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Topic:

The skill of observation

Essay Instructions:
The Skill of Observation Your Mission: Think of yourself as a nonverbal specialist – and practice the skill of observation. You will enter a cultural setting and try to understand what the people in that cultural setting understand and communicate about themselves and their culture through nonverbal communication. You are to describe/explain these people's nonverbal communication as you see it. *Please note that “culture” is not limited to race and/or ethnicity – culture describes a group of people who share similar behaviors, norms, attitudes, etc. So, for example, you may go to a Moroccan restaurant, attend a place of worship other than your own, go to a gym – all these settings provide you with the opportunity to observe a group of people who are part of a particular culture, or subculture. Your Tools: Your notepad, your good humor, your sense of adventure, and your keen powers of observation. Process: Take your notepad and find a place to (inconspicuously) sit and observe other people in an environment where you have not been before. Without directly communicating with anyone, spend ONE HOUR describing in your notepad whatever features of the communication environment seem significant to you – perhaps the environment itself, the communicators, the process, the message, the emotions, the action, your own decoding of the scene, perceptual lenses, etc. Whatever seems significant to you about the communication of these people and the communication environment – write it down – for ONE HOUR. *Turn in the field notes with your paper!! Assignment: What do you understand about the nonverbal communication of the culture after this exercise? Part I: Introduction Your introduction should include a brief description of the setting you chose – where, what time of day/day of the week, the people involved, etc. You should also explain why you chose this setting to observe. Finally, you must include a foreshadow of the THREE (3) nonverbal concepts you chose to use in your analysis (define those concepts according to our text). *I suggest throwing yourself into the observation, taking great notes, and THEN deciding which 3 concepts from the text you would like to discuss in your essay. If you go into your observation looking for some things and not others, you may miss out on something significant in the environment.* Part II: Body/Analysis Analyze your observations and include this analysis in your paper. In order to further “bring to life” the material we have discussed so far, use at least 3 concepts from the text and our class discussions in your paper. There should be a clear connection made between your observations and the concepts you chose – meaning, how did these concepts function in your observation? Ideas To Get You Started – the following may be helpful before your observation (in preparation for the observation), during your observation (what to look out for), and after the observation (analyzing your observations, especially). - What got your attention? What did you find significant about the setting? What nonverbal communication cues did you observe? Did you think about yourself or the people you were observing during the hour (i.e., how you were different/similar, imagining some aspect of the personal lives of the other people, etc.)? If so, why? How much was listening a part of your experience? Did you notice any conflicting messages (nonverbal and verbal seemed contradictory)? Expand your mind. The questions above are suggestions/ideas, you may address other aspects of your observation. Part III: Conclusion End your paper with an overall evaluation/summary of the exercise – including your estimation of the role nonverbal communication plays in everyday life. This paper must be: Coherent and complete Grammatically sound No less than 5 FULL pages in length 12-point font Times New Roman Double-spaced Must include title page Stapled * See your syllabus for additional paper requirements
Essay Sample Content Preview:

Role of Non-Verbal Communication in Everyday Life
Student Name
Professor Name
Course
Role of Non-Verbal Communication in Everyday Life
The role of non-verbal communication is exalted in the theories of communication sciences. It is stated that the body language gives the true picture of the person and the words are composed image. The way, words are uttered matters more than the actual selection of words.
In the light of this fact, an experiment is conducted to analyze eth power of non-verbal communication. The experiment is about becoming a part of a situation as an observer. The experimenter is bound to stay silent and observe the activities and non-verbal communication of the people. He has to take notes so that important points are not skipped from his mind. Based on his observation, he needs to judge the people present in the situation.
Introduction
The settings chosen for this experiment are a university café during the days when examination is in progress. The people are mainly students who are sitting in the café for combined study. In addition to study, they ask for food items to eat them side by side. It is the mid of the day when a paper has finished and the next is about to start. So it is expected that there are students who are done with the paper and there are ones who are to enter examination hall in a while.
Analysis
The observation leads to many interesting facts. There are faces of girls and boys who are stressed, exhausted, worried and relaxed. It is quite easy to identify the ones who have done their paper and are in the café to have some refreshment. On the other hand, there is a group of students who will go for paper in a while and are trying to cram the most important concepts in the last moments. They are nervous and want to go through the concepts quickly. On the other hand, the café attendant is there to serve them and they have no clear idea what to order for eating. They ask each other what to eat and give the attendant a vast choice to bring anything on his own. Once the order is delivered, they find it difficult to place on table which is already occupied with the books. They put some books in their laps to make space for tray. In confusion, the cold drink bottle is fallen on the table and they are worried to save their notebooks.
There are some students who are wearing loose jeans and are ignorant of their dresses, which are not ironed. They have no interest in their hairstyle. Instead of passing comments about the outlook, they ask their fellows about preparation of the paper and want to ask few questions they are not clear about. Some students, on the other hand, ask questions about how the paper was done and seem relaxed. Their books are piled up on the table and not scattered in open form like those of others who have not taken the examination yet.
Students seem in a hurry. They walk quickly to the tables to have some seats and take a glance over a few concepts. There are few who quickly wrap up their notebooks and walking out of café so that they can reach the examination hall in time. There are others who enter the café with bit relaxed expressions but want to leave quickly as they need to leave for their homes.
As number of students in the café is increasing, the capacity is decreasing. It is not possible for all the students to have some seat. There are few who are standing making the circle around the table and want to ask their fellows about important points which are likely to be part of the examination. There are students who have asked the café management for more chairs and have totally forgotten in the worry of paper. Few of them do not hesitate sitting on the edge of table to listen to the words of a good fellow...
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