COMM 8:  Group Discussion -- Professor John A. Cagle

Welcome and First Assignment

To my group discussion students,
Greetings!

I will be with you in person on Tuesday 31 Aug.  We will begin to get to know each other then.  In this class you will not only know me, but know the names of all the other students in class.  Until then, I want you to read the assignment below and complete it before the next class.  Print a copy of your work and have it ready to turn it at the beginning of class next Tuesday.

Part One

The Library is the central resource of a university.  Ours has books and Starbuck's Coffee, and it has lots more.  We will use all of it in this course.

Each student is assigned to take a walking tour of the Library. 
The following link will get you going.
http://www.csufresno.edu/library/services/tours.php
For a quick printout, here is the two-page tour guide.

You may go individually or better in a group with other students from the class.  Please explore and walk from end to end and see what is where.  Go to each of the floors and explore.  In the lower level, when you see all those books in the stacks, it may not be apparent to you that this is the largest collection of books in a single room on Earth.  But it is.  This Library is built for you and will change your lives forever.

Note that librarian led tours begin every half hour or so.

Among other things, I would like to know a few things:

• In the Michael Gorman mystery collection you will find several books by Stuart Woods and his detective, Stone Barrington.  Almost all the books begin at Elaine's steakhouse in New York.  What is the name of Barrington's favorite cocktail?
• Find the location of our textbook, Katherine Adams and Gloria Galanes, Communicating in Groups, in the book stacks.  First you need to get the call number.  Then you need to physically walk to that location in the stacks--the book itself may or not be there (they do get checked out now and then).  What are the titles of the two books on either side of this location?
• Find call numbers of three books with the subject, "group dynamics."  Find different call numbers--that is, different as BF531 is different from GV181.  Write these down.  Go to the stacks and look at the books in each different area.  Why would books on the same subject be in different parts of the library?
• What can you do in the Music Library besides listen to music?

Part Two

Today there is considerable controversy about a proposed Mosque and Islamic Center two blocks from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.  There are a number of "sides" to this controversy.

Get on the Internet--you could also look at newspapers, magazines, and television news--and find examples of things people say about this question.  Find five examples in all: some examples in favor of allowing the planning to go forward, some examples opposing the plan.

For each example, write down a quotation, who said or wrote it, where, and what the source of this quotation was.

Part Three

Today there are plenty of other things people are disagreeing about.  Pick one of these problems and do the same thing.  Pick any problem you think would be worth discussing--even local problems in Fresno.

Get on the Internet--you could also look at newspapers, magazines, and television news--and find examples of things people say about this question.  Find five examples in all: some examples in favor of one position or approach, some examples opposing or alternative to these.

For each example, write down a quotation, who said or wrote it, where, and what the source of this quotation was.

Please type a report of you work, print a copy to turn in at the beginning of class Tuesday, 31 August.

Hope you see you personally soon.

John Cagle
Professor of Communication