USF Saudi Arabia and U.S.A Cultural Comparison Essay

Assignment 3.3 is the final assignment in the Comparative Cultures and Communication White Paper series. 

For assignment 3.3  you will develop a white paper for people moving from your home country to your other assigned country. This document will focus on the differences in the communication practices at three different scales: national relationships, cultural differences, and interpersonal communication practices. You will be presenting these differences to people moving from your home country to the other country you are working with to provide a foundation for them to live and work in their new country. The three topics to be discussed in the white paper are: 

National Relationship including political, historic and trade relationships

Cultural Dimension Differences 

• Interpersonal Communication Practices including business greetings, deference, forms of address, business cards, personal space, touch, eye contact, gestures and women in society  

Viewing to Support Support Your Writing 

• The following videos will provide you with input to help you successfully complete this assignment.

Compare and Contrast (Links to an external site.)(2:35) This brief video provides you with several approaches for thinking about the input you have collected to compare and contrast your two countries. It then offers several organizational patterns you can use to present your ideas.

Writing as Decision Making (Links to an external site.)(1:58) This brief UNC Writing Center video provides you with ideas on developing a structure for your document.

• Writing Concisely (Links to an external site.)(2:08) This brief UNC Writing Center video provides you with approaches to making your writing more concise.

Refer back to Economy, Employment and Diversity Pre-Writing Assignment if you need to review any of the resources from that assignment phase.

The following readings are resources to assist you in completing your writing well. 

Editing and Proofreading (Links to an external site.) on the UNC Writing Center Tips & Tools website.  This brief resource describes the difference between editing and proofreading along with approaches to help you with both of these important writing steps. 

Reading Aloud (Links to an external site.) on the UNC Writing Center Tips & Tools website.  This brief resource talks about the uses and benefits of reading aloud to yourself to assist you in determining what needs to be edited in your document. 

• Assignment Elements

While you were able to work as a group on the research and discuss your preliminary thinking after researching, the writing of the paper is completed individually.

1. Revise Pre-Writing 

After completing the in-class workshop, revise your thesis and introduction. 

2. Develop a Title

• Develop a title for your document that is brief and specifically identifies the topic of your document. The best titles are worded to catch the reader’s attention. 

3. Develop Your Document 

Documents will include the following titled sections 

Introduction. The introduction must accomplish the following:

Introduces the audience to the topic and its importance.

• Clearly indicates who the assigned audience is and describes the designated purpose. 

This introduction contains a thesis statement that makes the primary claim you will argue.

States how you will use the document to support your thesis.

Present this in a concise, clear paragraph that makes the reader want to read your white paper.

After you complete the body of your document, review your introduction to make sure it accurately states what you accomplished with the white paper.  Revise the text as needed to ensure the introduction and the document body work together. 

Relationship of [the Countries] . In this section, you will provide a description of the political, historic, and trade relationship between of the two countries that may influence how people in their new country perceive and respond to them. Tables or other graphics may be used in addition to text if you feel they help convey parts of your message more effectively. (If you take tables or graphics from another document, you must include an in-text citation.) Be sure to start the section with a topic sentence and have parallel data and information on both countries. In-text citations are expected to support what you state in this section.

Cultural Dimension Differences between [Countries]. Using the Hofstede Insights website Country Comparison Tool (Links to an external site.), you obtained earlier in the semester summarize the similarities and differences in the two countries by cultural dimensions. Provide a table showing all the cultural dimensions for both countries. Select one cultural dimension results provided by the Hofstede Insights website where the difference between the countries seems significant to in understanding one of the different communication practices identified in the next section. Be sure to start the section with a topic sentence and have parallel data and information on both countries. In-text citations are expected to support what you state in this section.

Interpersonal Communication Practice Differences in [Countries]. Document specific examples of differences in communication practices (verbal and non-verbal communication) explaining what the specific communication practice means in each country. Include a recommendation on the most important differences for people to pay attention to in this new country. Include in your discussion all of the issues below:   

Traditional business greetings 

• Expressions of deference (for example to superiors in business and elders.)

Forms of address

Business card exchange

• Personal space differences 

Touch (for example hugs and kisses) 

Eye contact 

Gestures- use and meaning 

Women in society and business

Be sure to start the section with a topic sentence and have parallel data and information on both countries. In-text citations are expected to support what you state in this section.

Conclusion. This conclusion is a summary of your ENTIRE document.  It includes a reworded restatement of your thesis as emerging from a statement of the document’s elements you have presented. It should conclude with a reminder of the document’s importance for the assigned readers for the designated purpose.

Reference List. The document will end with an APA formatted reference list (Links to an external site.) alphabetized by the first letter of each item. You must include the 6 required references and 3 additional credible sources. (For this assignment stay away from Wikipedia, travel service websites, and personal blogs, journal or remembrances). Each source must have at least one  APA formatted in-text citation (Links to an external site.). and one reference listing. You may also reuse any references you used in your earlier white papers.

4. Revise, Editing, and Proofread Your Document

Professional documents must be readable, clear, well organized, and concise.  They must also be free of errors.  Two approaches may help you with finding typos and grammar and word errors. First, read your work aloud  (Links to an external site.) to yourself after stepping away from it for a while (at least a day).  Doing this will help you catch wording errors or omissions and poorly constructed sentences.  Second, you should use advanced grammar-checking software to review grammar, punctuation, or other writing errors.  The base paid platform of Grammarly is one option; however, others are available as well.  

No quotations – The use of quotations in professional documents is rare as you are being paid to do work for a specific client. For this reason, no quotations may be used in your document; instead, learn to paraphrase effectively (Links to an external site.). 

NO plagiarism –Plagiarism is the use of the words, ideas, data, graphics, or graphic contents of others without giving them credit through in-text citation and reference list inclusion. When the words of others are used quotation marks must be used in addition to in-text citations. BUT remember there are no quotations allowed on this paper. Plagiarism in college can result in an ‘F’ on the assignment or course. If egregious, you may be expelled from the program.  In practice, the consequences are also severe, involving the loss of a job or career, the suspension of a license, or having to pay damages to the person whose work you steal. The words in your document must represent your own thinking based on the information you have gathered.  Citing credible sources from which you got ideas gives you credibility, which is required in this work. If you are unclear on plagiarism or are from a region of the world that may think about it differently, review the Plagiarism page (Links to an external site.) developed by the library. Deliverable: Use the template and instructions provided.