Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Rhetoric Of Space In The Design Of Academic Writing Locations, Amanda Nicold Metz Bemer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation explores the rhetoric of space as it relates to academic computer writing locations--specifically, computer labs, computer classrooms, and writing centers. Using observation, surveys, interviews, and textual analysis, the author discusses seven rhetorical principles of design for these spaces, including designing for specific audiences, attention, clarity, enthymematic flexibility, identification, pathos, and shared ethos. Ultimately, applying a rhetorical gaze to these areas can help us to design more effective computer spaces in academia.

The Future Of Editing: A Textual Analysis Of Three Wikipedia Articles, Lara Tellis

All Theses

This thesis is a case study analyzing the revisions made to three Wikipedia articles, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' '2009 Northwestern Wildcats football team,' and 'Murder of Annie Le,' in September, 2009. After tracking and coding the revisions made to each of these three articles using categories developed by Sam Dragga and Gwendolyn Gong and Lester Faigley and Stephen Witte, I describe the types of changes made to Wikipedia articles, the differences in changes made to articles at different levels on Wikipedia's quality scale, and the features that make online editing distinct from print editing.

Kairotic Strategema: A Rhetorical Investigation Of Barack Obama’S 2009 Health Care Address, Serena M. Sánchez-Wilson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines President Barack Obama’s address given on September 9, 2009 entitled “Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care.” In order to address various situational and contextual elements such as legislative ambiguity, national expense, bureaucratic intrusion, abortion, euthanasia and illegal immigration, President Obama opportunely enters the conversation at a particular time so as to benefit his agenda of passing health care reform. Revolving around the notion of kairotic strategema, which includes the understating of deliberative address as well as the possession of kairos and phronesis, I assert that this aids President …

Plato’S Gorgias: Rhetoric, The Greatest Evil, And The True Art Of Politics, Paul A. George

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interweaving of rhetoric, the greatest evil, and the true art of politics create the unity of the dialogue. Whereas Gorgianic rhetoric is pleasure seeking flattery which inspires belief without knowledge, noble rhetoric is refutative, inspiring the acknowledgment of falsity or ignorance. Moreover, it is self-refutation, meaning that the person being persuaded arrives at the conclusion of his ignorance by his own realization; the noble rhetor does not connect all the dots for them. The greatest evil is to have a false opinion about justice. A just penalty for suffering from the greatest evil is to face selfrefutation in hopes …

Black And White And Read In Profile: The Silhouette As Race Manirhetoric In Flannery O'Connor And Kara Walker, Michelle Dacus Carr

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT
My research project, in fulfillment of the requirements for the dissertation in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design, utilizes the schema or trope of the silhouette as a binding metaphor for black/white race relationships in America. Specifically, I argue that there is no better model for examining social interactions between the races than the back- and fore-grounding that is transacted through this primarily visual--but also verbal and oral--technique of profiling and outlining. This is particularly true given its origins in discriminatory practice, dating as far back as the literary iconismos and characterismos used to categorize Greek and Roman slaves, and …

John F. Kennedy's Address To The Greater Houston Ministerial Association: A Speech Of Apologia, Carlos Ernesto La Puente

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Question Of Robin Hood, Jessica Kinkhorst

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

A Disciplined And Virtuous Vampire, Holland (Holly) Brown

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Pre-Game Rhetoric: Pure Motivation Or Simply Show?, Sam Alan Hettinger

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Features Of The Voice Of African American Tradition: An Analysis Of African American Rhetoric For The Influence Of The Call Response Technique, Laura Venezia

Communication Studies

This project explicates the nature of the rhetorical strategies, especially the call response, used by various African American artists and orators (Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Public Enemy). The techniques include the interplay of repetition and heightening emotion provided especially through 1. using the “call response” directly, 2. announcing jeremiad warnings and rallying cries, and 3. using potent images to arouse emotions—the objective correlative.

Keeping History Alive: David Mccullough And The Debate Between Popular And Academic History, James R. Allen

History

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between academic history and popular history through David McCullough, one of the most successful popular history writers. It attempts to reconcile the schism between the two schools of thought, and provide a middle ground where each can stand.

Screen/Writing: Time & Cinematics In An Age Of Rhetorical Memory, Joshua Hilst

All Dissertations

This essay argues that part of memory is external to ourselves. This memory, which began with writing but has since grown to encompass digital media, the internet, and other forms of new media, faces a two-fold problem in the information age. The first is privatization, which is represented by copyright, and has heretofore received a greater share of scholarly attention. Regulation is represented through the concept of protocols, which are the rules digital media execute in order to perform functions. Protocols are a regulation of external memory, which I argue also represents a threat to deliberation, the form of rhetoric …

Extending Transfer In Composition: Exploring A Model For Conceptualizing Rhetorical Problems, Janet Roser

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of a new rhetorical problem-solving model for writing instruction to create opportunities for abstract thinking and extend the transfer of rhetorical knowledge. The author conducts a qualitative research study on the transfer of rhetorical knowledge by interviewing former students and evaluating their writing samples written in their courses beyond composition. By revisiting the early cognitive writing process research of Linda Flower and John R. Hayes, evaluating the differences between novice and expert writers, and creating corollaries with David Perkins and Gavriel Salomon’s theories on transfer, the author identifies markers for transfer within the rhetorical situation …

Making Rhetorical Scents: An Olfactory Grammar Of Motives Based On Kenneth Burke's Pentad, Janet Miller

All Theses

Scent is inherently persuasive, but the language of scent is largely missing from rhetoric's vocabulary. This is because language cannot express the 'truth' of an odor. Identification of odor as substance is dependent on consubstantiality between the author and reader. We instead describe smells using metaphorical language, or by invoking episodic memories and emotional reactions. In this way, scent is dramatistic. In order to consider the possibility of a grammar of scent beyond metaphor, the author develops an olfactory pentad (Sniff, Context, Emanation, Odor Object, and Response) by applying the framework of Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad. In this way, scent …

Diabolical Ventriloquism: A Case Study In Rhetorical Transcendence With C. S. Lewis’S Infamous Imp Screwtape, Daniel J. Coyle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most religious discourse is predicated on the assumption that our choices in life have eternal implications. For those who subscribe to a belief in an afterlife, rhetoric which exploits eternity to form attitudes and induce actions can be especially persuasive. This study performs a detailed analysis of a particularly compelling case of the rhetoric of eternity during the twentieth century: C.S. Lewis‘s fictional demon Screwtape. In The Screwtape Letters and ―Screwtape Proposes a Toast,‖ Lewis offers readers an eternal, though diabolical, perspective of the ―modern‖ intellectual climate during the twentieth century. By puppeteering a demon in prose, Lewis satirically lampoons …

Rhiz|Comics: The Structure, Sign, And Play Of Image And Text, Jason Helms

All Dissertations

This dissertation combines Gregory Ulmer's post-criticism with multimodal composition resulting in a work that critiques the medium of comics in comics format. Six traditional text chapters forge a theoretical and practical foundation; punctuated within and without by occasional visual interludes and three comic sections. I advocate teaching multimodal composition through comics' interplay of image and text.

Acting In An Antifoundational World: Conversation, Poetic Redescription, And Solidarity, Hem Paudel

All Theses

This thesis examines a central question that human beings face in an antifoundational world: If discourse communities create not only vocabularies but competing ways of seeing, how might we in general and professional communicators in particular act in a reasonable way? It suggests answers to this question by discussing Rorty's theory of language and truth. Rorty sets aside the foundationalist notion of metaphysical certainty with consensus beliefs achieved through conversation, which determines the utility of those beliefs to the community. Thus, Rorty changes the focus from what is right to what is helpful and changes the focus from what can …

A Rhetorical History Of The Office Of Legal Counsel, William O’Donnal Saas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For over seventy-five years, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has played a significant role in the crafting of executive policy rhetoric. Yet, within the scholarship in presidential and rhetorical studies, the OLC remains one of the least understood and, thus, underappreciated forces behind executive policy action. This thesis seeks to bridge the research gap by: (1) accounting for the OLC's rhetorical history through discussion of available "opinions" and their rhetorical consequences; and (2) by submitting a case study from the OLC's rhetorical history to critical analysis. Often, I will argue, the OLC "co-invented" international and domestic policies with White …

Narrative Distance In The Works Of George Gordon, Lord Byron, And Jonathan Swift, Or "A Digression In Praise Of Digressions", Samantha M. Cash, E. Derek Taylor Ph.D.

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis reviews and discusses narrative distance in the works of George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Jonathan Swift or “A Digression in Praise of Digressions.” Byron takes on multiple roles in his poetry. Swift provided Byron a model for how to negotiate the boundaries of fictional self-fashioning and biographical revelation. Bryon’s technique of presenting a version of himself while simultaneously maintaining narrative distance is a distinct characteristics of Swift’s work. The thesis adapts to an important fact in that Byron, although writing in the age of Romanticism, significantly and unflinchingly sought distance between himself and Romantic figures.

Radicis: Ideology, Argument, And Composition Courses In American Colleges, Donovan Sean Braud

Dissertations

The development of "composition" out of larger rhetorical studies in American

colleges and universities has narrowed the scope of rhetorical training our students

receive, most notably excluding the political and social dimensions of persuasion. This

dissertation is an attempt to recover the larger political and civic scope that was the

original focus of rhetoric. I join a growing chorus of voices seeking to bring classroom

practice to bear on the larger social and civic lives of our students. My approach is

original in that it blends classical rhetoric with contemporary ideological theory to derive

a pedagogy that will allow students …

Writing Center Handbooks And Travel Guidebooks : Redesigning Instructional Texts For Multicultural, Multilingual, And Multinational Contexts, Steven K. Bailey

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In an increasingly interconnected world characterized by the accelerating interplay of cultural, linguistic, and national difference, the ability to negotiate that difference in an equitable and ethical manner is a crucial skill for both individuals and larger social groups. This dissertation, Writing Center Handbooks and Travel Guidebooks: Redesigning Instructional Texts for Multicultural, Multilingual, and Multinational Contexts, considers how instructional texts that ostensibly support the negotiation of difference (i.e., accepting and learning from difference) actually promote the management of difference (i.e., rejecting, assimilating, and erasing difference).

As a corrective to this focus on managing difference, chapter two constructs a theoretical …

Subverting The Subject Position : Toward A New Discourse About Students As Writers And Engineering Students As Technical Communicators, Roxane Gay

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

There is ample evidence of a longstanding and pervasive discourse positioning students, and engineering students in particular, as “bad writers.” This is a discourse perpetuated within the academy, the workplace, and society at large. But what are the effects of this discourse? Are students aware faculty harbor the belief students can’t write? Is student writing or confidence in their writing influenced by the negative tone of the discourse? This dissertation attempts to demonstrate that a discourse disparaging student writing exists among faculty, across disciplines, but particularly within the engineering disciplines, as well as to identify the reach of that discourse …

Thinking Globally, Writing Locally: Re-Visioning Critical And Service Learning Pedagogies With Globalization Theory, Cara Lindsey Kozma

Wayne State University Dissertations

Based on a theoretically informed qualitative study, my dissertation looks at critical and service learning pedagogies, focusing on the numerous critiques that have arisen within contemporary composition scholarship. Critical pedagogy has recently come under scrutiny on the grounds that it opposes students' pragmatic views and career concerns, effects student resistance in the classroom, devalues students' personal experiences, and stigmatizes white students (particularly white males). Within service learning, scholars point to numerous problems as well: It can create a false hierarchy between students and community partners by evoking an ideology of "service" and an us/them mentality; it may not be truly …

Composition Under Review: A Genre Analysis Of Book Reviews In Composition, 1939-2007, Sandra Wald Valensky

Wayne State University Dissertations

Although reviews have been a part of two flagship composition journals, College English and College Composition and Communication throughout their publication histories, little attention has been shown to them in any full length research studies. This dissertation study provides a historical genre analysis of reviews to illustrate the role of reviews in reflecting and contributing to composition's struggle for full disciplinary status.

Methodologically, this mixed methods study uses historical analysis, genre analysis, and an interview study to investigate reviews and their functions in the field of composition. A corpus of 90 reviews, 45 from each journal, was analyzed from 1939 …

An Africentric Reading Protocol: The Speculative Fiction Of Octavia Butler And Tananarive Due, Tonja Lawrence

Wayne State University Dissertations

This examination of Africentric speculative fiction (ASF) applies an Africentric reading protocol to selected works of Octavia E. Butler and Tananarive Due. Butler's Parable Series and Due's African Immortals Series are examined using seven elements of Africentric narrative specific to cultural speculative fiction. Finally, I discuss the implications of using an Africentric reading protocol as an example of cultural analysis that can be adapted to the textual analysis of culturally specific works of fiction.

Recasting The Role Of Memory In The History Of Rhetoric: The Case Of Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Autobiographies By Rhetors Of Color, Hector Carbajal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The primary object of study in this dissertation is memory within autobiographical writing among writers of color. Specifically, this project uses autobiographies by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Frederick Douglass as case studies for how minority writers of color remember within the act of writing. Memory is an important object of study because it is partially the medium by which knowledge is reproduced, reconstructed, and invented. Autobiographical writing is significant because it is a genre that has enabled individuals to write themselves as part of history. Being a part of history is important because it allows a subject to change the …

Rewriting Christians: A Rhetoric Analysis Of Emergent Church Texts, Frances Marie Suderman

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis defines the Emergent Church movement and discusses how it is situated among American Evangelical Christendom (A.E.C.). Furthermore, this thesis explores how Emergent Church texts use the rhetoric of conversation to question established biblical foundations. Through conversations the Emergent Church uses discourse that differs from traditional A.E. Christian language. Within these differences postmodern threads emerge. The theoretical framework for this study is Jean-Francois Lyotard's "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge". Two key authors considered are Rob Bell and Brian McLaren.

Politics Of Hegemony And Denial In The Rhetoric Of Language And Education Policy In Nepal: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Policy Documents And Government Sponsored Textbooks (1960-2009), Phanindra Kumar Upadhyaya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

My dissertation analyses the power dynamics of policy documents and government sponsored text-books in Nepal since the 1960s making use of critical applied discourse analysis as its theoretical lens. It looks into the rhetoric of language policies and planning in Nepal and shows how such rhetoric has shaped the overall linguistic, ethno-linguistic, ethno-religious and educational scenario, both overtly and covertly. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci's "notion of hegemony" and Teun A. van Dijk's "theory of denial," I have shown that there are groups and individuals in societies that try to keep language under control for the promotion of their political, social, …

A Revolution In Rhetoric: Recycling The Language Of Control Through Rhetorical Activism, Jerien Elizabeth Rausch

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The English language, with its infinite space and possibility, is and can be recycled to recreate authority of voice and representations of the past. Where once language was used for creating and maintaining colonial control, now, with its careful study and critical (re)applications through fictions written as alternative versions of colonial events, it can be a source of power for the reclamations of identity, culture, religion, history, story, context, and imagination. This study (re)examines an iconic exploration and colonial narrative to highlight the rhetoric used to capture and create Indigenous Peoples and places. Additionally, this study explores how works of …

Composition, Meditative Thinking, And The Writing Classroom: A Historical Analysis And Empirical Study, Gregory Todd Baran

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to explore whether meditation is a beneficial practice in the composition classroom and to validate theoretical claims to its efficacy. Core questions centered on whether or not meditation could help lessen writing blocks, get the writer into the "flow" of writing, spark creativity, and ease the overall writing process.