Rhetoric Commons^™

Politics And Pedagogy: Recuperating Rhetoric And Composition's Native Ethical Tradition, Derek Risse

Wayne State University Dissertations

Over the past decade, scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have shown renewed interest in the topic of ethics, prompting what some have described as an ethical turn in the discipline. Spurred by a deep-seated concern for the legacies of humanism, scholars have turned increasingly to extra-disciplinary referents in continental philosophy. This dissertation works to recuperate the discipline’s native ethical tradition via a critical rereading of the often-implicit treatment of ethics in Composition scholarship of the 1980s and 1990s. Returning to this “critical” moment and emphasizing the rich thinking around the question of ethics provides fuller and more disciplinary-specific resources for …

Michael Moore And The Rhetoric Of Documentary Ed. By Thomas W. Benson And Brian J. Snee (Review), Teresa Bergman

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Emerging Genres Of Online Technical Communciation, Luke Anthony Thominet

Wayne State University Dissertations

Emerging Genres of Online Technical Communication is a study of how the proliferation of non-professional participation has the potential to significantly change the shape of technical communication. More specifically, I use a genre analysis methodology to investigate three forms of user-generated content: crowdsourced documentation wikis, video games user reviews, and video game open development. In the first study, I analyze five crowdsourced documentation wikis and find systemic inconsistency in the workflow and content quality of the documentation. Subsequently, I argue that practitioners should use minimalist documentation theory to design more effective user-centered author support for the wikis. My second chapter …

Memes, Args And Viral Videos: Spreadable Media, Participatory Culture, And Composition Pedagogy, Mary Karcher

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project argues that spreadable media texts motivate people to engage in compositional activities advocated in First Year Composition (FYC). Drawing on Henry Jenkins’ assertion that participatory culture offers potential for learning, I use his list of eleven participatory culture skills that he believed necessary for all students. After showing how well the Participatory Culture Abilities (PCAs) align with the WPA Outcomes Statement (WPA OS), I put forth the WPA OS and the PCAs combined as a lens through which to view three spreadable media case studies: Spreadable Media Events, Fan Labor, and Alternate Reality Games. Based on my findings, …

The Affective Presidency, John Patrick Koch

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation explores the relationship between affect, political emotions, and presidential rhetoric. In examining the political philosophy and presidency of Woodrow Wilson, this dissertation explores how presidential rhetoric captures, channels, and/or directs the passions of the people. Drawing on research by Sarah Ahmed and Brian Masummi, this dissertation argues that presidential rhetoric intervenes into the affective process by directing the passions of citizens towards promises of happiness and investment in presidential power. Two case studies, one focusing on Wilson’s tour in support of the League of Nations and the other on presidential museums, highlight the affective function of presidential rhetoric. …

Responding To Writing Fluency: An Activity Theory Analysis Of Teacher Preparation And Practices, Daliborka Crnkovic Padon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This case study examines eight first-year writing teachers’ practices, philosophies, and preparation with a specific focus on responding to students’ writing fluency. The data is illustrated through the theoretical framework of Activity Theory (Engeström, 1987, 2005), showing various contradictions between the expectations of the Composition Studies field and the actual responding practices. To understand these contradictions, I also examine the position statements issued by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), as well as the bestselling writing teacher preparation books and first-year writing …

Exploring The Institutional And Programmatic Support Systems In Writing Studies For The Non-Traditional Student In California State Universities, Cassandra Dulin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study surveys the learning characteristics of non-traditional students aged 24 years and older. Since the California State University (CSU) system enrolls a significant non-traditional student demographic, understanding the needs of this student base is a critical component to its success. This Dissertation seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the CSU system: its history in the state of California, the context of its students and their needs, the policies and support structures it has in place to support the non-traditional student, how it defines the non-traditional student and how this definition is manifested in its goals and outcomes for …

The Role Of Enculturation In Student Writing-Related Beliefs, Values, And The Potential For Transfer, Joseph Paszek

Wayne State University Dissertations

This qualitative research project examines the relationship between students’ perception of their disciplinary identities, epistemologies, and writing and learning to write in an Intermediate Composition course. More specifically, this study investigates the impact of these “enculturative influences” on students’ perception of the writing classroom, uptake of writing studies skills and strategies, and eventual transfer of these skills and strategies to future writing contexts.

Attitudes Toward Execution: The Tragic And Grotesque Framing Of Capital Punishment In The News, Katherine Shuy

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This essay undertakes a detailed frame analysis of print and electronic media coverage of three nationally publicized death penalty cases between the years of 2014 and 2015. Drawing specifically from the work of Kenneth Burke (1984), this research argues that tragically framed death penalty cases reify victim/perpetrator discourses and cause the actual act of execution to be a fitting resolution within a narrative. Burke’s (1984) grotesque-mystical frame and Bakhtin’s (1984) theory of the grotesque body are used to argue that the media’s portrayal of botched executions help highlight the incongruities with the system of capital punishment, and cause audiences to …

Personas: A Strategy For More Inclusive And Usable Reproductive Health Tracking Technologies, Anna R. Paul

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this report, I argue for the inclusion of personas in the development process of technologies that are designed to allow users to collect and track their health information. Personas provide a profile of a user and their needs, goals, and contexts. This tool can help designers to better understand their users, in order to create better, more usable end products. I examine one particular self-tracking technology, smartphone applications that allow users to record information about their menstrual cycles. Many of the most popular period tracking applications available today only meet the needs of a narrow user group, resulting in …

Clusivity In Presidential Discourse: A Rhetorical Discourse Analysis Of State-Of-The-Nation Addresses In Ghana And The United States, Stephen K. Dadugblor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis examines the ways in which rhetors in presidential discourse simultaneously associate with and dissociate from their audiences in an attempt to consolidate power while subtly masking their actions. Drawing on comparative rhetoric and Andrus’ (2013) Rhetorical Discourse Analysis (RDA) that combines rhetoric and (critical) discourse analysis, I analyze the expressive values of selected lexical items, and the inclusive and exclusive uses of “we” in selected State of the Nation/Union Addresses in Ghana and the United States. I argue that presidents’ unique position during these speeches as both heads of nations and heads of their political parties presents a …

Rewriting, Recapturing, Reenvisioning: Writing Assessment Revisited In The Hermeneutic Sphere, Judith Ann Fourzan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores the use of hermeneutics in reconsidering the role of writing assessment in composition. The traditional view of writing assessment is negative. In order to change this traditional view and enable composition faculty to utilize writing assessment and a valuable and necessary tool, a hermeneutic sphere offers the best framework upon which to recast writing assessment as part of composition and writing. A hermeneutic sphere is an interpretive methodology that allows for the investigation of any and all aspects of the subject at hand - in this case, writing assessment. The hermeneutic sphere works much like a heuristic …

A Rhetorical Theory Of Institutions, Paul Jay Vierra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

How an institution remembers itself affects its practices and the ensuing knowledge produced. This is a result of the differences between truths and knowledge, which are based on beliefs. Beliefs are defined using either pragmatic language, which is based on observations and can be justified, or fictive language, which cannot be justified. The practices of an institution can be affected by the beliefs of the institution, which in turn affects scholarship. Modern research universities, such as the University of Texas at El Paso, must turn their research gaze not only outward, but also inwards in order to better serve society. …

Animating Composition: 3d Computer-Generated Imaging And Technical Communication Classes, Nikki Ann Agee

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This project examines the rhetorical nature of 3D computer-generated imaging (CGI) and investigates how technical communication instructors can integrate it into their classrooms to foster rhetorical awareness of digital and multimodal composing practices; to foster technical communication competencies; and to teach technical communication genres. To justify 3D CGI's study and use in technical communication classes, the Dissertation first overviews 3D CGI's complex, interdisciplinary history; discusses how professionals across disciplines rhetorically use it; and reviews the lack of scholarship on 3D CGI in Rhetoric and Writing Studies. 3D CGI is next conceptualized as a rhetorical information ecology with micro-, meso-, and …

Translingual Practice & Identity Performance: A Study Of Mongolian Youth On Facebook, Sara Bartlett Large

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study explores the translingual practices and identity performances of five participants on the social networking site, Facebook. The participants in this study are five young adults from Mongolia who participated in the U.S. State Department sponsored English Access Microscholarship program, an intensive English language program for disadvantaged youth in developing countries, from 2009 - 2011. Using a qualitative methodology based on constructivist grounded theory and relying on interviews, questionnaires, and observations of the participants' Facebook pages, this study considers the participants' use of translingual practices to build and maintain capital - linguistic, cultural, and social - as they develop …

Video Composition: Tracing Multimodal Assemblages, Zachary Aaron Warzecka

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Video Composition: Tracing Multimodal Assemblages questions and complicates current approaches to integrating digital videography, and new media at large, within academic environments. Given the field of Rhetoric and Writing Studies' persistent desire, if not struggle, to take on alternative modes of composing, the project provides an exploration of the distinct affordances, composing practices and rhetorical principles of digital videography. In particular, the Dissertation traces how videographic composing processes are taught, taken up, and even paved over within two distinct first year-writing classrooms.

In conducting grounded case studies of multimodal classrooms, the Dissertation draws disciplinary and pedagogical commonplaces into conversation with …

Shorts

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This is the entirety of the WordPress blog that accompanied Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion. SHORTS was a blog that began July 7, 2007 and ended December 21, 2015.

The Rhetoric Of Law And The Epistle To The Hebrews, Theodore A. Holt Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Epistle to the Hebrews demonstrates a complex of what scholars label technical legal terms. Enlisting a series of word studies, this thesis attempts to uncover where the author learned the terminology in order to understand more about the anonymous author and the theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews. This thesis examines terms in Heb 2:2-4; 6:13-18; 7:11-19; 8:13; 9:15-18; 10:9.

Knowing Your Place: The Impact Of Public Sphere Rhetoric On Face-To-Face Communities, And The Rhetorics That Support Racial Equality, Laura Hanson Ells

Master’s Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

#Networkedglobe: Making The Connection Between Social Media And Intercultural Technical Communication, Laura Anne Ewing

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Preparing students of technical communication in the twenty-first century means training them to rhetorically utilize a wide variety of online tools. Technical communicators are now required to employ social media applications on a daily basis to communicate with clients, consumers, colleagues, and other organizations. These online modes have also opened the door to global communication wider and continue to present opportunities and challenges to technical communicators worldwide. Using Japan as a model, this dissertation sought to demonstrate a rhetorical exigency for teaching intercultural social media communication strategies to future technical communicators in the United States. The goal of this dissertation …