English Language and Literature Commons^™

February 24, 2014: Adapting Shakespeare Among Alabamans, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Wild Negotiations: Dolores Del Río's Filmic Identity In 1940s Cinema, Dora Ramirez-Dhoore

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hollywood star, María Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete, best known as Dolores del Río, was admired for her beauty and cross-over appeal during her career (1930–1960s). Since her first role in Joanna (1925), the construction and marketing of del Río as a cinematic star has captured the spectator’s social imagination and presents images of Latinas that are beautiful, “exotic,” accessible, translatable, and consumable. Body and language play vital roles in constructing the image spectators have grown to expect from del Río. Her filmic identity negotiates the “wilderness of theory or difference” Elaine Showalter discusses in “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness,” and which …

Wordsworth’S Guide To The Lakes, Dr. Nicholas Mason

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As I worked with Shannon Stimpson on her 2010 honors thesis on William Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes, she and I regularly lamented that no one had produced a widely accessible, modern scholarly edition of this major work. With this in mind, after Shannon’s thesis defense I proposed that she, my colleague Paul Westover, and I collaboratively produce a new edition of the Guide. In the months that followed, we received a MEG grant from the university, recruited two undergraduate students (Rachel Wise and Emily Young) to help with the project, and used most of the grant money to travel …

Emotional Response To Late Medieval Plague, John D. Young, Larry Bolick

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in late medieval Europe violently jarred the European mind-set. Particularly damaging were the intense emotions fostered in the hearts and minds of common Europeans during this pivotal period. By studying the emotional responses to these plague episodes, we may gain a deeper understanding of the medieval European weltanschauung, for the emotionally-charged documents of the plague period reveal much about the values and conventions of medieval society. From these documents we may reconstruct, to an extent, the collective and individual mind-set of plague-stricken Europe.

Lds Vernacular: English-Samoan Glossary, E. Paia Su'a Palmer, Dr. Eric Eliason

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My lexicographic project involving the production of a Samoan-English glossary for LDS vernacular had a strategy flaw which was not evident until I was into the project. Accordingly, I have made necessary design modification. The first two of the four phases which I originally proposed consisted of distilling from available translated Church literature and scriptural texts a reasonably comprehensive English list with Samoan translations. I augmented the literature research with ethnographic observation and survey of the LDS Samoan speech community in Utah, specifically members of the Heritage, Sauniatu, Mapusaga, and Vaiola Wards in Salt Lake City. The aim for a …

Transcribing And Editing Oral Histories Of Teton Valley, Idaho Residents, Tyler Mckellar, Don Norton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Teton Valley is located in Eastern Idaho, bordering Wyoming. Dominating the valley landscape is the Grand Teton mountain range. Blackfeet, Shoshone, and other Indian tribes frequented the area in their search for food. Fur trappers and mountain men followed, using the Teton basin as the location of their annual rendezvous. Mormon settlers began arriving in the 1880’s.

Text And Context: Creating And Developing Resources For Students’ Stud Of Literature And Culture, Jarom L. Mcdonald, Dr. Ed Cutler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One of the most beneficial tools for the study of literature is a working knowledge of the culture that influenced the authors of that literature and helped give rise to the social attitudes, feelings, and movements which that literature is trying to reflect. Having first-hand recognized the difficulty of trying to study literature in a “vacuum,” so to speak, my goal was to collect research and develop resources to help future students understand certain aspects of specific cultures and their relation to the literature that they are studying.

Irrigating Deserts With Just Sentiments: C.S. Lewis On Education, Jennifer L. King, Dr. O. Glade Hunsaker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst” (C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, p. 37).

In his The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis lays out the foundations of his philosophy on education. While many of Lewis’s writings on Christianity are well read and accepted by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his writings on education are not as often explored both in and out of the Church, probably because they are generally less accessible to the …

Assessing Of The Need For An English Grammar Resource For Non-Native Speakers, Steven M. Sandberg, Dr. Penny Bird

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this study was to assess the need for an established service at Brigham Young University (BYU) to assist non-native speakers of English with revisions of their papers. The study relied on the assumption that effective, writing-process learning only occurs at the point of need—the draft stages—and not after a final grade has been given. The excellent grammar resources of other language departments and the non-credit English Language Center (ELC), and the frequently overcrowded grammar resources at the Reading/Writing Center (R/WC), prompted the idea of creating an English Grammar Lab at the R/WC.

Using Instructional Design Theory To Create A Student Editing Handbook, Andrea M. Reese, Dr. Beverly B. Zimmerman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The curriculum for the Insight student journal workshop class consisted of an eclectic mix of handouts distributed at the editor’s whim. Some were created by previous editors, some photocopied without attribution to the teachers who wrote them, and others adapted from undocumented print sources. Not only did this raise ethical problems, but the number and variety of handouts made overlap of content inevitable. I realized the head editors could use class time more effectively if lessons were distinct and parallel.

Research And Creative Work Report, Shaunalei Boyer Andersen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

From January to May 1995, for my honors thesis project, I studied the text of Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey. My intent was to unravel the mystery behind her at times conflicting allusions to nov· els and literature in the work-to try to decipher the connection between her concurrent criticism and praise of certain literary genres and practices.

Belonging: The Nature And Nurture Of Community, Liesl Marie Buskirk, Dr. John S. Bennion

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The process of composing an essay collection is one that comprises far more mental energy than merely sitting in front of a computer screen and typing away until you reach the desired number of pages. It begins with a collection of ideas­ gleaned from personal experience and the writing and thought of other thinkers. As these ideas interact, they form linkages that slowly evolve into a complex network of interrelated themes—the threads from which the fabric of an essay is woven. One of the most difficult phases of the work is sorting and dividing the tangled threads to feed into …

February 12, 2014: Awards, Awards, And More Awards! March 21, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Field Trips Into Life: Things I Learned By Going To School With Second Graders, Mark Carter

Journal of Undergraduate Research

0ne day I decided I needed some more excitement and challenge in my life. So, I went to a local elementary school and volunteered as a teacher assistant to a bilingual education instructor. Together, she and I took on a rambunctious class of second graders, with hopes of educating them. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that it was the children who were educating me.

Psalms Of A City: Poems On The Inner-City Life Of Los Angeles, Kael Moffat

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I proposed to fly down to Los Angeles for two weeks and compile notes, take photographs, and conduct interviews with people for the purpose of writing a chapter in a book of poetry about the L.A. area. My intent was to write about the conditions and life-style of inner-city communities.

The New Language Policy In South Africa: A Sociolinguistic Analysis And Implication For The Bantu Languages, Richard Cameron Blake

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In April, 1994, the first all-race presidential and parliamentary elections were held In South Africa after several years of multi-party constitutional negotiations. J’ielson Mandela, a political-prisoner-turned-president, was given the charge to uphold the new constitution, one In which all South Africans are regarded equally, regardless of race. Part of that constitution is a new language policy designed to reflect the wide diversity of languages In the country. Under the new language policy, 11 languages (nine of them spoken by different African tribal groups) are now recognized as official languages instead of only English and Afrikaans (a Dutch-based language spoken by …

Ed Riggs '77, Musselman Library, Edward Riggs

Next Page

In this Next Page contribution, Ed Riggs ’77 talks about his adventures on the Appalachian Trail last summer, what he read to prepare for the trip, how he got his trail name, favorite authors to read when he's off the trail, and more.

Venezuelan Portraits, Trenton Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Several months ago, the Office of Research and Creative Work accepted my proposal to prove poet Richard Hugo’s concept of the poetic “triggering town” by spending two weeks in Venezuela and then letting the sensory data I gathered “trigger” a substantial body of poetry. The research grant would enable me to 1) make the information-gathering trip to Venezuela, 2) write a body of Venezuela poems (I estimated 40), and 3) revise the poems for Fall 1994 submission to literary magazines around the country.

Great With Child: Pregnancy Narratives By Mormon Women, Angela Ashurst-Mcgee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I completed an honors thesis entitled “Great with Child: Pregnancy Narratives by Mormon Women.” Richard Duerden of the English Department advised the thesis. Neal Kramer, William Wilson, and Doris Dant also gave feedback and assistance. I interviewed eight women and transcribed and edited seven interviews, which totaled more than 100 pages. As an introduction to the narratives, I wrote a 25-page theoretical study entitled, “Mormonism, Feminism, and Pregnancy.”

George R.R. Martin And The Myths Of History: Postmodernism And Medievalism In A Song Of Ice And Fire, Elizabeth Wawrzyniak

Foley Library Scholarship

No abstract provided.