Alyssa M
- Research Program Mentor
MA candidate at Bob Jones University
Expertise
Communication. Political Communication. Rhetoric. Political Polarization. Politics. Government.
Bio
I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2019 in History and Communication. My time in both majors opened my eyes to two areas of research that I love - politics and communication. My research focus throughout my Master of Arts in Communication Studies has been in political communication with a focus on political polarization. Currently, I am pursuing my Master’s in Communication Studies while teaching an introductory public speaking class to college freshman as a graduate teaching assistant. When not teaching, I coach a local middle school and high school cross country team. In my free time, I enjoy running on my university's track team, reading a good historical fiction novel, and traveling to new places with my pilot husband!Project ideas
Politics, Social Media, and the High School Student: Harmful or Empowering?
As individuals who are unable to vote but can easily view political communication through social media, high school students are an interesting population to study in this subject area. Conducting a small-scale original research paper could be accomplished by interviewing or surveying high school age friends about their experience with politics on social media. A project like this could look at how high school students handle politics on social media and focus on specific political issues like immigration, gun control, healthcare, etc. or politics at large. The results could include discovering out how social media might influence high school students' political views and if they feel they can talk or act on those views on their social media platforms.