and/or terminology from lecture or the textbook

4. The demonstrated ability to think critically about your communicative style and to create a specific plan for improvement (quality of your writing/insights)

5. Proper grammar, spelling, and overall format

Learning Objectives.

This assignment is designed to help you:

1. Apply interpersonal communication concepts in order to improve your interactions with others

2. Organize information and facts into a cohesive, coherent essay

3. Improve your critical thinking and writing skills

Assignment Requirements

Page limit: 3-5 pages, double-spaced, typed, 12-point font, with APA-style references using the APA Template located on Canvas in the Modules section