s

The basic medium of interpersonal and mass communication is text. Analyzing text helps in understanding the meanings of mass media...

Time-series analysis is a statistical procedure for describing the characteristics of one time series (e.g., a trend) or predicting the...

Triangulation is a metaphor for research strategies that employ different methods, theories, or data sources in order to capture social...

In logic, validity is an attribute of the form of an argument that cannot lead from true premises to false...

The category of arrangement (Greek oikonomia, taxis; Latin dispositio) in classical rhetoric includes both the “natural” ordering of the parts...

As rhetoric originally was closely tied to the oral presentation of a speech, delivery, understood as the best management of...

Heron of Alexandria (first century ad) was the first chronicler of a peculiar mechanism capable of holding the flame of...

Deduction, induction, and abduction are three basic forms of inference that inform the methodologies of communication research as well as...

As a common term in English, discourse means any extended verbal communication, such as Jesus’s discourse with the people (John...

Derived from anthropological research, emic and etic describe two broad approaches to analyzing language and culture. The emic–etic duality has...

Fiction is intuitively understood and widely used, both in the public at large and among specialists of literary theory, to...

Functionalism regards society as an interdependent and self-regulating social system tending toward equilibrium. The goal of functional analysis is to...

The English term “genre” derives – via French – from the same Latin root as “general,” “genus,” “gender,” “genesis,” “generate,”...

Jürgen Habermas (born 1929 in Germany) is one of the leading philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century....

“Hermeneutics” comes from the name of the Greek messenger god, Hermes – the patron of travelers, rogues, liars, and thieves....

For more than a century, two forms of explanation have been used in the social sciences: nomothetic and idiographic. These...

Physicians diagnose, prescribe medicines for, and other­wise treat diseases and disorders of the human body. A physician may also perform...

Photojournalists shoot photographs that capture news events. Their job is to tell a story with pictures. They may cover a...

Photography instructors teach students of all ages how to shoot pictures, develop film, make prints, and evaluate finished photos. They...

Photographic laboratory workers develop black-and-white and color film, using chemical baths or printing machines. They mount slides as well as...

Photographers take and sometimes develop and print pic­tures of people, places, objects, and events, using a variety of cameras and...

Pharmacy technicians provide technical assistance for pharmacists and work under their direct supervision. They usually work in chain or independent...

Pharmacists are health professionals responsible for the dispensation of prescription and nonprescription medi­cations. They act as consultants to health practitioners...

Pharmaceutical industry workers are involved in many aspects of the development, manufacture, and distribu­tion of pharmaceutical products. Pharmaceutical operators work...

Petroleum technicians work in a wide variety of special­ties. Many kinds of drilling technicians drill for petroleum from the earth...

Pet shop workers, from entry-level clerks to store manag­ers, are involved in the daily upkeep of a pet store; they...

A burial mound is an area of land that has been set aside to bury the remains of a human,...

Cannibalism is defined as the ingestion of members of one’s own species. As used in zoology, it refers to species...

Radiocarbon is the best-known radiometric dating technique due to its successful application to problems in human history and prehistory for...

The Cardiff Giant hoax involved a large stone figure, advertised as a petrified giant man. The Giant is of anthropological...

The Caribs are a group of native peoples in the Lesser Antilles, after whom the Caribbean Sea was named. They...

During the 1930s, C. Ray Carpenter carried out the first modern studies of free-ranging primates. In its scope, duration, systematic...

The mother of the 20th-century environmentalist movement, Rachel Carson shed light upon the scientific as well as philosophical misconceptions embraced...

There have been a number of momentous findings as a result of consistent and diligent archaeology efforts. However, certainly one...

The term caste comes from the Portugese casta (breed, lineage) and was coined by Portuguese travelers to India in reference...

The concept of categorical imperative is one of the most important notions of Kant’s practical philosophy. This concept falls under...

Many European countries have social health insurance where citizens cannot choose between different providers for basic coverage. While Germany and...

Publicly funded systems are often characterized by limited budgets and free-of-charge (or highly subsidized) access to healthcare. These two features...

Dentistry is the field of medicine that is concerned about diseases of the teeth and other tissues and bone structures...

Despite their common medical school training and their shared title of ‘physician,’ there are many differences between physicians who enter...

Learning by doing is viewed as an important determinant of success for many professions requiring high skill. Over the years,...

The nursing workforce in the US is comprised of both professional nurses and nonprofessional workers. Professional nurses typically complete nursing...

In recent years there has been a surge in interest in models of imperfect competition in the labor market, and...

Nurses’ unions are widespread in the developed world. In the European Union, 90% of Denmark’s nurses are members of a...

Many developed countries require occupational licenses for everyone from surgeons to interior decorators. Licensing in effect creates a regulatory barrier...

Orthodoxy is a major branch of Christianity, represented by the Eastern Orthodox Church, with an unbroken continuity to the apostolic...

An important intellectual shift has taken place in the sociology of religion as many of its longest held theoretical positions,...

The word Pietism is applied to that religious awareness that developed from within Protestantism, in particular in the seventeenth century....

Religion refers to a system of beliefs, rites, forms of organization, ethical norms, and feelings about the divine which help...