Michael Abernethy—Communications

(Introduction)

Does it seem like every time you think you have a handle on how to write a paper for a class the professor says “no, do it like this”? As frustrating as that may be, there is a reason for the response. Writing across the disciplines can be very different, which is why we wanted to do this podcast series where the “experts” from the different fields discuss writing in their areas. This should give you a better understanding of what writing will look like for the different classes.

Today’s expert is Michael Abernethy, senior lecturer at IU Southeast. He will be discussing writing within the field of communications. Here is what Michael Abernethy had to say:

(Abernethy)

I would have to say that there really isn’t a single recognized journal in the field of communications studies, simply because there are so many different aspects of communications studies; there are people who study interpersonal communication, those who study rhetoric or the public speaking aspect, those who study health or organizational communication. So, each area of the discipline has its own journals that cater to it so you can’t really say that there is one particular journal that kind of governs the field it really depends on what a student is interested in.

All the writing for the journals, regardless of the field, is in APA style. A student who goes into communications studies would really need to know both MLA and APA because research in communications studies can be either humanistic—which is interpretive in nature, such as an analysis of a speech—or it can be scientific where you are actually measuring biological responses to input or data. In the classroom a student would be expected to write in the appropriate style for the type of research that they are doing, either APA or MLA.

For this particular degree in communications studies, our major writing course is S-205 Introduction to Speech Communication. The way that course is organized, it’s pretty much half intensive writing and half intensive public speaking. Any student is going to have to take that class before they can take any of the upper level courses. So, that’s kind of our required course.

Since we are a communication-based discipline, obviously clarity of ideas is going to be essential; being able to express yourself well to say concisely and intelligently whatever point that you had to make. We look for a lot of original ideas in writing; this idea of going out and getting a bunch of research and reporting it generally doesn’t work for what we look for. We want people to be able to assimilate and draw their own conclusions and be able to report others’ writings and research in a manner that kind of illuminates it in addition to offering the student’s own perspective on that particular research that they’re doing.

Of course, we’re big on grammar. Impressions of your writing are based not only on what you say but how well you can say it and a large part of that is grammar, punctuation, and those sorts of things. What distinguishes writing in our field from other fields is that really we look for something, I guess, that illuminates communication. Any type of writing should offer some insight into communication principles. Very much, a lot of what we do in terms of writing is similar to the Writing Program, except that there’s always an additional oral element. Essentially what students are doing is they’re doing the same type of writing as they’re doing in W-131, except then they have to take it and be able to stand up and give a speech. That would pretty much be what distinguishes us, I think, from other disciplines.

(End of Abernethy)

(Conclusion)

We hope this helps you understand writing across the curriculum. If you need additional information or help, be sure to visit the IU Southeast Writing Center in KV 208. Thanks for listening!