Create

A common element in all communication is the message. A fundamental question that faces practitioners in every Communication sub-discipline is: how can you craft a message that will be effective to your purpose, based on the channel you are using and the audience you are addressing?

Students in the Department of Communication have a variety of ways to develop better communication skills in any of the sub-disciplines. Many people associate communication with public speaking skills, but many other skills are developed as well, including listening, group problem-solving, critical analysis, research, writing, and digital media production skills.

In the Department of Communication, we have faculty and students who craft messages for a wide variety of purposes, including:

• News articles, issue summaries, blog posts, and profiles for print and electronic journalism outlets
• Public service announcements (PSAs) for health campaigns
• Intros, outros, and bumpers for radio programs
• Speeches for everything from forensics and debate tournaments to political campaigns
• Research papers, reports, journal articles, and books to present research results, summarize issues or make the case for specific policies.
• Creative audio, video, and multimedia projects and presentations for personal and professional self-expression

In addition, every day we all craft messages for our own interpersonal communication with individuals and small groups.

One way to describe the task of every faculty and student project is: what will make your communication effective? On one level, effectiveness depends on your purpose: are you attempting to inform? To persuade? To entertain?