This semester's edition marks the 13th in the history of the Elon Journal, the nation’s first and only undergraduate research journal in communications.
The School of Communications has published the spring 2016 issue of the Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, featuring student work on topics ranging from how Greenpeace attacked a 50-year brand partnership to an examination of Procter & Gamble’s Web advertisements in global markets.
The spring issue contains 10 research papers authored by School of Communications students. The research studies highlight a diverse set of media subjects, such as legacy media, social media, advertising, public relations strategies and internal communications.
The lead article examines recent adjustments in American newspaper distribution and predicts the business models required for news organizations to survive. Three other articles also focus on legacy media, investigating how preteen TV programming has changed over recent decades, exploring why college-aged women feel a connection to the Kardashian family’s reality show, and analyzing 10 films featuring a schizophrenic protagonist and their use of common stereotypes.
Three journal articles explore social media content and how individuals use their respective platforms. Two student researchers focused on Instagram, observing how practitioners and instructors of yoga have incorporated the photo sharing platform as well as how three prominent female singers engage with fans online. The third article highlights three popular YouTubers who have created a successful personal brand and reveals the online celebrities’ common characteristics.
Lastly, the three remaining articles investigate communications and messaging, including a thorough analysis of how Greenpeace attacked a 50-year brand partnership between LEGO and Royal Dutch Shell and the effects those attacks had on LEGO’s communications. Other articles evaluate internal communication in five award-winning companies based in Raleigh and analyze Procter & Gamble’s Web advertisements from five global markets, determining the extent of standardization practiced by the global company.
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.
Byung Lee, associate professor in the School of Communications, serves as the journal’s editor. He assembled an editorial board of 29 communications faculty members who participated in the multiple blind-review process to select the best student work.
The Elon Journal began in spring 2010, with spring and fall editions each year. The spring 2016 journal marks the 13th edition.
“These studies reflect hard work of students and their mentors in answering significant communication questions of our time,” Lee writes in his editor’s note. “I hope the articles in this issue will inspire students in future semesters to commit to examining important research questions and submit their papers to this journal.”
The Council on Undergraduate Research catalogs more than 200 student research journals in the nation, and the Elon Journal is the only one that focuses on undergraduate student research in journalism, media and communications.