Public relations Research Literature
Background:
The various professional areas related to public communication have an expanding body of knowledge. Often this is reflected in the literature published in professional and academic journals. The purpose of this assignment is for you to explore some of this literature. This can help you in two ways. First, you will become aware of the content of specific articles. Second, you will become aware of the publications and the type of material they use, which will be useful in this and other classes you take as part of the Public Communication major.
Assignment
Look at some of the research literature in the library. Pertinent sources include feature-length research articles in journals such as the Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Communication Quarterly, Human Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Journal of Applied Communication, and Journal of Advertising Research.
Do not use non-research publications such as Advertising Age, Ad Week, Public Relations Journal or Public Relations Strategist. Select an article published less than 6 years ago on a topic that interests you. Photo copy the article and write a report about it that addresses the following points:
Part One: List bibliographic info on the published report, using APA style.
Part Two: Briefly outline how this subject is handled in the published report. What are the major points being presented?
Part Three: Analyze the organization of this article. In what order is the information presented. Does the information seem balanced?
How does the organization of the material serve the writer's apparent purpose.
Part Four: Discuss the issue of source credibility. By what authority or attribution is this information presented? Is it documented, or does the author in effect say to the reader "Trust me on this one"? Is the information believable? How could the author have presented the information with greater credibility?
Part Five: Give your personal evaluation of the relevance of this article. What did you learn from this assignment? If you didn't need this for a class project, would you get any benefit from reading the article?
Clearly label each part (as outlined above) with boldface type or an underline. Attach a copy of the original article.