Research Signup
Each student in each section of all lower division communication courses (COM 101, 249, 252, 281, 287, CIS 110, 111, 112, and 191) will be required to participate in communication research or complete the alternative written assignment.
Each student in each course mentioned above must complete:
1 research credit = 1 COM SONA research study
Students must complete the research requirement for each course in which they are enrolled in a given semester up to two courses (e.g., if a student is concurrently enrolled in COM 252 and CIS 110, she/he must complete a total of 2 research credits, 1 per course; if he/she is also enrolled in COM 287, he/she is only required to complete a total of 2 research credits).
Research Policy
The Department of Communication is committed to involving undergraduate students in scholarly research so that they may understand the importance of generating new knowledge at the University of Kentucky as a major research institution.
Students enrolled in an eligible COM class are required to complete 1 COM SONA research study for 1 research credit. (If you are enrolled in additional COM courses that have research requirements, you are responsible for participating in additional COM SONA research studies, up to a maximum of 2 studies/credits).
Failure to participate in a research study or completion of the designated alternative assignment will result in a 5% deduction in your final course grade. It is your responsibility to regularly check the SONA website to keep track of the completion of your research credit and the deadlines and dates of the research studies.
Note: Credit for participation is awarded by the researcher within a week of participation and all credit will have been awarded by Sunday, April 21, 2013. If you have a question as to whether you have met the study requirements, please contact the researcher.
Alternative Written Assignment
Students who do not wish to participate in a research study to earn their research credit may write a two-page paper (plus title page, abstract, and reference page) referencing primary source literature in communication studies. Details of this alternative written assignment are posted on the SONA website.
One five-page written assignment will equal one research credit. (Note that APA style results in two pages of actual text.)
Students who choose to fulfill their research requirement by completing the alternative written assignment must sign up in SONA by the signup deadline of March 8, 2013. Students completing the alternate assignment must submit their papers to the Department Chair by 11:59 pm on April 19, 2013.
Penalty
If a student does not fulfill one research requirement by participating in a research study or completing the alternative written assignment, then the student will receive a 5% deduction in her/his final course grade.
Student Responsibilities
- Check your UK email account (first.last@uky.edu) for your SONA login information beginning January 22. If you do not receive your login information, you must contact commtech@lsv.uky.edu so that our office may update your email address and have the information re-sent.
- Sign up through the SONA system for a research study or for the alternate assignment by the signup deadline of March 8, 2013. After this date, students may still sign up for research studies, but there is no guarantee that more studies will be available.
- Participate in the research studies for which you sign up. All studies will be close after Friday, April 19, 2013. Credit will be awarded within one week of participation and no later than Sunday, April 21.
- Assign earned credit to the appropriate class and section by logging into SONA. Click "My Schedule/Credits" for an overview of studies and classes. You will have until Friday, April 26 to assign credits to your classes.
How to Signup
SONA will open to students on Tuesday, January 22.
Follow the link below (or at the top of this page) to access the SONA login page, and type in the username and password that was sent to your UK email address at the beginning of the semester (this will be done at the end of the second week of class). After you log in, consider changing your password to something more memorable by going to "My Profile."
This is the page you'll use to sign up for studies, check how many research credits you've been awarded, and assign those credits to your classes. You have until March 8, 2013, to sign up for studies or to sign up for and inform your instructor that you'll complete the alternative written assignment.
SONA studies are added as they are approved, so you may notice that sometimes there are no available timeslots. If none of the studies have spots available, check back later to see if new studies have been added.