Course Objective/Description: The course provides an overview of print and electronic media, film and advertising. We will consider history, structure, functions, and effects of the various media. The course material is designed to give students a comprehensive understanding of mass communication and its various applications in contemporary society.

Texts:

• Vivian, J. Bacon. (1995). The media of mass communication (3rd ed.).[V]
  

• Boston: Allyn and Salkind, N. J. (1995). Hands-on Internet. Danvers, MA: Boyd & Fraser.[S]

• A packet of required readings is available at the Newark News Stand.[R]

Exams. Students will complete three exams, each covering half of the course material (readings, lectures, and presentations). Make-up exams will be given only (a) when arrangements have been made with the instructor in advance and (b) in case of illness verified by a physician's note. Exams will be given on October 3, November 7, and during final exam week. Each exam will count 50 points.

Computer Assignments. The Department of Communication is committed to training students in computer literacy. This course will also highlight how computers are becoming an important medium in mass communication. So, students will complete several computer assignments.

1. By September 19, each student must send an e-mail message to the instructor (my e-mail address is at the top of the syllabus). This assignment is worth 1 point.

I will establish a class newsgroup (computer discussion group) to facilitate the discussion and spread of class information. Students will be required to post queries to the newsgroup and this newsgroup will be where I post exam grades and answer students questions about exam grading. The Salkind text will be a resource as well as handouts that I will prepare on how to access the newsgroup.

2. Each student must post at least three messages to the class newsgroup. The first message must be posted before the first test, the second before the second test, and the third before the final exam. These posting must either focus on mass communication issues in the news or respond to another's posting. Each of these three posting is worth 3 points. Students are encouraged to post additional, ungraded postings.

3. As we will learn, the Internet has become an important promotional/informational medium for mass communication industries. Students should locate WWW home pages for any five industries (e.g., advertising, television, cable, radio, film, music, books, magazines, newspapers) and prepare a short (less than one-page) description of that home page. This description should include the address of the home page and a summary of the highlights of the information they provide. What is outstanding about the material? What is ordinary? On a scale of 1 - 10, where 1 is useless and 10 is outstanding, how would you rate this web site? Each WWW report is worth 6 points. I will giving you handouts of some interesting sites that I have found. You may use these, however, I will add 1 extra credit point to reports of sites that are not on the list. These WWW reports are due by the day that the industry is discussed in class.

Internet Paper. After experimenting with Internet links to mass communication industry and research, I expect that students should begin to form some ideas about how computers will compete with or complement traditional mass media. Students will complete a three-page paper that presents their thoughts about the relationship between the computer and/or the Internet and the traditional mass media. This paper must be typed (on a word processor) and is due in class on December 5. This assignment is worth 10 points.

There will be a total of 200 possible points in this class. Grades will be assigned as follows:

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