Communication Theories

Choose one of the two case studies below to prepare an essay response.  You must decide which area of communication theory studied this semester primarily addresses the case study question.  Review the relevant week’s readings provided on the QCD211 Blackboard site AND other academic sources in order to prepare your reference page. Ensure you follow all guidelines provide to prepare both your essay and your reference page.

Case One
Suki is an international student enrolled in the first semester of an undergraduate degree at an Australian university. This is the first time she has been away from her family and friends. She has found the transition to life in Australia extremely difficult. However, recently Suki started a part-time job at a small boutique through which she has started to make friends and socialise more. Suki’s parents do not want her to work while she is studying and have told her if her grades suffer, they will withdraw the financial support they currently provide. As a result, Suki decides not to tell her parents that she is working. She tells herself that this is not lying as long as they never ask her if she has a job. In her home country, Suki was a high achieving student and had never experienced any issues in relation to her academic progress. She believes she will be able to maintain the same standards while studying in Australia.
Everything seems to be going well for Suki. However, as her mid-semester exams approach she realises that she is behind in most of her units. In addition to her exams, she has several assignments due and she starts missing classes in order to try to catch up. She tells her friend Benji that she does not know what to do and that she is sure that she will fail her assessment. Benji tells her not to worry as his cousin is in the second year of the same degree that Suki is enrolled in. Benji reassures Suki that he will be able to get a copy of all past assessment items from his cousin. Suki is concerned and asks Benji what she will do with his cousin’s assessment. Benji advises Suki not to worry and that all students copy from each other. Suki recalls all her lecturers warning students about plagiarism and the consequences if caught. However, she feels she has no alternative and uses Benji’s cousin’s assignments. She believes that no one will ever know as she makes some changes and her Turnitin reports do not show a high percentage of copying. However, later in semester Suki receives an email from one of her lecturers asking her to attend an appointment to discuss her assessment.

Case Two
Jasmine works for a small research company. She has been with the company since it started ten years ago. Although the company is not very large, it has been successful in securing a number of large educational research projects. Jasmine has just started to work on a research project which aims to investigate the most successful learning strategies for international students. This is an important piece of research as the number of students studying outside their home countries is continually increasing. It is also important as there are many misconceptions about international students. As a result, Jasmine’s manager instructs her to use a large and diverse sample of participants to ensure greater reliability and validity of the research findings. Jasmine is quite concerned as it is extremely challenging to find willing research participants. Before she can start approaching participants, she must gain the official support of the educational institutions they attend. As a result, Jasmine’s manager invites the Vice-Chancellors of several leading universities to a meeting in which Jasmine must persuade them of the value of her research.
Jasmine prepares extensive documents about her research. She starts the meeting by offering the Vice-Chancellors drinks and snacks. She thinks this approach will make her more likeable. However, she feels rather uncomfortable when the Vice-Chancellors tell her that they do not have a lot of time to waste and ask her to provide details of her research. At this point, she becomes lost for words and distributes the documents she prepared prior to the meeting. She tells the Vice-Chancellors to have a quick read and she will answer their questions. The Vice- Chancellors look at each other confused. One of them then asks if Jasmine could explain why they should allow their students to participate in this research. Another asks how the universities will benefit from this research. Jasmine did not anticipate these questions and responds rather vaguely stating that the research is really important and will help universities understand international students. Not long after the meeting Jasmine receives an email telling her that the Vice-Chancellors are not supportive of Jasmine’s research.

For the exam, you must write a correctly structured case study essay of approximately 1200 words in which you apply your analytical problem-solving skills to a chosen situation. Your analytical response must be based on relevant communication theory as covered in this unit. You are required to incorporate theory into your essay as both direct quotes or paraphrases from a reference page (see details below) prepared in advance. Each quotation and/or paraphrase that you include in your essay must be relevant and well-incorporated.
Your essay will be assessed on your ability to:
    Recognise and apply relevant communication theory as presented in the unit
    Analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
    Structure a case study essay
    Use academic language and tone
    Select and incorporate references in-text
    Use appropriate referencing conventions

Reference Page Requirements
€¢    On one side of a single sheet of A4 paper, list 10 one-sentence direct quotations NOT paraphrases which support your case study response.
    6 of these direct quotations must come from resources provided on the QCD211 site
    4 of these direct quotations must come from external academic sources (your research contribution)
€¢    On the other side of the A4 page, provide the corresponding APA reference list for all sources.
    It is recommended that you have at least 6 different sources
€¢    It is your responsibility to have your reference page signed by your tutor in tutorial time or consultation time only. No pages will be signed outside these times.
€¢    Refer to the model on BB for details about other requirements of this page