{"id":6089,"date":"2015-07-09T11:30:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T15:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=6089"},"modified":"2018-08-09T16:36:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T20:36:02","slug":"why-pr-students-need-to-read-case-studies-and-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2015\/07\/09\/why-pr-students-need-to-read-case-studies-and-how-to-get-the-most-out-of-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Why PR Students Need to Read Case Studies (and How to Get the Most Out of Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PRSA<\/a>
PRSA Silver Anvil awards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Growing up, I loved to read. I would read anything I could get my hands on, including the cereal box during breakfast. I still love reading, but sometimes I struggle to get through assigned readings for classes.<\/p>\n

This was the case in the Public Relations Management class I took last quarter. With more than 20 case studies listed on our 10-week syllabus, I inwardly groaned.\u00a0Professors \u00a0told me case studies were the best way to see theory put into practice, a way to learn from companies\u2019 previous mistakes, and while I theoretically knew this, I was still unconvinced.<\/p>\n

As I worked my way through the studies, something unexpected happened\u2014I started to enjoy reading them.\u00a0Here\u2019s what I realized: knowledge that you gain reading case studies builds on itself.<\/p>\n

Yes, the reasons my professors gave me were correct, but I didn\u2019t truly understand until I was actually reading them. The more knowledge I had, the more I was able to compare and contrast between cases. As I worked through the cases, I realized there are a few things that helped me get the most out of them.<\/p>\n

1. Don\u2019t save your questions for the end.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes while I was reading, I would think of a question right away, and would end up doing a bit of background research on the topic or company. This helped me to better understand the situation I was reading about.<\/p>\n

2. Ask yourself: What would I do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I would read the situation summary, I would ask myself what I would do if I were the public relations professional in that situation. There were a few times when my instincts were right on, which were exciting moments of validation in my public relations education. If my instincts weren\u2019t the same, I took it as a learning opportunity. The more I read, the more my instincts were correct. (See a theme here?)<\/p>\n

3. Get another perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my favorite things to do after reading a good case study was to bring it up to my non-public relations friends (yes, I have those), because they often had a much different perspective on the case than people who are in the public relations industry.<\/p>\n

For example, I go to a university known for its engineering program, so when I was looking at an engineering disaster case study, I asked some engineers what they thought of the company\u2019s response. They usually had more insight into the situation than I did, and therefore a different view.<\/p>\n

Since the PRSA Silver Anvils<\/a> were announced recently, I\u2019ve spent some time perusing them and it\u2019s no wonder these cases were recognized\u2014they\u2019re fantastic.\u00a0There\u2019s a lot to learn from these award winners, so take a look at them\u2014you won\u2019t be sorry.<\/p>\n

\"009_louis_seigal_DSC6021\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on case studies? Do you have any tips to add?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Carly Owens is a senior at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, studying communication with an emphasis in public relations. She loves the art of storytelling, and looks forward to a career based around that. In her spare time, she enjoys trips to Disneyland and almost anything creative. Connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>, or follow her on Twitter\u00a0@magicalcarly<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up, I loved to read. I would read anything I could get my hands on, including the cereal box during breakfast. I still love reading, but sometimes I struggle to get through assigned readings for classes. This was the case in the Public Relations Management class I took last quarter. With more than 20 case studies listed on our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,2897],"tags":[429,60,2225,2175],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6089"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6109,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6089\/revisions\/6109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}