Communication Studies Course Descriptions

COMS - 103. Public Speaking (4)

Study and practice of the elements of public speaking, including critical analysis and the development of effective public speaking techniques. International students may choose a special section. Offered every semester.

COMS - 195. Freshman Seminar (4)

An interesting introduction to a topic in the field of Communication Studies.

COMS - 202. Rhetoric and the Public Sphere (4)

Rhetoric is the art of public discourse. Through rhetoric, people shape their worlds and negotiate the conflicts that inevitably result from our shared communal life. This course focuses on the history and theory of rhetoric as an art central to public life, exploring the ways that language affects how we construct knowledge, create communities, delimit social space, promote our collective interests, and critique the laws and norms that bind us together.

COMS - 203. Communication and Everyday Life (4)

Communication is an unavoidable element of our everyday life that generally goes unexamined. This course examines the communication experiences in daily life with friends, family, significant others, peers, and coworkers.

COMS - 204. Communication and Culture (4)

This introduction to the field of communication examines how cultures and sub-cultures differ in their language use, and how their communicative practices shape the production, interpretation, and reproduction of social meanings.

COMS - 205. Research Methods in Communication (4)

Prerequisites: CM - 203, CM - 204. Approaches to quantitative social science research in communication. Focus on content analysis, survey methods, experimental designs, and the use of statistical procedures in research. Offered every semester.

COMS - 300. Interpersonal Communication (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 203. Analysis of intrapersonal and interpersonal communication in personal and social settings with concentration on theories of interaction and attention to skill development. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 306. Family Communication (4)

Prerequisites: CM - 203, CM - 205. This course will focus on the central role that communication plays in family life. Some topics covered include: family forms, family systems and communication patterns, family rituals and stories, conflict, and family stress.

COMS - 314. Intercultural Communication (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204. Analysis of major variables affecting interpersonal communication between persons of different cultural and subcultural backgrounds. Offered every semester.

COMS - 320. Public Relations Principles and Practices (4)

Prerequisites: CM - 103 or RHET - 130/131. An introduction to the theory and practice of public relations as an applied social science. Provides an overview of historical approaches, discussion of current trends, analysis of legal and ethical issues, and application of strategic communication theories in the field of public relations. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 322. Public Relations Law and Ethics (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 320. An investigation of legal and ethical concerns in public relations. Using actual public relations cases, students assess the ethical dilemmas presented and devise ethical, theoretically sound solutions. Offered every Spring.

COMS - 323. Public Relations Writing (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 320. Public relations writing employs a variety of styles, formats, message structures, and technologies in the design, implementation, and evaluation of communication programs. Students apply advanced persuasive strategies across a variety of print and electronic media.

COMS - 326. Public Relations Campaigns (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 320. Using a combination of case-study and experiential approaches, students learn to create communication programs for nonprofit organizations. Topics covered include planning, strategic and ethical message construction, risk assessment, and crisis management.

COMS - 332. Rhetorical Criticism (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 202. This course explores methods for the critical analysis of rhetorical texts. Students study a number of theoretical approaches to rhetorical criticism and apply those theories in analyzing speeches, essays, images, and public spaces.

COMS - 334. Rhetoric and Citizenship (4)

This course inquires into citizenship as an everyday practice and political discourse in relation to public culture. It focuses on rhetorical theories of collective-world making and analysis of case studies in citizenship. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 336. Rhetoric of Law (4)

This course offers students both a theoretical understanding of the relationship between rhetoric and law, as well as the practical knowledge of how to read, engage and critique legal texts addressing a specific social problem or legal question. This is a Writing Intensive Course.

COMS - 340. Advertising Strategies (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 202. This course provides a practical understanding of the ad-making process with emphasis on a strategic approach to copywriting. Students learn to create effective communication strategies for specific audiences with the goal of forming or changing opinions and attitudes. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 342. Advertising Presentations (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 340. Offers a practical understanding of the communication dynamics of an advertising agency. Students create, write and present a comprehensive campaign for a real-world client, then enter their campaigns in the National Student Advertising Competition, where professionals in the advertising industry evaluate and provide valuable feedback on their work. Offered every Spring.

COMS - 350. Nonverbal Communication (4)

Prerequisites: CM - 203, CM - 205. Theoretical approaches and methods to study nonverbal communication. Focus on individual and cultural differences; functions by stage and type of social relationships. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 352. Communicating about Health (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204 or. This class examines communication's role in maintaining, creating, and promoting health. Some topics covered include: practitioner-patient communication, ethnicity and health, social support, gender and health, health campaigns, media and health, and health beliefs.

COMS - 356. Organizational Communication (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 205. An analysis of the communication theories used to explore the complex structures and processes within organizational settings. Offered every Fall.

COMS - 358. Persuasion and Social Influence (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 205. The study of behavior, attitude formation and change, and the principles of persuasion. Offered every Spring.

COMS - 360. Language and Social Interaction (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204. The study of language components such as phonetics, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in relation to the communication process. Examines sociolinguistics, roles in prejudice, differences in language use in functional communication skills. Offered every Spring.

COMS - 364. Communication for Justice and Social Change (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204 or permission of instructor. This seminar looks cross-culturally at the issue of justice and social change in various communicative environments - from courtrooms to non-governmental organizations, to the media and international assemblies. The course will explore the communicative practices involved in legal proceedings, human rights, conflict resolution, and the struggle for social justice and change. Using a format that combines lectures, discussions, and student's service-learning projects, we will tackle issues such as the communicative nature of conflict; the unequal access to justice and other social resources; the debate over universal vs. relativistic human rights; the cultural and communicative practices involved in conflict and its resolution; the link between power and communication.

COMS - 365. Geographies of Communication (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204. This course explores how our experience of communication is shaped by the physical realities of communication media: transportation routes, cable lines, switchboards, relay stations, GPS and communication satellites, computer networks, cellular towers, and the fiber optic layout of the postmetropolis. Such media generate a communicative environment, or infosphere, that empowers a growing number of people with the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate communication all other the world. In this class we will use contemporary communicative theories to study how geography and communication interact.

COMS - 366. The Ethnography of Communication (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 204 or permission of instructor. Students in this seminar will explore the communicative practices of various organizations concerned with social justice. Readings from cultural and communication theory will provide the conceptual background for their fieldwork.

COMS - 368. Communication and Aging (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 205. Communication and Aging examines the construction of what it means to age and be "old", spedifically, the communication processes inherent in this phenomenon, the impact of aging on human relationship/communication, and communication in contexts involving and impacting older adults.

COMS - 370. Message Design and Health Interaction (4)

An advanced course designed to provide an understanding of the communication processes in health-related interaction. Specifically, the curriculum addresses the types of health-related messages produced, their pragmatic goal, the known effectiveness of these messages, and the theoretical and methodological concerns when examining messages used in health-related interaction in a medical context.

COMS - 372. Communication, Disability, and Social Justice (4)

An advanced course designed to examine the attitudes and perceptions of and toward persons with disabilities, how communication creates and perpetuates an inaccurate and unjust depiction of disabled persons, the communicative behaviors of persons who are disabled and the non-disabled during their interaction, and how theories of communication and social justice can illuminate how this socially interactive inequity may be remedied.

COMS - 373. Rhetorical History of the U.S. (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 202. This course explores the history of the United States from the perspective of the rhetoric that shaped historical events. It examines how history has been made and re-made rhetorically. The course analyzes radical social movements and rhetorics of dissent; struggles to expand the public sphere and citizenship rights; the uses of cultural memory; and symbolic constructions of 'America'.

COMS - 398. Directed Study (1-4)

A faculty supervised program of reading and study in communication. May be repeated for credit. Requires written permission of instructor, chair, and dean. Offered every semester.

COMS - 405. Capstone Seminar: Asian American Studies (4)

Prerequisites: SOC - 228 and PHIL - 275. As the culmination of the certificate program in Asian American studies, this course requires students to integrate the content and models of core and elective courses into a coherent grid of analysis and agenda for social action. A primary component of this course will be service-learning activities in collaboration with local and regional Asian Pacific American community agencies. Students will be required to submit a capstone portfolio, including a thesis paper, at the end of the semester that integrates their service-learning experiences with their academic foundation. Offered Spring 2003.

COMS - 490. Topics in Communication Studies (4)

Prerequisite: CM - 205. Advanced topics not examined in regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit. Offered every semester.

Note: Beginning with students entering USF Fall 2007, a maximum of four (4) units of directed study/independent study may count towards the major.

COMS - 496. Communication Studies Internship (4)

Prerequisite: cumulative USF GPA and completion of 12 units of Professional Development coursework in Communication Studies. Field experience in a setting that relates communication study to the student's professional goals. Students may count no more than four (4) units of Internship credit toward the major. Offered every semester.