Rhetoric Commons^™

Perceptions On Collaborative Writing: Exploring Student And Instructor Perceptions Of Collaborative Writing Practices In Professional Communication, Levi Ray Martin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research study focuses on the perceptions of collaborative writing held by undergraduate students enrolled in professional writing course at The University of Texas at El Paso. Working with current scholarship surrounding effective collaborative writing practices as well as Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), the author observed two different courses of professional writing. Three types of data were collected: 1. survey responses from participants at the beginning-of and end-of the course; 2. interviews with participants at the end of the semester; and 3. classroom observations. The range of data collected provided similar and different perceptions held by the student participants. The …

How The Other Half Continues To Live: A Rhetorical, Nuanced Redefining Of The Colonia Phenomenon, James Michael Nielsen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

â??Coloniasâ?? is a colloquial term used along the U.S.-Mexico border to simply mean informal housing practices. This Thesis uses critical discourse analysis theory to analyze the way the media, government, and law theorists perceive and legitimize the colonia phenomenon through discursive texts, leading to a discussion of hegemonic oppression and racism spelled out in a rhetoric of the colonias section. This Thesis also details the history of the colonias with a focus particularly on El Paso County, Texas, looking primarily at the law-based history of this phenomenon. The critical discourse analysis (CDA) conducted was influenced by rhetorical theory, particularly Bitzerâ??s …

Reimagining The Stacks: Classroom Technology And Library Collaboration For Writing In The Disciplines, Jossalyn Larson, Daniel C. Reardon

Journal of Student Success in Writing (Archived)

This article details the process by which one university redesigned a first year writing course to better promote discipline-specific and best-practice research techniques. The program offers experiential learning activities through scholarly collaboration, using library staff as mentors, producing an open-access peer-reviewed student journal, and emphasizing face-to-face interaction of peer research communities. It has the potential to establish for students in high school, community colleges and universities that research writing is fundamentally about joining and contributing to a conversation.

A Pedagogy Of Witnessing: Linguistic And Visual Frames Of The Dark Side In The Multimodal Classroom, Lindsay Hingst

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

“A Pedagogy of Witnessing: Linguistic and Visual Frames of the Dark Side in the Multimodal Classroom,” focuses on the theoretical and practical benefits of implementing written, oral, and visual testimonies from traumatic history as a tool for teaching the importance of empathetic and ethical composition practices. Specifically, this dissertation provides resource material for a critical pedagogical model that supports “responsible witnessing” through short writing assignments and a final research project that analyze selected narratives, historical accounts, images, and films spanning World War II and the Vietnam War to more recent global events. My hope is that my work will be …

Language, Rhetoric, And Politics In A Global Context: A Decolonial Critical Discourse Perspective On Nigeria’S 2015 Presidential Campaign, Yunana Ahmed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation, I conceptualize a rhetorical and linguistic analysis of politics from a decolonial framework (Mignolo, 2011; Smith, 2012). My analysis draws on classical rhetoric (Aristotle, 2007), cultural rhetoric (Mao, 2014; Powell, et al., 2014; Yankah, 1995), and linguistics (Chilton, 2004) to reveal the different ways ideological and hegemonic struggles are discursively constructed in Nigerian political campaign discourse. The data for this study come from two speeches delivered by former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 electoral campaign. This includes his declaration-of-intent speech and his speech marking the commencement of his formal campaign activities. My …

On The Same Page: Theory, Practice & The Ela Common Core State Standards, Jessica Lauer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research sought to examine how writing was happening in high schools. States across the country, including Michigan, began implementing the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The standards place a heavy focus on informational texts particularly as a student reaches high school. The standards also suggest that writing should be a shared responsibility among teachers, acknowledging the importance of cross-disciplinary writing skills. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze the semi-structured interviews conducted with eight English teachers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, this research revealed a disconnect between theory and practice when it comes to how educational standards …

The Rhetoric Of Mental Health: An Examination Of The Recategorization Of Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Dsm-5 And Its Absorption Into Public Discourse, Elsa Martin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores the discourse of mental health across genres and public spaces. The research of this project is situated within the overlap of the fields of Disability Studies (Brewer, Selfe, Yergeau, 2014; Brueggeman and Kleege, 2003; Kerschbaum, 2012; Lewiecki-Wilson, 2003) and Rhetorics of Health and Medicine (Keränen, 2013; Kopelson, 2009; Segal, 1994; Scott, Segal, & Keränen, 2013), a space that focuses on the rhetoric of mental health (Chrisman, 2008; Emmons, 2008; Hacking, 2009). Following the principles of these fields, this project deconstructs the recategorization of autism in the DSM-5, the media coverage it received, and the public reception of …

The White Rose Movement: The Rhetorical Situation And Rhetorical Stances Surrounding The Six Anti-Nazi/Anti-War Leaflets, Veronica Ruth Cruz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on the White Rose Movement's six anti-war/anti-Nazi leaflets the Movement produced and distributed between June 1942 and February 22, 1943 in Munich, Germany. The persuasiveness of the non-violent resistance Movement was analyzed and discussed using a Bitzerean and Booth rhetorical analysis. Though numerous active and passive social protests, such as marches, music, and rallies, have been examined rhetorically in the past, the research surrounding the written form of protest is minor. In direct regards to the White Rose Movement, specifically, the Movement has yet to be examined through a rhetorical lens until now. The Movement and its …

New Black Boxes: Technologically Mediated Intercultural Rhetorical Encounters On The U.S.-Mexico Border, Beau Scott Pihlaja

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Activity theory (AT) and actor-network theory (ANT) as theoretical frameworks begin their analysis of the world with the concept of "actors" engaged in activity towards some objective and with other actors in the human and non-human world. In this project, I use AT and ANT to analyze the mediating effect of communication technologies in intercultural rhetorical contexts, in this case a binational small business, and address two questions: 1.) How do common communication technologies (email, phone, IM chat, texting applications) define and transform intercultural rhetorical encounters? And 2.) How do individuals rhetorically engage perceived cultural others using common communication technologies …

Implementing Vocational Training At Escuela Quiteña De Estudios Bíblicos, Joshua K. Marcum

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This DMin project addressed the problem of the absence of a viable training model to equip graduates of EQEB (Escuela Quiteña de Estudios Biblicos) for self-sustaining ministry. Based upon a theology of vocation, the project implemented and evaluated the inclusion of a technical-skills component to EQEB’s current seminary training. The project followed the integration of sixteen EQEB students in the vocational program implemented during the 2015-2016 school year. Qualitative research data gathered from five group interviews with these students, my own field notes, and a faculty interview provided the substance upon which I based the project´s findings. Over a seven-month …

Formulating A Covenant Of Discipleship For The Membership Of The Gwinnett Church Of Christ, David Chisholm

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed the lack of a covenant of discipleship for the membership of the Gwinnett Church of Christ (GCC). The purpose of the project was to develop such a covenant document to help all the members of GCC better live out the process of becoming more like Jesus. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I explored discipleship in the exhortation sections of the book of Hebrews, which specifically addresses the need for greater commitment and intentionality amongst a community of faith. I also explored the theoretical framework of how formulating a discipleship covenant document could create progress …

Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, And The Populist Tradition In Presidential Rhetoric, Sarah Beth Shaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Populism is one of the most ambiguous terms in rhetorical scholarship. It can be a political strategy, a genuine reflection of personality, a deep manipulation of core American values, and much more. Political pundits have used it as a descriptive term, and on occasion as an insult. Some have deemed the concept’s flexibility confusing and even counterproductive, which sparked an interest in studying what is meant when analysts and scholars address political speakers as populist. This thesis examines populism in detail, by analyzing the rhetoric of former presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Two questions drove the research: (1) What …

Priestly Lineages In History And Rhetoric, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

A comparison of Cross’s reconstruction of the Oniad high priestly line with his Mushite theory lays the basis for re-evaluating historical scholarships’ interest in ancient Jewish priestly families. In the religious politics of the Second Temple period, the Aaronide priestly dynasties were the Mushite priesthood. Differentiating priestly families earlier in Israel’s history raises questions about methodology and purpose as well as evidence.

Braving Shame: The Rhetoric Of Bravery In Contemporary Women's Memoir, Debra Gayle Parker

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation interrogates the rhetoric of bravery as a culturally-infused way of hearing certain kinds of personal narratives. As a cultural rhetoric, “bravery” has deep roots in masculine militaristic ideology in which cowardice, courage, and shame are conceptually linked to a sense of duty. The memoir industry represents one environment that archives what is valued as brave writing. As rhetoric precariously at work in the memoir industry, this dissertation investigates the cultural assumptions that drive literary bravery as it is used to assess contemporary memoirs, particularly memoirs written by women. Braving Shame invokes a new brand of bravery—one that de-emphasizes …

Instattack: Instagram And Visual Ad Hominem Political Arguments, Sophia Evangeline Gourgiotis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to examine the visual political ad hominem arguments used on Instagram during the 2016 presidential campaign. Using Walton’s (2007) five subtypes of ad hominem arguments, this study analyzes the “attack ads” posted on Instagram from five of the 2016 presidential candidates into each subtype. This project seeks to understand how ad hominem arguments within political rhetoric function when they are visual. This study uses Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) theory of modality and Rose’s (2012) compositional interpretation to analyze compositional structure of the image and parallels this analysis with ad hominem subtypes.

Findings reveal …

Rhetoric And Performing Anger : Proserpina's Gift And Chaucer's Merchant's Tale., Joseph Turner

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Although scholars have historically minimized the relationship between medieval grammatical and rhetorical traditions and Chaucer's poetics, Proserpina's angry speech in the Merchant's Tale represents the intersection of medieval classroom grammar exercises, Geoffrey of Vinsauf's theory of delivery, and poetics. Proserpina's angry speech reveals that her rhetoric is calculated to subvert the masculine power structures that surround her. Such a focus on Chaucer's depiction of women's persuasive tactics helps to highlight Chaucer's deep engagement with rhetoric beginning in the 1380's. Moreover, this investigation asks for increased attention to the overlap between classroom grammatical traditions, rhetorical theory, and medieval poetics.

Evolving The Genre Of Empire: Gender And Place In Women's Natural Histories Of The Americas, 1688-1808, Diana Epelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the eighteenth century, “natural history” was a capacious genre designation that alluded to conventions as diverse in their cultural and political resonances as they were in their applications within the New Science. My project is a genre study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century natural history text and art produced by women scientists, explorers, colonists, and early Americans writing the New World; it destabilizes rigid notions of genre that exclude women, suggesting that genre is by nature fluid, inclusionary as well as exclusionary. To this end, I return into conversation understudied naturalists Maria Sybilla Merian, Jane Colden, and Eliza Pinckney, who …

Thou And It: Personhood Actualized Through Water Rights, Kierra M. Powell

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

While issues of racial and gendered discrimination are more visible and widely discussed, poverty and water based discrimination is often a silent fact of life for the many. As one of the most critical elemental resources required for the sustainability of human life, safe water has been designated a human right, but the current global distribution of water does not mirror this sentiment. The divide in quality water distribution provokes the question: whose life is intrinsically valued? This study seeks to determine the status of personhood as displayed by the movement of water in relation to the underprivileged. I first …

Wayfinding Localized Research Practices Through Mobile Technology, Adam W. Strantz

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents wayfinding—the process of orienting oneself amid the myriad users, technologies, and digital spaces impacting any writing work—as a research methodology for contextualizing writing in mobile environments. Central to web design and non-web service design, wayfinding is an important addition to rhetoric and writing studies. First, it is descriptive: it observes and records first, showing how people go about tasks, and revealing relationships among people and their environments. Second, it helps when people get lost and then found. It records traces of the mental work people do to get unlost. Finding themselves, peoples’ maps help them both narrate …

The Available Means Of Imagination : Personal Narrative, Public Rhetoric, And Circulation., Stephanie D. Weaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the digital circulation of personal narratives by non-celebrity individuals that become part of larger public and political debates. I posit the “available means of imagination” to describe the ways that narratives – cultural, fictional, and personal – influence our ability to understand the many facets of a given public debate before tracing the interactions among narrative, emotion, and circulation in a series of case studies using new materialist methods. I argue that emotion plays a key role in structures of participation of social media and in how we subsequently engage with contemporary political issues, especially with regards …