The School of Communications has published the Fall 2011 issue of the Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, the first journal of its kind in the nation.
The online journal is at http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/communications/research.
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 Fall 2011 issue contains 13 research papers authored by School of Communications students. The lead article is titled “How U.S. Nonprofit Organizations Use Twitter to Foster Dialogic Communication.” Other published articles focus on social networking, environmental communications, luxury advertising, international news coverage, gender role portrayals and the narrative analysis of the Catholic church.
Accompanying the online articles are video introductions by the authors, who explain their research method and their interest in the topic they chose to study.
“This journal reflects what we enjoy seeing in our students—intellectual maturing,” said Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications. “These articles make us aware of the solitary hours that students spend in research and the untold hours in which student and teacher-mentor work together to revise a paper for public consumption. By focusing attention on undergraduate research, this journal helps reinforce all that we think a university should be.”
The inaugural issue was released in Spring 2010 and this fall’s edition marks the journal’s fourth 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 journal is published online twice a year, with spring and fall issues.