A First Look at Communication Theory

"If you're already familiar with A First Look at Communication Theory and understand the approach, organization, and main features of the book, you may want to jump ahead to the "Major Changes in the Tenth Edition" section. For those who are new to the text, reading the entire preface will give you a good grasp of what you and your students can expect. A Balanced Approach to Theory Selection. We've written A First Look for students who have no background in communication theory. It's designed for undergraduates enrolled in an entry-level course, regardless of the students' classification. The trend in the field is to offer students a broad introduction to theory relatively early in their program. But if a department chooses to offer its first theory course on the junior or senior level, the course will still be the students' first comprehensive look at theory, so the book will meet them where they are. Our goal in this text is to present 32 communication theories in a clear and interesting way. After reading about a given theory, students should understand the theory, know the research that supports it, see useful applications in their lives, and be aware of the theory's possible flaws. We hope readers will discover relationships among theories located across the communication landscape-a clear indication that they grasp what they're reading. But that kind of integrative thinking only takes place when students first comprehend what a theorist claims"--