The Communication Capstone: The Communication Inquiry and Theory Experience

The Communication Capstone: The Communication Inquiry and Theory Experience (CITE) is the first textbook explicitly designed for graduating seniors in a Communication Capstone course, whether taught in small or large sections, or taught as a conceptual review or as a project- or skills-based course.

The text features chapters authored by active, well-published, and award-winning scholars and teachers in their respective areas of study. CITE is built on an integrated approach that moves across four conceptually-ordered units:

-Knowing Who We Are and Where We've Been: The history of the discipline and orienting principles of the communication process

-Knowing How We Know What We (Claim to) Know: Theoretical and methodological paradigms

-Knowing Where We Are and What Our Communication Is Doing: Core functions and contexts of communication, including as exemplars chapters on: interpersonal, gender, argument and persuasion, conflict, organizational and leadership, health communication, intercultural communication, political communication, and mass and mediated communication

-Knowing Why Knowing About Communication Matters: Careers and opportunities available to those who study communication

Mastery of the knowledge base in CITE, facilitated by the assessment-oriented student learning objectives that introduce each chapter, represents solid evidence that students have learned a core and specifiable set of knowledge in the field.

Brian H. Spitzberg (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is a Senate Distinguished Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University. He is author, coauthor, or coeditor of more 150 scholarly articles, books, and book chapters. His primary areas of research involve assessment, communication skills, and the dark side of communication.

Heather E. Canary (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is a professor and the director of the School of Communication at San Diego State University. Her research and teaching interests include leadership and organizational communication, family communication, health communication, and communication theory.

Daniel J. Canary (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is a lecturer at San Diego State University. He is the former president of the Western States Communication Association and the International Network on Personal Relationships. His current research interests include interpersonal conflict management, relational maintenance strategies, and conversational argument.