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.
