This semester's edition marks the ninth in the history of the Elon Journal.
The School of Communications has published the Spring 2014 issue of the Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, featuring student work on topics ranging from guerrila advertising on public health issues to Twitter analysis of live events.
The Spring 2014 issue contains nine research papers authored by School of Communications students. The lead article focuses on the evolution of film production design and applies the findings to the film The Great Gatsby. Other articles in this edition include how online/mobile technologies are changing broadcast journalism, Palestinian-Arab media frames of Israeli-Jews, cell phone use by students and the agenda-setting potential of Saturday Night Live.
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 journal editor. He assembled an editorial board of 25 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 2014 journal marks the ninth edition.
“In this issue, student authors used diverse methods, such as interviews, web story analysis, field observation, tweet analysis, and secondary research,” Lee writes in his editor’s note. “I hope future students would do the same: effectively applying research skills they learned in class to the analysis of contemporary media issues.”
The Council on Undergraduate Research catalogs 120 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.