SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 261-3

Arthur-Martins Aginam	Summer 2003
RCB 6234;604 291-4788 (after May 5th)	Burnaby Day
Email: aaginam@sfu.ca

DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH IN COMMUNICATION

Prerequisites:

CMNS 110 or 130.

Overview:

The purpose of this course is to introduce communication students to the basics of documentary research. The course principally adopts a ‘learn by doing’ approach where students are expected to source, analyze and critically examine documents from an assortment of organizations both in the public and private sectors. Key components of the course include theories/paradigms of documentary research; basic forms of corporations (public-governmental, private-not-for-profit, private-commercial etc) and the types of information/documents they produce as well as the print and electronic sources of such information (libraries, archives, computer databases, the Internet (websites), etc.).

Since the Course relies heavily on SFU Library’s print and electronic databases, students must have an SFU computing account to be able to access them. Most print documents will be found in the SFU Library’s Social Sciences and Government Documents section on the third floor.

Required Texts:

Rubin, R.B, Rubin A.M., & Piele, L.J. (2000), Communication Research: Strategies and Sources, 5th ed. Belmont CA: Wadsworth
Additional readings (if any) will be available in Library Reserve.

The Library’s Communications web page http://www.lib.sfu.ca/kiosk/sroberts/comm.htm will also serve as a basic orientation/resource tool. (See especially the links to CMNS 261 assignments).

A key resource person for the course is SFU liaison librarian for the School of Communication Sylvia Roberts who will lead some of the tutorials as well as make occasional presentations at the lectures. She can be reached at (604) 291 3681 (sroberts@sfu.ca).

Course Organization:

A two-hour weekly lecture presents the background concepts and sources necessary to do the assignments. A one-hour weekly tutorial is available to provide group and one-on-one help in undertaking assignments.

Grade Distribution:

(to be confirmed at the first class)

- Corporate profile (due week 4) 30%
- Research Proposal (due week 7) 10%
- Research Project (due week 11) 40%
- Final Exam 20%

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to ‘Intellectual Honesty’ and ‘Academic Discipline’ (see current Calendar, General Regulations section).