Your conceptual application paper should consist of six numbered essays in which you apply different concepts from two book
chapter excerpts. The book chapter excerpts are entitled Listening and Public Communication and Personal Influence. The
authors of these chapters are Steve Duck and David T. McMahan. You should draw upon 3 concepts from each chapter.
For the conceptual application papers students will be required to analyze course films by drawing upon ideas from assigned
readings. Students must employ either five or six concepts in performing their analyses (depending on the film being
analyzed).
In writing a conceptual application paper, a specific format must be followed. Each paper must consist of a set of numbered
essays. Each essay should begin by identifying a concept from an assigned reading. (As part of your concept identification,
please include the page number from the reading on which the concept appears.) After identifying the concept, an argument
should be made about how the concept applies to the film. This involves providing evidence (i.e., film examples) in support
of your claims, as well as an explanation of how the evidence you provide is consistent with the meaning of the concept. Each
numbered essay should be a minimum of 150 words.
By way of illustrating the format requirements for the conceptual application paper, consider a hypothetical assignment in
which you are asked to analyze a film by drawing upon concepts from an article about film editing. Let’s say the five
concepts you discuss are “intercutting”, “montage”, “close-up”, “fade” and “dissolve”. The format for presenting your concept
application essays would be as follows:
1) Intercutting (p. 34) – Essay explaining how intercutting is employed in the film.
2) Montage (p. 42) – Essay explaining how montage is employed in the film.
3) Close-Up (p. 38) – Essay explaining how close-up is employed in the film.
4) Fade (p. 45) – Essay explaining how fade is employed on the film.
5) Dissolve (p. 27) – Essay explaining how dissolve is used in the film.
