Communication Studies Projects
A curated collection of step-by-step walkthroughs, methodological guides, open templates, and analytical toolkits for learning Communication Studies by building real-world artifacts.
What I cannot create, I do not understand. — Richard Feynman
Write a Rhetorical or Textual Analysis
- Rhetorical Situations: Elements and Analysis (Purdue OWL)
- Organizing a Rhetorical Analysis: Structure and Strategy (Purdue OWL)
- Visual Rhetoric: Analyzing Visual Documents (Purdue OWL)
- Rhetorical Analysis: Evaluating Persuasive Strategies (Texas A&M University Writing Center)
- Rhetorical Analysis Process and Student Sample (OpenStax)
- Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice (Sonja K. Foss / Waveland Press) [Paid Resource]
Conduct a Field Interview or Focus Group Study
- Conducting Interviews: Step-by-Step Field Guide (Community Tool Box / University of Kansas)
- Conducting Focus Groups: Step-by-Step Community Research Guide (Community Tool Box / University of Kansas)
- Conducting Primary Qualitative Research: Interviewing (Purdue OWL)
- Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions (Purdue OWL)
- Reflexive Thematic Analysis: Six-Phase Practical Walkthrough (Virginia Braun & Victoria Clarke)
- The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (Johnny Saldaña / SAGE Publishing) [Paid Resource]
Build a Quantitative Content Analysis and Codebook
- The Content Analysis Guidebook Online: Codebook Construction, Reliability Calculators, and Message Archives (Kimberly A. Neuendorf / Cleveland State University)
- ReCal: Intercoder Reliability Calculation for Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio Data (Deen Freelon)
- A Hands-on Guide to Doing Content Analysis (Christen Erlingsson & Petra Brysiewicz / African Journal of Emergency Medicine)
- How to Conduct a Content Analysis: 7-Step Methodological Guide (Paperpile Academic Guides)
- Conducting Surveys: Design, Sampling, and Administration Guide (Community Tool Box / University of Kansas)
Build a Computational Discourse or Social Network Model
- Exploring and Analyzing Network Data with Python (The Programming Historian)
- From Hermeneutics to Data to Networks: Data Extraction and Network Visualization of Historical Sources (The Programming Historian)
- Sentiment Analysis for Exploratory Data Analysis (The Programming Historian)
- Analyzing Documents with TF-IDF for Text Mining (The Programming Historian)
- Computational Analysis of Communication: Python Text and Network Pipelines (Wouter van Atteveldt, Damian Trilling, & Carlos Arcila Calderón)
- Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age (Matthew J. Salganik / Princeton University Press)
Conduct a Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Messages
- Multimodal Discourse Analysis Research Guide (Indiana University Pressbooks)
- Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language (Norman Fairclough / Routledge) [Paid Resource]
- How to Do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit (James Paul Gee / Routledge) [Paid Resource]
- How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction (David Machin & Andrea Mayr / SAGE Publishing) [Paid Resource]
Design a Strategic Communication or Public Health Campaign
- Developing a Plan for Communication: Step-by-Step Strategic Framework (Community Tool Box / University of Kansas)
- CDC Gateway to Health Communication & Social Marketing Practice (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Making Health Communication Programs Work: The Pink Book (National Cancer Institute / NIH)
- Strategic Planning for Public Relations: 12-Step Campaign Model (Ronald D. Smith / Routledge) [Paid Resource]
Draft an Organizational Crisis Communication Plan
- Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Manual & Templates (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Crisis Communications Plan Development Guide (Ready.gov / Federal Emergency Management Agency)
- Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding (W. Timothy Coombs / SAGE Publishing) [Paid Resource]
Author a Literature Review and Theoretical Synthesis
- Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: 5. The Literature Review (USC Libraries Research Guides)
- Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Theoretical Framework (USC Libraries Research Guides)
- Synthesizing Research Evidence: A Step-by-Step Guide to Academic Literature Reviews (San José State University Writing Center)
- The Craft of Research: Planning, Drafting, and Revising Empirical Projects (Wayne C. Booth et al. / University of Chicago Press) [Paid Resource]