13 Jan Last, but definitely not

Module 4 – Case

PERSUASION

Assignment Overview

For this assignment take a close look at both the required readings and videos on general concepts of persuasion such as the main principles laid out by Cialdini (2001) or in Section 14.2 of McLean (2012). Then take a look at some of the practical guides to persuasion such as Gorman (2007) or the Pearson tutorials and see which one of them is the most useful for you.

Case Assignment

When you have finished carefully reading these materials, write a 4 page paper addressing the following issues:

Which of these readings or tutorials was the most convincing or presented the most useful information? Explain your reasoning as to why you found this source more convincing that the others.

Based on the ideas about persuasion that you read about in the background readings, write a memo at least one page in length to your employees trying to persuade them to cancel their weekend plans and volunteer to work next weekend. This memo shouldn’t be an “order” that they need to work on the weekend, but rather an attempt to persuade them to do so. Make sure to use both the general concepts from Cialdini (2001) or McLean (2012) as well as some of the practical persuasion guides to help you craft your memo.

Conclude your paper with a discussion of how your memo applied the concepts from the background materials. Be specific as to what sources you used and what sections of your memo was influenced by which source.

Assignment Expectations

Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.

Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information.

Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations.

Module 4 – SLP

PERSUASION

For this assignment, review the basic concepts of persuasion discussed in Cialdini (2001) and McLean (2012). Then take a close look at the first few slides of Jernigan (2013) and make sure you are clear on the distinction between argument, persuasion, and propaganda.

Once you have finished reviewing the background materials, think about communication that you receive in your daily life that is intended to sway your attitudes, opinion, or behavior. This could be communication from your employer, YouTube videos, TV advertisements, spam email, and a host of other communication that you are exposed to in your daily life. After reviewing some communication examples, write a 3-page paper addressing the following questions:

Describe a communication example that you have seen that is best described as propaganda. In addition to describing the communication, explain why you think this was propaganda rather than argumentation or persuasion. Use the distinctions spelled out by Jernigan (2013) in your answer.

Now find a communication example that you think is a good example of argumentation. Describe the example and explain why you think it fits the definition of argumentation described by Jernigan (2013).

Last, but definitely not least, find an example of persuasion that you think best fits the definition of Jernigan (2013) as well as exemplifies the concepts of persuasion discussed in Cialdini (2001) or McLean (2012). Explain why you think this communication best fits the definition of persuasion rather than propaganda or argumentation.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.

Stay focused on the precise assignment questions, don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.

Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information.

Include both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11-14 on in-text citations.