Investigates the effects an assigned audience has on undergraduates' attitudes, composing strategies, and persuasive writing. Finds that while assigning an audience had a limited effect on essay scores, it increased students' interest, effort, use of audience-based strategies, and ability to persuade. (SR)

Investigates how much and what type of information college students receive from the media about drugs. Interviews were conducted with 228 students using the message discrimination protocol. Results are discussed in terms of the audience receiving fear and fight messages rather than clear, accurate information necessary to make informed decisions…

Proposes a view of music video as persuasive argument. Presents results from a study of viewers' perceptions of music videos, finding that viewers discriminate between persuasive argument videos and nonargument videos. Reveals that viewers see social and political content in videos, and videos' potential to influence viewers. (SR)

Describes an assignment for a sophomore-level technical-writing course which teaches students to respond to different audiences with different needs by having them analyze and then respond to actual complaint letters (on the same topic but from two very different people). Includes successful and unsuccessful responses generated by the students.…

Unlike students in traditional classrooms, the interpretive visitor has voluntarily approached the site and is usually looking for interesting entertainment. Meeting the challenge of satisfying both the visitor and the sponsoring agency requires an understanding of the audience and its interests and motivations. A social-marketing approach to…

Offers suggestions for training librarians to work with teens. Discusses knowing the audience and including them as part of the presentation; addressing controversial topics such as gay and lesbian teens; using handouts, including an evaluation of the presentation; and some basic topics to cover. Includes recommended resources for young adult…

Examines how viewers or readers process and remember media narratives such as entertainment, news, and information. Considers how this is critical to the understanding of the mental processing of television and other media. Finds that undergraduate students who participated in two experiments remembered atypical story items much better even a week…

The student response system (SRS) is marketed as a reliable tool for improving students' academic attainment. However, findings to the question of whether or not the SRS does improve the learning outcomes of ESL [English as a Second Language] learners in primary education are not well documented in the research literature. Despite the wide use of…

Recently the analysis of social networks has proved successful for understanding many educational processes, and has led to dozens of papers on a variety of education-related topics and problems (Natriello, 2005; Watts, 2005), as well as to entire books explaining network research methods both to specialists and to wider audiences (e.g. Barbabasi,…

In this article, the author shares a current analysis of data that complements findings from earlier, related research that confirms the emotional aspects of reading experiences. The data from the earlier study is based upon comments by graduate students in online discussion groups, where they share their thoughts about the professional readings…

The prevailing paradigm in Internet privacy literature, treating privacy within a context merely of rights and violations, is inadequate for studying the Internet as a social realm. Following Goffman on self-presentation and Altman's theorizing of privacy as an optimization between competing pressures for disclosure and withdrawal, the author…

National health communication campaign developers have ignored rural audiences in campaign development and testing, despite the health disparities that exist for this group. Researchers in a rural Midwestern state tested the appropriateness of CDC's national colorectal cancer screening campaign, Screen for Life. Based on focus groups and a…

The issue of research dissemination via websites is part of the larger research utilization question, and the authors begin with a review of literature on the theory and best practices in dissemination. The second part of the study involves an exploratory examination of the websites and dissemination practices of 30 research centers focusing on…

The final product of the Rembrandt Project will be a Web site that is intended primarily for use by middle and high school teachers and their students. It is a celebration of Rembrandt's work in the contexts of his time, place, and culture and all that may emanate from them. A special feature of the site is the integration of art, aesthetic, and…

Four sections of introductory psychology participated in a test of personal response systems (commonly called "clickers"). Two sections used clickers to answer multiple-choice quiz questions for extra credit; 2 sections did not. Even though we used clickers very minimally (mainly to administer quizzes and give immediate feedback in…