A study examined developmental trends in the quality and outcomes of disagreements occurring in the conversation of small groups of acquainted peers. Specifically, the study focused on the relationship of disagreeing and arguing sequences to the general level of topical coherence achieved in the conversation as a whole. Five discussion groups,…

The synthesis of four instructional models for argumentative writing--the Toulmin, Hiduke, Winder, and Crebbe-Debate approaches--with basic discourse theory produces a practical and positive method of teaching college students to write effective persuasive essays. A battery of questions based on a modified communication triangle--subject…

Suggests a method of analyzing mass media advertising strategies within an integrated behavioral science research framework. Available from: Communication Research, Sage Publications, 275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212. Subscription Rates: institutional, $20.00 per year; professionals and teachers, $12.00 per year; full-time…

A study examined the differences between how men and women respond to expert political analysis of political debates and the extremeness of traits attributed to the candidates. Subjects, 30 males and 45 females enrolled in courses at the College of Journalism and Communication of the University of Florida in the fall of 1988, viewed the live…

An analysis of the content and a critique of the significance of President Jimmy Carter's 1977 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, show that technical weaknesses such as poor organization, inconsistent style, and overbreadth limited its intended effect. Carter had hoped that this speech would dispel confusion over some of his…

The advent of electronic mass communications in the 1920s forever altered the rhetoric, the audience, and the echoes or responses of the State of the Union Address. Presidents thereafter would use the occasion to speak primarily to the public and secondarily to the Congress. The echoes of the speech that reverberate within the Congress, among the…

Two naturalistic studies examined how children attempt to exert dominance over their peers, which tactics are most frequently used, and which appeals are most successful. The first study identified 3 categories of dominance behavior by a 6-week observation of playground interactions of 20 4- and 5-year-old children. The second study, conducted at…

A study was done at the University of Colorado to determine the qualifications, priorities, behaviors, and authority base of effective curriculum directors in six Colorado school districts. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative data were obtained by observing and interviewing the curriculum directors and by…

The approach taken to discourse analysis that classifies text types according to isolated linguistic features is criticized, and an alternative approach to argumentative texts is proposed. This approach looks at the process of argumentation as an instance of the problem-solving process. The argumentative text is then seen as moving from the…

Because written communication has nearly always been the medium for transmitting information in the business world, these essays are a step toward providing a seminal statement on the history and practice of business writing. The essays in this volume are: "Business Writing and the Spread of Literacy in Late Medieval England" (Malcolm Richardson);…

Focusing on the dramatic increase in the scope, intensity and frequency of censorship protests in the United States, and based on the premise that the censorship crusade is better organized, staffed, and financed than ever before, this journal issue addresses many facets of the censorship problem. In addition to an introduction by Ronald Salomone,…

Differing viewpoints, expressed in these two papers, address the question of whether college summer institutes should coach high school debaters on the current national debate topic. The first paper presents a three-part argument against coaching on the current topic: (1) the educational potential of summer workshops is not fully realized because…

College summer institutes should be allowed to coach high school debaters on the current high school debate topic. Every individual forensic practice must be viewed as part of a dynamic process, the totality of which ought to be assessed for its competitive and educational balances. The activity of debate becomes endangered not when students allow…

One of three related documents exploring the problems inherent to current high school forensic coaching, this paper explores the issue of risk in debate and how this risk can be reduced. The paper first examines how the 'risk of losing' affects coaches and debaters alike, noting that in providing adequate direction by helping to test the evidence…

An edited version of a 10-item instrument titled "Decision" was administered to 240 freshman students enrolled in speech courses to discover whether there were differential effects on the stability of a decision when the evidence used was fact or opinion and whether there were differential effects on the stability of the decision…