Digital Commons Network^™

The Benefits Of Using Inclusive Literature In Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade Classrooms, Guidelines For Selecting Inclusive Texts, And Resources To Help Teachers, Librarians, And Community Members Use Inclusive Children’S Books, Erin Lynch

Honors Projects

This project outlines the great importance of inclusive children’s literature and the benefits of implementing high-quality, inclusive picture books within elementary school classrooms. Additionally, the project provides suggested guidelines for selecting inclusive literature as well as copious examples of high-quality picture books within a variety of subject matter categories. In addition to a thorough paper, this project contains a large online resource referred to as the “Virtual Library” that utilizes technology and graphic design to simulate a real library full of inclusive literature.

Practice Habits Among Collegiate Music Majors: Relationships With Everyday Self-Regulatory Behaviors, Lydia Stricker

Honors Projects

This study examined self-regulatory behaviors among collegiate musicians. In the fall of 2022, a total of 73 participants from a large midwestern university responded to an online questionnaire soliciting information regarding self-regulatory behaviors both in and outside of the classroom. Items were adapted from the Carey, Neal and Collins Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (2004). Findings support previous research suggesting a strong, positive relationship between everyday self-regulatory behaviors and those demonstrated in the practice room. Implications include a discussion on the possibility of transferring self-regulation strategies from one domain to the other.

Shakespeare And The Supreme Court: How The Justices Reveal Their Ideologies By Referencing His Works, Rachel Anderson

Honors Projects

The works of William Shakespeare have been referenced many times throughout history, even by Supreme Court justices. Building off of an observation of a mock trial by James Shapiro, this project puts the utilization of Shakespeare from three Court opinions in relation to its context within the play and the opinion to examine what the reference reveals about the authoring justices' ideology. In doing so, this project concludes that the justices utilize Shakespeare's works in their opinions for various reasons, including to infuse their beliefs into their argument. This implies that Supreme Court justices do not base their opinions on …

Pause And Possibility: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives On Creative Writing Clubs, Stephanie Altier

Honors Projects

Creative writing clubs can enrich the lives of writers and facilitators. These clubs provide many opportunities to enrich their members’ academic, social, and personal development (Clifton, 2022; Siskel & Jacobs, 2011; Lawton, 2021). This project uses a focus-group study of five pre-service Integrated Language Arts teachers to explore the teachers' perspectives on advising creative writing clubs. Their insight informs a web-based teacher resource, Creative Writing Club Hub. Major findings are that participants harbor low self-efficacy towards creative writing and that the most effective method for encouraging them to advise these clubs may be to create a creative writing community …

Main Factors Contributing To The High Femicide Rate In Mexico, Mikensi Ehlinger

Honors Projects

Femicide has become an urgent issue in Mexico. Many young women and girls are murdered or disappear every year. There are three main factors contributing to the high rate of femicide in Mexico. These factors are the ramifications of the cultural practice of machismo, a lack of detailed laws, and negligence by figures in authority. Despite domestic and international demands for action, the government has yet to make effective change.

The Yellow Qipao, Feibi Wang

Honors Projects

This is a creative project centered around the pre-production of a short film about queer Asian American Christianity and the research that went into it. The synopsis of the script written for the short film is a life in the day of Aspen. Aspen prepares for church and is indecisive of the clothes they want to wear, because they are gender non-conforming. They come out to their mom and there is conflict. My research going into this project consists of researching media representation of queerness, Asian American identity, and Christianity, and how the three identities intersect in Aspen’s life and …

Payton's Final Master's Portfolio, Payton Boshears

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Here is my final Master's Portfolio. I did not have specialization for the English program, so for the portfolio I chose four different projects that represent the variety of courses I have taken during my time here at BGSU.

Investigating Mindfulness And Practice Strategies In The K-12 Music Curriculum, Emily Foltz

Honors Projects

The purpose of this project was to uncover how music educators teach students to practice effectively and to discover effective mindfulness tools and strategies that could be used to enhance music practice. My aim was to uncover methods of mindful practice and integrate them into a model for effective music practice that teachers can incorporate into their instruction. The research questions that guided this project include: 1) How are music educators teaching students to practice effectively? 2) How does mindfulness affect music practice? 3) What are effective strategies for teaching mindful instrumental music practice in the K-12 classroom? Is there …

Final Master's Portfolio, Carol V. Grinage

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This is the final master's portfolio for a Master's in English with an emphasis on professional writing and rhetoric.

Pursuing Personal And Professional Passions: A Final Master's Portfolio, Eileen Tse

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

As an English Language Arts teacher at the secondary level with some publishing experience looking to expand my professional writing repertoire, I sought to expand and transfer my knowledge and skills in rhetoric and technical writing in different realms of interests and areas of my life. The following is my final portfolio for the Master of Arts in English, fusing my various intellectual interests and professional pursuits. My first substantive project explores the technical communication that occurs in casual online spaces by exploring the documentation and interactions in an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Facebook fan group. The project blends my …

On Analyzing Literature And Visual Rhetoric With Practices Of Teaching Grammar In The Context Of Writing, Julie Schwab

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio contains three analytical works and a lesson plan for a college composition course. The first piece analyzes technology and the Internet and discusses how the ideas presented in M.T. Anderson’s dystopian novel Feed can apply to our world today. The second piece analyzes J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit as a piece of children’s literature and considers how one may use this novel to help teach college students how to write children’s literature. The third piece analyzes the social media trend of fitspiration (fitness inspiration) and discusses the impact this has on viewers and what can be done about it. …

Final Master's Portfolio, Anji Straayer

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

The following is a final portfolio for the Master's of English with a specialization in teaching. It is the culmination of my course of study and includes pieces reflective of the various courses I took and my various interests with literature and teaching. It opens with an analytical narrative overviewing my growth and learning at BGSU. The substantive research project is on multimodality and incorporating multimodal techniques into the secondary classroom. The second piece is a unit plan for the Greek play Antigone. The third and fourth pieces are literary analyses; one is a critique of the Victorian mindset as …

Final Master's Portfolio, Consuela Jones

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This body of work focuses on illuminating the radical modes of womanhood centered in the featured texts.

Final Master's Portfolio, Stephanie Fryer

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio contains three works: a unit plan and rationale for teaching grammar rhetorically, an analysis of the ethos of early 20th century rhetor Juliet V. Strauss, and a revision reflection.

Final Master's Portfolio, Amy Hromiak

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio represents the work I completed over the two-year Master of Arts in the field of English program with a focus on teaching. The first paper, “Dystopian Literature IS a Call to Action: Teaching The Hunger Games in High School,” is a teaching-based project that discusses positive ways to incorporate dystopian young adult literature, and more specifically, The Hunger Games, in high school ELA curriculum. The second paper, “Chaos is Monstrous in Wuthering Heights,” is a research-based analytical project that discusses the idea that what makes Heathcliff monstrous is the chaos that he embodies. Overall, these projects …

A Selection In Horror Studies: Final Master's Portfolio, Shane Hesketh

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio represents the best of the author’s work (Shane Hesketh) from his time pursuing the Master of Arts in English (Individualized Track) at Bowling Green State University. Both research papers are within the field of horror studies, the author’s primary field of study, and feature the discussion of two major slasher franchises as another genre through the analysis of the other genre’s tropes. The first paper analyzes the Candyman series as crime noir, and the second analyzes the A Nightmare on Elm Street series as action films. These papers were written in an attempt to shed light on the …

She Speaks Her Truth: Black Female Self-Empowerment In African-American Centric Texts, Britt N. Seese

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

A Master's Portfolio that looks into African-American Women in African-American literature and theatrical works.

Women And Supposition: The Chronicles Of Narnia And Biblical Womanhood, Carolyn Dailey

Honors Projects

Supplemented by C.S. Lewis' works in theology, predominately Mere Christianity, and 'Priestesses in the Church?" as well as sources from other theologians, and historians, this paper explores the relationship between Christian tradition and Biblical womanhood that is expressed in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. This paper finds that C.S. Lewis drew more from the core tenets of love and equality that exist at the heart of Christianity rather than from traditional Christian beliefs, including some he held himself. In doing this, he crafted an imaginative fiction that affirms Biblical womanhood.

Bowling Green State University's All-Gender Housing And The Student Expereince, Molly Marody

Honors Projects

All-gender housing has become a way for colleges and universities to create affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ students. As of 2022, only about 425 American schools have gender-neutral or all-gender housing programs out of the over 5,000 colleges in the United States. This lack of institutional support leads to trans and gender-nonconforming students reporting feeling less comfortable on their campuses. LGBTQ+ students report high rates of discrimination and harassment on college campuses. Studies about all-gender housing point to structural issues that cause students discomfort and feelings of instability. This study looks at Bowling Green State University’s all-gender housing program in hopes …

Quickwrites And The Quest To Reverse Writing Reluctance, Jenna Dunn

Honors Projects

Current research suggests that students’ enjoyment of writing will positively impact their writing achievement (Graham, 2007; Bulut, 2017). Given this trend, the following study explores the extent to which quickwriting, a teaching strategy developed extensively by Linda Rief (2003, 2018) as well as Donald Graves & Penny Kittle (2005), impacts the attitudes of reluctant writers. A total of nineteen eleventh-grade students were interviewed in three focus groups. All of the students within the study experienced three weeks of regular classroom quickwriting along with one week of a quickwriting extension workshop prior to participation in the focus groups. Students were asked …

Functionally Intense Training (F.I.T.) Multimedia Rebranding Package, Kaitlin Manger

Honors Projects

Branding and social media outreach to customers is essential to small businesses that are looking to grow their business and attract new members. This paper covers the development and production of a multimedia rebranding package that was produced for the high-intensity, CrossFit-like gym in Wapakoneta, Ohio, owned and operated by Steve Knapke, Functionally Intense Training. This gym has been open since 2013 but has no consistent social media content or branding content for the business. This project includes the deliverables of 10 videos, 20 photos, 5 graphic design templates, a new logo, and new branding guidelines. Along with the final …

Title Ix: An Analysis Of Its Effects On Collegiate Athletics, Hanna Laube

Honors Projects

Title IX has had a monumental impact on the development of women’s opportunities in sports. I conducted three interviews with women athletes who competed in college from 1967-71, 1995-99, and 2009-2014. I also analyzed some primary research on how female athletes remember Title IX and some secondary research on remembering Title IX. In the interviews I found that all the athletes were very appreciative of Title IX, but did not know much about it and therefore could not think very critically about it. In contrast, scholars were very critical of Title IX and pointed out the shortcomings in the law. …

Integrating Social And Emotional Learning Into Language Arts Classrooms Through Diverse Young Adult Literature, Rachael Schmidt

Honors Projects

This paper discusses the growing integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) in high schools. The project provides an explanation of why SEL should be integrated into classroom instruction, specifically focusing on the language arts classroom. The included teaching guide provides six lessons for integrating SEL in the language arts classroom using diverse young adult literature.

Final Master's Portfolio, Michael Cullen

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio represents the best of the author's work in the MA program in English (individualized track) at Bowling Green State University. Included are an analysis of two Ray Bradbury short stories via eco-criticism and poststructuralism; a creative writing course unit on dystopian fiction; an analysis of several Black films through critical race theory; and an original short story.

Predicting And Composing A Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 Single With Descriptive Analytics And Classification, Matthew Deamon

Honors Projects

In late 20^th and early 21^st century Western popular music, there are cyclical structures, sounds, and themes that come and go with historical trends. Not only do the production techniques utilized reflect technological advancements (the Yamaha DX7, the Roland 808, etc.), the art form reflects contemporary cultural attitudes through lyrics and stylistic choice. Through this lens, pop songs can serve as historical artifacts for their unique ability to captivate listeners based on their generally acceptable and familiar elements, both upon release and with future audiences. It raises the questions: “Can a chronological analysis of artistic choices reveal trends …

[Un]Seen, Al Benbow

Honors Projects

[un]seen is a community-centered project and installation that consists of a collection of portraits and statements from underrepresented members of the LGBTQ+ community. Each subject submits their own action item that depends on their identity and response to the question, “what do you wish people understood about the experience of being [your identity]?”

This project was initially born out of research into the commodification of LGBTQ+ identities, and the realization that corporations tend to market to members of the LGBTQ+ community who they believe have the most spending power: white, cisgender, able-bodied, upper class, gay men, and therefore most often …

Spring Awakening: A Midwest Children's Tragedy, Lena Nighswander

Honors Projects

Spring Awakening: A Midwest Children's Tragedy is a new play that takes up the issues of adaptation, translation, and temporality in regards to Frank Wedekind's Frühlingserwachen, a play infamous in its revelry in controversy and unflinching nature in the face of social issues many would prefer to ignore. Several modern adaptations of the original text exist, but none have utilized the 2020s as a setting nor have they used the fertile landscape of the American midwest as a background.

This play, set in Toledo, OH, leans into the Wedekindian tradition of cutting social criticism and controversy in its exploration of …

The Puppy In The Polka Dot Pajamas: A Multimedia Approach To Children's Literature, Grace Phillips

Honors Projects

In a world that seemingly becomes crueler by the day, some topics are not handled with the tact they require and deserve. Issues of bullying and self-expression can often evoke undesirable emotions when discussed. Although it may be difficult to achieve, every child deserves to grow up in a world free of bullying that promotes authentic self-expression. To do my part – however minor it may be – in fostering a more accepting community, I used this project as an opportunity to create a story that shared anti-bullying messaging in a suitable and enjoyable manner for children.

My Brother: A Picturebook About My Brother's Story Living With Type 1 Diabetes., Lydia Manes

Honors Projects

My Brother is a picturebook about my brother's story living with type 1 diabetes. This story includes real life events, medical terminology, and emotionally connecting text to engage potential readers. The purpose of this picturebook is to serve as an educational tool and to help other children cope with their diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.