Family Relationship: Creative Writing Essay

Essay Instructions:

Improving Family Relationships

Regardless of what type of relationship we are in—whether in terms of friendship, romance, or family members, all relationships are in the process of either developing or dying. This paper requires you to analyze a family relationship using communication concepts/theories and principles from the text, discussions etc.

The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize students with all of the course objectives. You are to analyze interpersonal communication principles and concepts in the development, maintenance, and possibly, the deterioration of a long term significant family relationship. The relationship you choose to write about can be one that you are currently engaged in, or one that has already ended. It should, however, be a fairly recent one, not a relationship you had in grade school. If you cannot think of one involving a family member then and only then can it be a friendship relationship or a romantic relationship. You don’t need to disclose any information you are not comfortable with disclosing and please change names for privacy.

Content
This paper involves more than just simply summarizing the development of a relationship. While you will want to offer some description of the relationship; the main emphasis should be on how it has developed in communication between two people. You should organize your paper into the following three parts:

Introduction: Describe the relationship. Who are the participants? What is the history of the relationship? What is the current status of the relationship? This information should be relatively brief. Next, introduce the body of the paper by indicating the terms/concepts you will use to analyze the relationship.

Body: In this section of the paper you will analyze the relationship using interpersonal communication concepts, terms, topics, etc. This is by far the longest section of the paper.

First organize the body of the paper around the stages of relationship development (see your textbook and utilize your research). These stages can provide an excellent outline for the paper. The key here is to talk about how the stages are created in COMMUNICATION. How did communication change to move the relationship to another stage, and how did communication define a certain stage?

Select at least three concepts that we’ve discussed in class and apply them to your relationship. You may discuss these concepts and how they affected the communication in your relationship as you take us through the stages, or you may want to discuss them apart from the stages in terms of how they have played out in your relationship. Use evidence to support your claims and use it in each stage---using direct quotes from the text, and specific examples from your relationship.

Conclusion: This section includes a brief summary of the body of the paper. End the paper with some reflections on your relationship, and what you learned as a result of writing this paper.

Grading Rubric

Evaluation Criteria
Possible Points
Introduction
10
Discussion of at least 3 concepts from course text
20
Demonstrated understanding of communication topics
20
analyze how these interpersonal communication topics apply to your particular relationship
20
At least 3 references used in the paper
10
Mechanics: APA formatting, Grammar/Spelling, Length (2-3 pages)
10
Conclusion /Reflection
10

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Family Relationship
Student's Name
Institution
Family Relationship
Introduction
Growing up with grandparents is a privilege that not everybody has had an opportunity to enjoy. I must consider myself lucky to have spent the better part of my life with my grandfather. Growing up, both parents used to work in a place far from home, and they would leave us alone with granddad. This helped me build a strong bond with him, and the connection strengthened even further as I grew older. There is no major decision I could make without running it by the grandad. He would also offer a listening ear in whatever issue I need to share. Grandad would always allow me to air my views on any incident, and he would recall similar situations he had encountered in his life instead of rebuking it immediately. Given his vast experience with life, we would come up with an amicable solution within no time. Despite his old age, grandad remains the pillar of my strength to date. His telephone contact remains the favorite and the first on my speed dial, and I would always reach out to him whenever I ran into trouble or have some exciting news worth sharing with a close relation.
The relationship with grandad depicts some aspects of interpersonal communication and the stages of relationship development applicable in any relationship. Strong relationships thrive where there is an open communication line, and listening skills play a huge role (Sillars & Vangelisti, 2018). Changes in the communication process define the transition from one stage of the relationship to another (Reschke et al., 2017).
Stages of Relationship Development
A relationship is a continuous process that has a beginning and a definite end. The most apparent stage in relationship development is the initiation stage, where the relationship subjects get along for the first time (Miller & Poston, 2020). Short conversations with limited information dominate this stage. The development process then transitions into the experimentation stage (Miller & Poston, 2020). During the experimentation stage, the subjects tend to share intimate moments, personal information, and even small talks. As the experimentation process intensifies and the subjects start to establish some interdependence, the integration phase of development is then initiated. Although this phase is more prominent with the romantic relationship, any other relationship depicts some integration elements. This is the phase where I believe my relationship with granddad is. The development process's bonding phase marks the peak of getting together (Miller & Poston, 2020).
As bonding starts to fade away, the differentiation process begins. At this stage, the subjects in the relationship develop some major differences that, if not communicated properly, might mark the end of the relationship. The relationship might further be characterized by communication decline, self reservation, and aggravated conflict patterns, a stage termed as circumscribing stage (Miller & Poston, 2020). As the relationship deteriorates further, it reaches a point where it is at a stand...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Family Relationship: Creative Writing Essay

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