1. I'm thinking of writing my master's thesis on the way my generation (millennial students) takes longer to grow up. This phenomenon has many different names in our society including adultlescence and the Quarter Life Crisis (as opposed to the midlife crisis). But how can I relate it to communication? Communication in this generation tends to be more informal than employers might like. Sometimes it is even inappropriate, such as pictures that appear on facebook and other social networking sites. Our generation may focus on emotions (pathos) rather than logic (logos) or character (pathos). The use of the word "like" is an example of this. Young people don't recount others' exact words or actions, but they describe what the situation felt "like" to them.
2. I'm also interested in copyediting and how much it matters to audiences. This could be a study showing subjects documents with different types of errors in them. The subjects would be asked how many errors they notice and how they react to the documents. I could focus on either comprehension of documents or the audience's view of the author's ethos.
3. I might also decide to think about grant writing. I have developed a relationship with the head of the international programs department at Clemson University. I could discuss ideas for programs he would like to be funded and write a grant proposal for them.
1 comment:
In terms of possibility within the summer term, all of your ideas are good. You also have an excellent range of possible topics from theoretical (number one) to practical (number three).
As a person interested in communication theory and its application for modern society, your first topic intrigues me. Our generation's seemingly childish behavior both fascinates and frightens me, especially as I quickly approach the working world. I'm constantly reading stories about employers firing students from our generation for being too immature or "coddled."
You have a little bit of work to do in order to apply your idea to the study of rhetorics, but it has plenty of potential. You should check our Andrew Keen's book "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture."
DTR
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