Synopses & Reviews
Known for its clear and concise writing style, this ground breaking and market-leading fundamentals of communication text focuses on skill building and competency orientation. The authors provide lively, contemporary examples to ground theory, to increase comprehension, and to help you become a skillful communicator. COMMUNICATE! encourages active learning through well-designed skill-building activities, video scenarios, ethics cases, speech action-step exercises, and sample speeches. This book will help you understand communication theory, and help you improve your communication skills. With co-author Deanna Sellnow joining the author team, the Thirteenth Edition of COMMUNICATE! incorporates important theoretical updates in the field and reflects issues and interests of today's college students.
Synopsis
This market-leading book is continually praised by reviewers for its clear, practical, and successful method of training students to master the fundamental skills of communication. This introductory text covers interpersonal communication, interviewing, small group communication, and public speaking. With a consistent model of theoretical explanation followed by numerous practical examples, activities, sample visual scenarios and speeches, self-assessments, and review opportunities, students cannot help but to become ethical, competent communicators in our mediated world.
About the Author
Rudolph (Rudy) F. Verderber (PhD, University of Missouri) is the Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati and one of the nation's leading authors of communication textbooks. During his tenure at the University of Cincinnati, where he was head of the university's Communication Department, Dr. Verderber taught more than 25 different courses, 10 of which he originated. Considered one of the university's finest teachers, he received the Dolly Cohen Award for Outstanding Teaching (two such awards are given at the university each year), and in 1994, he was named Distinguished Teaching Professor, an honor held by only four faculty members across the university. In 1996, he received the National Speakers Association Outstanding Professor Award. His primary areas of expertise include rhetoric, public address, argumentation, and interpersonal communication. Kathleen S. Verderber (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati) is Associate Professor of Management Emeritus at Northern Kentucky University. She holds an M.A. in speech communication, as well as an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Verderber has consulted with various civic, professional, and business organizations. She has published numerous articles in several journals, and has presented papers at communication and management conferences. Deanna D. Sellnow (PhD, University of North Dakota) is the Gifford Blyton Endowed Professor of Oral Communication and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Communication at the University of Kentucky. Before joining the University of Kentucky in 2007, she served as associate professor of communication, director of the Public Speaking Fundamentals Program, and supervisor of graduate teaching assistants at North Dakota State University, where she taught for 17 years. After earning her master's degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Dr. Sellnow completed the PhD program at the University of North Dakota. She has received numerous honors for public speaking, teaching, and research, including the American Forensic Association's National Events Tournament Champion in Communication Analysis, North Dakota Speech and Theatre Association's Scholar of the Year, and Outstanding Teacher at North Dakota State University. She is coauthor of COMMUNICATE! COMM, THE CHALLENGE OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING IN A DIGITAL AGE, and SPEAK, all with Cengage Learning.
Table of Contents
"This textbook is a comprehensive look at human communication with an emphasis on public address. It is the perfect tool if you are teaching a basic hybrid speech communication class. The textbook is fantastically organized taking the reader from an understanding of how human communication works, how we make perceptions, how those established perceptions shape our self-concept and our communicative style. Both Rudy and Kathie Verderber have been working in the field of speech communication before our field started doing actual research on human communicative behavior. Since, the authors have integrated trusted research, and it?s only enhanced the book as it continues to go through later editions. The book is so detailed that the authors have integrated technology to meet the needs of contemporary students.""I think [Communicate] stands out above the other options for us in terms of readability, good content coverage, and interest levels for our students. Communicate provides a comprehensive journey through the introduction to human communication course. The complete content and interactive nature hold the reader?s attention and interest. Engaging examples that are relevant to the reader fill the text and make the concepts understandable.""I like the authors? attempt to incorporate a variety of pedagogical and learning styles into each chapter (e.g., what would you do, observe and analyze, cartoons, figures, etc.). Additionally, I think the authors succeed in presenting the material in an organized, systematic, and coherent manner. Overall, I believe the text works well in meeting my course goals."