Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

On A First Name Bias: A Bibliometric Study Of Six Writing Studies Journals, Joe Torok

Wayne State University Dissertations

On a First Name Bias: A Bibliometric Study of Six Writing Studies Journals analyzes citation, authorship, source use, and other bibliometric patterns across a small collection of peer-reviewed journals featuring research from the academic field of writing studies (also known as rhetoric and composition). The study is grounded in a small but established tradition of RAD (replicable, aggregable, data-supported) scholarship in the field and uses bibliometric methods inspired by similar, primarily historiographic research studies within the field of writing studies and by critical inquiry from scholars across disciplines who have used bibliometric analysis to interrogate troubling patterns of publishing and …

African Restorative Justice Philosophy: Practicing The Ubuntu Paradigm In The Composition Classroom, Francis Hamza Issah

Wayne State University Dissertations

As the field of rhetoric and composition studies grapples with problematic institutional paradigms militating against its growth, changes taking place in the field mean that opportunity is created for a more equitable, inclusive, and diversified composition classroom. Questions of diversity, equity and inclusion have led me to investigate the composition classroom to identify and decenter structural systems of white mainstream literacy and language practices as a way of encouraging and building on the prior literacy practices of not just minority students, but all categories of students. In my dissertation research, I propose the practice of ubuntu as a way of …

Sports And Rhetorical Marginalization: A Case Study Of Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark, Diamond R. Williams

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the manifestation of racism, sexism, and capitalism in the language and rhetoric of sports media through a case study of WNBA players Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. This study theorizes that sports media has referred to Reese and Clark with damaging language tied to the intersections of their respective identities. This thesis also identifies and analyzes the presence of repeated themes throughout select sports media that mirror relevant theories surrounding stereotypes, biases, and marginalization in sports. Examining and analyzing the subtle nuances at play allows one to understand how language implicitly reinforces harmful narratives and, thus, how …

Public Writing As Open Pedagogy, Rachael Nevins

Open Educational Resources

This guide to inviting students to share their writing publicly was developed for faculty participating in seminars on open pedagogy at BMCC. It discusses public writing as a way to engage in open pedagogy, outlines the types of writing that students may engage in publicly, and presents the relevant pedagogical, technical, and ethical considerations.

The Undergraduate Spectrum 2025, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

Tips For Avoiding Contract Cheating, Dawn Atkinson

Writing

No abstract provided.

Sentence Structure, Dawn Atkinson

Writing

No abstract provided.

The Liminal South : Explorations Of Black Time, Space, And Memory, Kennedy Buckner

Theses and Dissertations

This project is composed of two analytical essays and a three-dimensional art exhibition that tangibly extract and display the ways I view the U.S. American south and my interactions with it. Inspired by the narrative photography of Carrie Mae Weems and her “Kitchen Table Series,” the project focuses on multiple generations of my own family in order to document my family's experiences in the south while theorizing how our experiences provide greater historical understanding of southern black communities over time. The first essay theorizes time, space, and memory in Toni Morrison's narrative novel Song of Solomon, with a focus on …

The Luxury Belief: How Casual Political Labeling Harms The Lower Classes, Yan Lei

A with Honors Projects

This essay argues that casual political and moral labeling, when used as a luxury belief, misleads followers, fosters intellectual complacency, and amplifies misunderstandings about complex issues such as race.

The Impact Of Teaching Students Stress And Trauma Alleviation Techniques For Coping With Distressing Materials In First-Year Composition, Faye Monique Scott

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Trauma can impact the way a student learns and focuses. In higher education, without instructors realizing it, classes may retraumatize or trigger students with the texts, media, or materials utilized. Research suggests that little attention is given to helping students deal with potentially traumatizing course materials and students inside the classrooms may be impacted by trauma whether the teacher is aware or not. This dissertation examined the effects of teaching students specific coping strategies—Trigger Warnings (TWs) and Stress and Trauma Alleviation Techniques (STATs) —while reading, writing, and reflecting on possibly distressing materials in First-Year Composition courses through a mixed methods …

16 Types Of Listening (Infographic), Cassandra Savukinas

B. The Art of Listening

An infographic based on J.W. Williams' book, Listening Skills Training. Listening is described as Helpful (Attentive Listening), Problematic (Discriminative Listening), or Depends (Critical Listening). Includes short descriptions of each. Two versions of the infographic are in the same file, one with more color and one with less (for using less printer ink).

Digital Orthodoxy And Political Populism In Eastern Europe: How Orthodox Media Facilitate Political Mobilization, Dmytro Garaschuk, Oleh Sokolovskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the intersection of Orthodox digital media and political populism in Eastern Europe, focusing on how religious institutions utilize digital platforms to facilitate political mobilization, reinforce nationalistic narratives, and undermine democratic institutions. Drawing on a comparative analysis of six countries–Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, and Montenegro–the study identifies a shared ideological matrix that fuses populist rhetoric with theological motifs. The research highlights the strategic use of digital media by Orthodox actors to construct moral binaries, sacralize political resistance, and disseminate disinformation framed in religious language. Particular attention is given to the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and …

“The New Illiteracy”: “Why Johnny Can’T Write” At 50, Carl Schlachte

Publications and Research

This article is a retrospective history on Newsweek magazine's December 8, 1975 cover story "Why Johnny Can't Write" by Merrill Sheils. Based on interviews with Sheils and her researcher Frederick V. Boyd, I detail the context from which this article emerged, and the role that the two employment and gender discrimination lawsuits at Newsweek in the early 1970s played in shaping this article's publication. I also examine the legacy of "Why Johnny Can't Write" within the field of writing studies.

Gaming The System: A Study Of The Effect Of Simulation-Gaming On The Performance Of First-Year Writing College Students, Jen L. Justice

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact of digital simulation-gaming on the writing performance of first-year college students enrolled in Northern Illinois University’s First-Year Composition (FYC) program. Using the video game Minecraft as a development platform, the study engaged students in a semester-long simulation where they acted as employees of the NIU admissions office tasked with creating a digital campus map to attract and support students. The project aimed to investigate whether simulation-based learning could enhance students' motivation, foster real-world connections in their writing, and improve academic performance compared to traditional composition courses.

The study involved 115 students across five sections of …

The Stigmatization Of Autism – Why It’S Still Present And How It Affects Women And Individuals Assigned Female At Birth (Afab), Emma Drauer

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explain some key factors (the theory of mind notion and the narrow perception of autism) that contribute to the stigmatization of autism and the impact this has on autistic women. Autistic women are heavily underrepresented, especially in the scholarly discourse, so this thesis collected first person accounts of autistic experiences through a survey and interviews. This data revealed important information such as the benefits of a diagnosis, how stigma can prevent this and have consequences, and the struggles autistic women face. Unmasking these struggles can help make the general public aware of their …

Invention Beyond The Author, Jonathan Brent Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation examines how what Michel Foucault calls the “author function” affects contemporary students of writing and examines some historical alternatives to this way of conceptualizing the writing process and the writer’s role in it. Chapter 1: Author (Dys)function describes the author function and its discontents, the problems of the Romantic conception of “genius,” and summarizes the following chapters. Chapter 2: Early Writing Instruction focuses on classical approaches to rhetorical instruction that emphasize habit and aim at the cultivation of a particular subjectivity characterized by the capacity to respond to shifting rhetorical situations; this chapter draws on the work …

Distributing Composition: Rhetorical Agency In First-Year Writing, Elizabeth Novotny

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This project centers on engaging students in class lessons related to rhetorical agency. Typically understood as the capacity to act, within rhetoric, I define agency as the capacity to make meaning. In most traditional Western conceptions, agency is primarily located with the individual rhetor. However, these views were increasingly challenged throughout the later twentieth century as theorists from various traditions came to understand that discussing our agency as solely our own doing was insufficient. In contrast to an individualistic understanding of agency, theories that characterize rhetorical agency as more fragmented have evolved, where, instead of writing and rhetoric being …

Enfilade And Variations: Interpreting Salon Music Through Residential Architecture In Eighteenth-Century Paris, Nicole Vilkner

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In eighteenth-century Parisian salons, theme and variations on popular melodies proliferated. Elaine Sisman’s seminal study of variation form provides a foundational approach for understanding variations as rhetorical exercises that persuade through differences in syntax and expression. In this vein, scholars have comprehensively affirmed the ways that salon music reflects the dialogic and sociable practices of Enlightenment receptions (Hanning, Sutcliffe, and Zohn). I suggest that theme and variation form is not only connected to the rhetoric of the salon, but that the concept of sequential elaboration is a principle that was also prized in residential architecture.

Drawing from theoretical writings of …

The Enactive Nature Of The Relationship Between Criticism And Aesthetics: From Practice To Theory To Pedagogy, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau

Presidential Fellows Articles and Research

This article delves into the intricate relationship between criticism and aesthetics, emphasizing its enactive nature. It explores how this relationship informs pedagogy and has culminated in the creation of an innovative undergraduate aesthetics course centered around the practice of writing critiques. Moreover, it illustrates the dynamic process through which practice gives rise to theory, subsequently influencing pedagogical approaches, and, intriguingly, circling back to practice. To elucidate this flow of ideas across the realms of practice, theory, and pedagogy, we introduce several key concepts. These include the paradigm of creation research, also known as practice as research, which forms the foundation …

Volume 7 (2024) Artificial Intelligence And Responsibility, Arwa Alnajashi, Danielle Derise, Philip L. Frana, David Mcgraw, Amanda Sawyer, Tatjana Titareva, Raafat Zaini, Allie Zombron

International Journal on Responsibility

The seventh volume of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) arrives at a crucial moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its integration into our academic and social fabric. As we witness the rapid advancement and deployment of AI systems across various domains, this special issue examines the multifaceted dimensions of responsibility surrounding AI technology, with a particular focus on its role in higher education and broader societal implications.

The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of responsibility through diverse lenses, from classroom implementation to ethical design considerations. Together, they fulfill IJR’s central mission of exploring “Who …