Digital Commons Network^™

Mining For Gold: Reimagining The Role Of Curricular Texts In Writing Instruction, Carrigan Price

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Secondary schools in northern Utah frequently combine literature and composition studies into a single English Language Arts course, limiting the time English teachers have to teach the skills and content important to both. Literature and reading often overshadow writing instruction in this situation, leading to concentrated writing instruction dependent on pre-made writing curriculum and texts. The way curricular materials used during writing instruction in ELA courses present the purpose of writing, the process of writing, and the identity of writers can impact student learning and academic identity in the short- and long-term. A rhetorical analysis, looking specifically at the writing …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

Literary Labyrinths: Reading Like A Detective, Emma A. Hallock

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Studying literature is like walking through a labyrinth of interpretative possibilities. So, it is no mystery why an English major would be fascinated with detectives; they seem to show the way out of the literary labyrinth. Like detectives, literary critics look for clues in the texts they study and interpret them to find meaning. However, many critics argue that detectives make bad models, and that reading like a detective leads to interpretations that are at best boring and at worst dangerous. It is not clear whether detectives are the best literary critics or the worst. To make sense of this …

Rewriting Eden With The Book Of Mormon: Joseph Smith And The Reception Of Genesis 1-6 In Early America, Colby Townsend

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The colonists living in the new United States after the American War for Independence were faced with the problem of forming new identities once they could no longer recognize themselves, collectively or individually, as subjects of Great Britain. After the French Revolution American politicians began to weed out the more radical political elements of the newly formed United States, particularly by painting one of the revolution’s biggest defenders, Thomas Paine, as unworthy of the attention he received during the American War for Independence, and fear ran throughout the states that an anarchic revolution like the French Revolution could bring the …

Changing The World Through The Word: Developing Critical Consciousness Through Multicultural Children’S Literature With Critical Literacy In An Elementary Classroom, Hyekyoung Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore how fifth graders develop critical consciousness regarding the self and the world through critical literacy approaches using multicultural children’s literature. I employed Lewison, Flint, and Van Sluys’ four dimensions of critical literacy. I used a qualitative case study to design, frame and conduct this study in order to collect data and examine students’ cultural patterns including values, beliefs, behaviors, and language that they enacted in the critical literacy practices. I collected data through classroom observations, semi-structured students and teacher interviews, informal conversation, researcher’s reflective journal entries and field notes, and student-made artifacts. …

The Use Of Acupuncture In Sports Medicine, Melanie Sfara

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Background: Acupuncture is one of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. It has been used to treat both chronic and acute injuries and illnesses for many centuries. Recently, it is being evaluated for an influence on human performance.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acupuncture on both musculoskeletal injuries and athletic performance.

Methods: Published literature was reviewed based on certain inclusion criteria. Thirty total articles were included in this study.

Results: Acupuncture seems to be effective in pain reduction. However, this may not be long term. Increases in exercise …

Incorporating Music, Literature, And Culture In Communities Of Second Language Learners, Michael Rhinehart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a collection of papers that relate to the field of second language teaching. The papers include the author’s teaching philosophy, three artifacts, and an annotated bibliography. The subjects covered include: the use of literature to teach a second language, the importance of having a community of learners in the classroom, and the incorporation of culture into the second language classroom. The author also includes an annotated bibliography of articles and books that shaped his teaching philosophy.

The Noble Savage And Ecological Indian: Cultural Dissonance And Representations Of Native Americans In Literature, Brooke D. Mcnaughton

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This thesis provides a unique approach to understanding the historical origins and contemporary social ramifications of the use of the concepts of the Noble Savage and the Ecological Indian within literature. I first examine the history of the Noble Savage concept in literature by examining relevant social movements, and then its eventual transition into its modern counterpart, the Ecological Indian. Authors who employ the use of these concepts typically portray Natives in a way which provides an idealized alternative for white cultural woes. Consequently, this idealization creates problems with modern Native identity. In the second half of this project I …

Hold, Hold, My Heart, Andrew Berthrong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis consists of a traditional introduction followed by a first-person, fictional story told in seven chapters. The story begins with the protagonist in his apartment preparing to write, a brief account of his stalling, and then his beginning to write. Those chapters taking place in the vicinity of the apartment are in the present tense and those relating past adventures are written in third person, one chapter for each adventure: Africa, sailing, and Navajo Mountain. After each adventure, the narration returns to the apartment.

This piece is the embodiment of both the vigorous internal work in search of understanding …

Lessons In Humanity: A Memoir, Chelsi Joy Sutton-Linderman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the opening pages of his work, Dog Years; A Memoir, Mark Doty explains: Love for a wordless creature, once it takes hold, is an enchantment, and the enchanted speak, famously, in private mutterings, cryptic riddles, or gibberish. This is why I shouldn't be writing anything about the two dogs that have been such presences for sixteen years of my life. How on earth could I stand at the requisite distance to say anything that might matter? (1)

In this thesis I argue that Doty, among other respected contemporary writers, is saying something that matters when he writes of …

A Synthesis Of The Literature On Reading Interventions To Improve Oral Reading Rates, Kelley Douglass

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The traditional model of identification and eligibility assessment in Special Education often is to refer-test-place, which is based on a "wait to fail" procedure. Research has shown positive outcomes for the use of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of assessment as an alternative method of learning disability identification. However, challenges exist in the selection of high-quality, research-based, effective interventions. A review of the literature was conducted to identify reading intervention options based on Curriculum-Based Measurement outcomes that may be selected for RTI use within the model and the potential barriers of their use. Twenty-one studies were identified examining 31 …

Emersonian Perfectionism: A Man Is A God In Ruins, Brad James Rowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Ralph Waldo Emerson is a great American literary figure that began his career as a minister at Boston’s Second Church. He discontinued his ministry to become an essayist and lecturer and continued as such for the remainder of his life. This thesis was written with the intent of demonstrating that, in spite of leaving the ministry, Emerson continued to be religious and a religionist throughout his life and that he promulgated a unique religion based upon the principle of self-reliance. At the heart of Emerson’s religion of self-reliance is the doctrine of perfectionism, the infinite capacity of individuals. This thesis …

The Fellowship Of The (Devil) Ring: Ethnographic Translation In The 2002 聯經 Edition Of Tolkien's The Fellowship Of The Ring, Matthew G. Wright

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

A recent book written by Tom Standage pays homage to six drinks that helped shape the history of the world. Following his discussion of the first five drinks (beer, wine, spirits, coffee and tea), Standage concludes with what he calls, the drink of the twentieth century. "Coca-Cola encapsulates what happened in the 20th century: the rise of consumer capitalism and the emergence of America as a superpower. It's globalization in a bottle," Standage said in an interview with National Geographic News (Handwerk). Today Coca-cola is everywhere from Cuba to the Czech Republic (Standage even claims the drink is in more …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Alcohol Treatment Outcome Literature: 1993 To 2000, Anthony Phillip Tranchita

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alcohol misuse is a very common problem with high financial and personal costs. Treatment requires allocation of limited resources for optimal impact. Responsible decision making in this area should be based upon reasoned weighing of research evidence. Miller and colleagues completed a meta-analytic review of all controlled studies published before 1992 to help clinicians do just that. The coding system they employed examined methodological quality, as well as outcome, to obtain a rank­ordering of treatments that seem to have the most quality research support. The current study attempts to extend this work utilizing the same coding on studies published since …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Self-Management Programs For Students With Disruptive Behaviors: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Heidi Kupiec

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Disruptive behaviors exhibited by children and youth pose a major problem for students exhibiting the behaviors, their peers, parents, and teachers. Disruptive behaviors including shouting, aggression, off-task behaviors, and noncompliance, correlate with poor social skills, low peer acceptance, higher rates of academic deficiencies, and in adulthood instability in relationships and employment. Self-management programs employ traditional behavior management methods and with self-management components to teach students to self-monitor or evaluate their behavior. By teaching students to be aware of and to manage their own behavior students may be better able to generalize appropriate behaviors to other less supervised settings, complete more …

Treatment Of Separation Anxiety Disorder And School Refusal: A Comprehensive Review Of The Literature, Nicole Petersen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Separation anxiety disorder is a condition in which a child or adolescent experiences severe anxiety when separation from a parent or caregiver is imminent. A possible symptom of separation anxiety disorder or other psychological conditions is that the child may refuse to attend school or run away from school during the day, an occurrence commonly referred to as school refusal. Children with separation anxiety disorder or school refusal may, as a result, be limited in their social and educational opportunities. Therefore, a review of published studies on the treatment of separation anxiety disorder and school refusal was completed. To adequately …

Effects Of Literacy Based Communication Intervention On Expressive Language Of A Young Child, Celeste C. Reynolds

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

A positive correlation has been demonstrated between improved expressive language skills and intervention using literacy related activities in the school-aged populations for both normally developing and developmentally delayed children. Norris (1991) found that children's literature provides meaningful contexts that are ideal for helping school aged children learn language in a manner that is interesting an does not artificially fragment language into subcomponents or splinter skills. Children can learn to recognize and use the abstract, complex, and subtle aspects of language in the context provided in written language. "The use of written language for intervention provides a context for integrating spoken …

At The New Yorker, Therese Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The following essays and letters grew from a notebook I kept while interning at The New Yorker last summer. Each night, in my room at the boardinghouse on 36th Street, I recorded the decorations of the day, like the conversation I had with a prominent writer in the lunchroom, or the sight of a startled shorebird on the front of the office building.

The Prevalence Of Dual Diagnosis Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder And Alcoholism In The Literature: A Critical Meta-Analytic Review, Joseph B. Stone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between alcoholism and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has been discussed in two research areas: research on the prevalence of GAD in alcoholics, and the prevalence of alcoholism in individuals diagnosed with GAD. Studies indicate that between 6 to 26% of alcoholics have a current diagnosis of GAD, with a lifetime prevalence rate of up 51%. In the general population, 4% would currently receive a diagnosis of GAD, with a lifetime prevalence of 8%.

This meta-analytic review of the empirical literature examines the relationship between GAD and alcoholism. The author used percentages to compare the results of various studies. …

A Meta-Analytical Review Of The Literature On The Efficacy Of The Systematic Training For Effective Parenting (Step) Program, David George Gibson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An analysis of previous reviews of the parent education literature revealed that few reviewers have incorporated sound methodological practice in their review process. Most reviewers included too few studies and ignored important information about the primary research studies that they reviewed. The Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) program has received less attention from reviewers than any of the other popular programs and information about its effectiveness is lacking.

Forty primary research studies, addressing the effectiveness of the STEP program, were located and analyzed using the meta-analytic method of review. Research questions for this study addressed the issues of effectiveness …

Effects Of Otitis Media On Language Development In Native Populations: A Review Of The Literature, Monica Malmgren

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

From the time a fetus reaches about 20 weeks gestational age, its auditory system is functioning. Before we are ever born, we are exposed to sounds within our environment. With birth, we begin to interact with, experiment with, and learn to interpret the sounds around us. Before learning to speak, we are bombarded by the sounds of our language. An infant's head is known to perk up at the sound of a voice, a sudden noise, music... all the sounds of the environment, which is evidence that children are aware of the sounds around them before they are ever able …

Comparison Of The Standard And Computerized Versions Of The College Level Examination Program General Examination In English Composition, Alan L. Muhlestein

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to test whether the computer-administered College Level Examination Program (CLEP) General Examination in English Composition produced scores equivalent to those obtained from the traditional paper-and-pencil version. The CLEP examination and its adaptation for computer administration and the results of a pilot study are presented.

The subjects in this study were volunteers who took the CLEP English Composition Examination in order to earn college credit and were randomly assigned to either the computer-first or paper-and-pencil-first groups. Each subject took both forms of the examination with approximately one half of the subjects taking each version first. …

Criteria For The Selection Of Students Into A Counseling Program: A Review Of Literature, Douglas N. Reeder

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In his paper, "Graduate Education in Psychology - A Passionate Statement" Carl Rogers (1957) has stated, 'We are doing an unintelligent, ineffectual and wasteful job of preparing psychologists, to the detriment of our discipline and society. “” He further stated, 'We should be selecting and training individuals for creative effectiveness in seeking out and discovering the significant new knowledge which is meeded." He then examines ten implicit assumptions on which programs of graduate education appear to be based, showing them to be totally inadequate in training future psychologists. It is time to reevaluate the purpose, procedure, and content of graduate …

Graduate Recital, William D. Bertolio

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The candidate selected the recital and recital report as the master's project on the basis that they would effectively improve his musicianship, as well as bolster his teaching background, performance skills, teaching techniques, and general musical knowledge.

The recital included one major work on the B-flat clarinet , an alto saxophone solo, a clarinet quartet, and a woodwind trio. In addition, clarinet and saxophone solos were performed by two of the writer's advanced students. The compositions were chosen because of their musical value and variety.

The performer's experience included nine years of private instruction on the clarinet, eight years of …

Group Psychotherapy: A Review Of Literature, Paul B. Sorensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Group psychotherapy has been described as uniquely American. It is indeed a consequence of the pragmatism of American psychiatry, which appeared willing to explore any new and possibly helpful technique.