COMM 220: Interpersonal Communication | Dr. Impellizzeri
A Letter of IPC Advice to a Friend (Synthesis Essay)
Cultivating wise IPC in the Workplace, Friendships, and Marriage
This essay/letter is designed to assist you in integrating and synthesizing your IPC learning this semester by applying concepts, theories, and insights to one of three practical IPC contexts: (a) workplace IPC, (b) friendship IPC, or (c) intimate/marital IPC. Select from one of the three scenarios described below, and write a (imaginary) letter to that friend following the instructions and criteria provided.
Your friend:
(a) is about to begin a new career position as a manager/director of a workplace team;
(b) has recently moved to a new city and will begin new friendships; or
(c) is recently engaged and soon to be married.
In one of your recent conversations with him/her, you mentioned some of the insights and ideas we have been reading and discussing in our IPC course. Your friend was sincerely intrigued but at the moment of your conversation was pressed for time and had to go. But, you still want to share some insights with him/her. So, you decide to write her/him a letter of advice. Richard M. Weaver contends that rhetoric is advisory—offering wise & well-reasoned advice regarding goods that should be pursued. That is your task here.
Insights and Sources:
Write a letter/essay in which you share insights and ideas (i.e. concepts, theories, arguments, themes, etc.) from our IPC course that you believe will make for a thriving Prime Relationship(s) at work, in a friendship, or in a marriage. The quality of your essay/letter will depend largely on your ability to introduce & synthesize multiple insights-ideas in the form of coherent advice. Thus, you should summarize ideas in your own words rather than using direct quotations. (Significantly limit, if not altogether avoid, direct quotations!) Here are a few guidelines for inclusion and use of sources:
1. Each insight–idea you introduce should be explained (or at least the relevant aspect of it should be explained) so that your friend would be able to understand your point. Some of your ideas will play a minor role in your essay and thus require only a brief explanation, while others will play a larger role and thus involve more elaboration. Decide on 3-5 major insights and ideas around which to structure your essay, & then supplement those with ideas-insights that will play a supporting (or minor) role. Synthesize!
2. Lewis & LOLI – Regardless of which context/scenario you select (workplace, friendship, marriage), at least one of your major insights–ideas should come from (#1) Lewis’ Four Loves and at least one major insight/idea should come from (#2) LOLI.
3. Supplemental Readings & Lectures – At least one of your major insights-ideas should come from (#3) one of our supplemental readings or from my lecture material (e.g. Knapp & Vangelisti’s relational growth and decline, Robert Bellah’s ethic of utilitarian and/or expressive individualism applied to IPC, WTA on courtship practices, Hall on changing attitudes toward intimate relationships, etc.). Since we have read or listened to several supplemental sources on friendship and marriage, you should engage one or more of these if you select friendship or marriage for your essay/letter. (If you select the Workplace option, you just need to make the link between our course readings/lectures and the workplace context. If you select the Friendship option, do NOT engage the question of whether men and women can be friends since you already completed an assignment on this matter. Focus on the many other aspects of friendship.)
4. Use only the readings and lectures from our course—not outside literature or materials. In light of this, you do NOT need to include a bibliography. Just put the author’s/scholar’s last name in your sentence itself or at the end of the sentence in the form of a parenthetical citation. I will know the source to which you are referring. Also, to save space, you may abbreviate Looking Out, Looking In as LOLI, “Wandering Toward the Altar” as WTA, and interpersonal communication as IPC. Here is an example of each way you may cite a source:
· Dynamics of relational growth and decline are important for discerning the degree of IPC disclosure in a workplace relationship (Knapp and Vangelisti).
· The audio report WTA indicates how our expectations and understanding of intimate IP relationships have been privatized and how young people have been cut off from the wisdom of elder generations.
Formatting & Length Requirements:
This essay/letter should be between four-fifths and one full page (4/5 – 1 page) single-spaced, using Times New Roman, 12 point font. Points will be deducted for exceeding the maximum limit or for not reaching the minimum limit. This means you will likely need to edit and revise your work prior to submitting it. For your top, left-hand corner heading in your Word document, only include your name and the applied context you have chosen (workplace, friendship, or marriage) since you are submitting this assignment through a Cvs portal. Using only two lines for your heading will save space.
Even though you are writing an imaginary letter, do not “over pretend” by filling your letter/essay with personal remarks to your friend that do not pertain to introducing and explaining IPC insights. This is still an academic assignment, and the point of it has to do with the quality of advice you offer your friend for cultivating practical IPC wisdom in an applied context. Additionally, use correct grammar and spelling; do not use slang, jargon, or code language. You should have distinct paragraphs with proper indentation and punctuation. Finally, don’t waste space with extensive greetings and closings. If in order to stay within a page you need to collapse your greeting into your first paragraph and your closing into your final paragraph, that is perfectly fine for this assignment.
Grading Rubric:
Evaluative Scale: (Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor)
· Essay clearly addresses one of the three practical scenarios or applied IPC contexts.
· Introduces & substantively explains 3-5 major insights/ideas (i.e. concepts, theories, arguments, themes) from our IPC course; these structure your essay/advice and sources are cited. — Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor
o At least one major insight derives from Lewis’ Four Loves and one from LOLI.
o At least one major insight comes from our supplemental readings or class lectures.
· Supplements these 3-5 major insights/ideas with supporting (‘minor’) insights/ideas from the course. (There is a synthesis of ideas.) — Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor
· Discusses all insights-ideas in the form of coherent advice. — Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor
· Writing Quality – syntax, sentence construction, grammar, paragraph development, clarity, word choice, spelling, etc. — Excellent / Good / Fair / Poor
· Stays within the 4/5 – 1 page single-spaced limit.
