I would assume that the non-verbal communication with the person you liked was more “open”–closer to the person, head inclined toward the person, touching? Smiling? And the other person was more “closed”–crossed arms? Frowning? The person stood further away from you?

Usually, when you like someone, the non-verbal communication is more inviting, warmer, friendlier, and when you don’t like someone, you tell them to “back off” by the way you stand and react to them.

Maybe think of a metaphor for how the conversations went. Was the negative one like a bad interview? Like being interrogated? Like talking to a brick wall?

What was the other conversation like? Think of a metaphor for it.

Were you surprised at anything? Like, did you try to get closer to the person you didn’t like and the person backed away? Or were you surprised at how much distance there was between you? Compare it to how you’d react to someone you liked.

A quote I love (I think it’s by the poet Rumi) is, “When a couple is in love, they can sleep on the edge of a knife, but when they fall out of love, the bed’s never big enough.”

It’s the same kinda thing in conversations.

Communication Experiment

I. The Experiment

A. Tell the reader about the assignment.

B. Tell the reader what you did regarding the assignment

(who, what, when, where, and why)

C. Tell the reader what you learned from the assignment

II. The first conversation

A. Remind the reader who you spoke to, how you know them, and what you talked about in general.

B. Specific nonverbal language used

1. First instance of nonverbal communication (describe what it looked like, what it meant, and how it contributed to the conversation)

2. Second instance of nonverbal communication (see above)

3. Third instance of nonverbal communication, if applicable.

C. Note any interesting observations or conclusions about this conversation

III. The Second Conversation (follow same pattern as for the first conversation)

IV. Compare/Contrast

A. First noticable difference in nonverbal communication, describe & say what you learned from it

B. Second noticable difference…

C. Third notable difference…

V. Conclusion

A. Refresh the reader of the objective of the experiment (to learn about proper communication skills), and restate how you did this briefly

B. Summarize what you learned in a few sentences.

C. End with the most profound conclusion you drew from the experience, e.g. “Talking with Person A and Person B while paying attention to nonverbal communication taught me that the most important thing I can do to show someone that I am listening is to maintain eye contact.”

I hope this helps….

Have your 2 conversations first. then you will know what to write about them. Come up with some theory or statement (it doesn’t have to be an original thought). Such as, “Body language is more important than speech in communicating a speaker’s ____.” (motive, wishes, whatever). That, with a couple other sentences, will comprise your opening paragraph. Then go on to detail how the 2 conversations led you came to that conclusion.

Don’t get overwhelmed. A step at a time. Have the conversations first.

1) Take a side. If you have a topic, you are only adding value if you are choosing to advance an opinion (hypothesis) and support your opinion with specific evidence or examples.

2) Avoid generalizations. In conversation, we say things like “always”, “never” and “some times”. These are terrible traps in an essay. Make specific statements and back them up quickly with evidence.

3) Don’t repeat yourself. It is tiresome to read and re-read your point. Being accurate and concise is far more difficult than being wordy and verbose.

Lastly, the most simple structure is the 5 paragraph model (typical for high school). You have an introduction with a hypothesis. 3 points of support (1 paragraph each). A conclusion summarizing how your evidence demonstrates your opinion (hypothesis).

It might look like this: