The School of Communications has published the Spring 2012 issue of the Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications.
The online journal is at http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/communications/research.
The Spring 2012 issue contains nine research papers authored by School of Communications students. The lead article is titled “Influence of Social Media on the Management of Music Star Image.” Other published articles focus on coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement to social media measurement to ethical issues in documentary work.
Accompanying the online articles are video introductions by the authors, who explain their research methods and their interest in the topics they chose to study.
“With each issue of the journal, I’m amazed at the breadth of topics that students pursue and the different methodologies they employ to answer the research questions,” said Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications. “This time, I learned about cyberbullying, racial rhetoric in sports coverage and using Facebook to grieve.”
The inaugural issue was released in Spring 2010 and this spring’s edition marks the journal’s fifth release.
Byung Lee, associate professor in the School of Communications, serves as journal editor. He assembled an editorial board of 23 Communications faculty members who participated in the multiple blind-review process to select the best student work.
The Council on Undergraduate Research catalogs 57 student research journals in the nation, and the Elon Journal is the only one that specifically publishes undergraduate student research in journalism, media and communications. The journal is published online twice a year, with spring and fall issues.