“TOP 5” Family Communication Tips: Things We Don’t Want to Talk About But Need To
(110 points)
Description: For your paper, you will create a Buzzfeed (Greatist, Huffpost) style “TOP 5” list.
After reading and discussing (and writing about) research over the course of the semester, you
will choose ONE topic to research further and give five recommendations to relevant
stakeholders (e.g., families, parents, counselors, marital partners). Your topic should focus on
something critical/underrepresented. The goal here is to share less known issues within the
family (in hopes of normalizing the complexity of family), and offer recommendations for
working through these family issues (e.g., family stress, illness, destructive conflict, family
secrets, sexuality, power, money, loss etc.), but make sure it connects back to our family
communication content.
The purpose of this assignment is to help you: 1) understand your contemporary family issue
with greater depth, 2) interpret the research in a way that is translatable to the general population,
3) craft a succinct list appropriate to your audience, and 4) share this list in a creative and
accessible format. I hope you will see how previous discussions and writings help you write
research-based communication guidelines for a general public. I also hope you will have fun and
feel freedom to apply creative writing to the project!
***Please email me about your topic after you have completed your “key findings” assignment
(see below). “Key findings” points will be earned after this meeting with me.
Citing Sources: You will use at least 3-5 additional scholarly articles to develop your topic (with
at least one cited per “tip” for family communication). You may also use online reputable sources
(for statistics or other information) or interviews with experts. Your sources should be
incorporated with the use of links, brief introductions (e.g., “According to Dr. Gottman, a
marriage and family counselor, …”) or footnotes (with references), like you would see on
Buzzfeed, Psych Today, or other popular sites.
Organizing: For each claim you make (i.e., “tip” or advice), you will create your claim, with the
evidence from the research. Then, think about how you can creatively provide ideas or tips or
stories that bring your “tip” to life. Offer ideas for how to do what you are suggesting. Have fun
with each point. You are the expert in family communication now, so this means you get to
translate what you have learned from other researchers to your audience. Think about what YOU
would want to read if you clicked a link to read a “Top 5 …” list. And remember, titles (and
appealing formatting) draw the reader to your post.
Your Top 5 List should be approximately 4-5 double-spaced pages of text (less than one page per
“tip”), though it’s most important that your “top five” are connected and well-supported. Your
formatting can be creative – using bold text, numbers, pictures or whatever you think will bring
attention to your key points (blog style!). Your stylizing should have a purpose (not just to use
space). You should start with a brief introduction into your topic (grab reader’s attention!) and
end with a brief conclusion. Examples will be shown and discussed.
**The finalized “tips” or points to share with your readers should be creative, grounded in
research, easy to understand, and specific (in other words, “communicate” is not a tip – dig
deeper!).