Digital Commons Network^™

Why Read In The Age Of Post-Literacy?, Corrine H. Martello

Educational Studies Honors Papers

This research paper aims to answer the question, “Why read?” by exploring the significance and purpose of reading, during what many have begun to call the post-literacy era, in order to convey the message that we as human beings have a fundamental need for reading and a failure to fulfill this need may result in an inability to reach one’s full potential as both an individual and as a society at large.

Julie And Julia 2.0 Emergent Themes Of “One Year” Food Blogging Challenge, Anna Hollrah

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This study analyzed the thematic patterns that emerge in year-end posts by food bloggers who undertook a one-year blogging challenge. Using rhetorical criticism and an open coding process, 25 reflective blog posts were analyzed to identify recurring themes and motivations from the legacies of Julia Child and Julie Powell. The analysis identified seven primary themes, which were then grouped into two categories: advice and response. The themes included authenticity, inspiration, hard work, learning, enjoyment, gratitude, and community building.

Several of these themes reflected the influence and advice of Child and Powell, and they also highlighted the blogger’s personal growth, creativity, …

Harness The Darkness! Blackout Poetry And Drama Therapy For Systemic Existential Dread: A Proposed Methodology, Kerry Sullivan

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis explores the intersection of drama therapy and blackout poetry as a therapeutic intervention to address systemic existential dread (SED) among emerging adults. The proposed methodology is titled "Bringing Blackout Poetry to Life" and consists of five sessions designed to explore the participants’ SED and generate poetry, culminating in a public performance. By integrating elements from psychodrama and drama therapy with the therapeutic process of blackout poetry, the intervention intends to aid processing on all levels of the expressive therapies continuum (ETC), strengthen tolerance for uncertainty, and facilitate sustainable community action. This theoretical framework is supported by a wide-ranging …

Reclaiming The Narrative: Integrating Narrative Therapy And Songwriting For Children And Adolescents Living Through Adverse Childhood Experiences, Emma Smith

Expressive Therapies Theses

Children and adolescents tend to lack agency and power in their lives with their status as minors. Lack of agency can be exacerbated if they are experiencing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Narrative songwriting is an approach with emerging methods that may support liberation, agency, and ownership for this population. Although there is a plethora of trauma-informed songwriting methods in music therapy literature focusing on young populations, there is sparse research about using narrative songwriting with this population. In this thesis, literature from both music therapy and narrative therapy with young populations experiencing ACEs was located and analyzed using a qualitative …

The Brain And Becoming: Integrating Play And Performance-Based Learning In The Community College Classroom, Hannah M. Green

English

Instruction in the community college classroom is in need of a shift, according to neuroscientific, pedagogical, and demographic data. Primarily, students in today’s community college classrooms are instructed in the form of lectures (Nilson 106), but research has shown that game-based learning would be the way to enhance learning experiences for these adult learners. Game-based learning specifically takes form in student learning through games, interactive reading activities such as performance pedagogy, discussions, and small group work. While research shows that play-based learning at the community college level is neurologically beneficial for students, there is a gap in implementing play-based learning …

Illustrated Children's Book: "The Adventures Of Mr. C", Anne-Marie Wadsworth, Joanne Whitcombe

Honors Capstones

"The Adventures of Mr. C" is a children's book written by Anne-Marie Wadsworth and her grandmother, Joanne Whitcombe. It was illustrated by Anne-Marie Wadsworth, 2026 NIU graduate, as her honor's capstone project. The book was presented at NIU's 2026 Visual Communication Senior Show on April 30th. It is a christian-inspired true story about an abandoned bird (Mr .C) that becomes part of Joanne's family. Mr C. flies away from his home and is lost for many months, until Joanne experiences a timely, unexpected miracle that only God and his angels can take credit for.

I Taught Myself To Feel Nothing, Jeaneliz Marie Martinez Maldonado

Student Projects

Jeaneliz Martinez is an artist who decided to challenge herself to confront personal insecurities by placing her own body in front of her camera. What initially stemmed from an inability of looking at herself without the feeling of disgust became a central point of exploration within the work.

This series is exploring Jeaneliz’s ongoing struggles with mental health. Using self-portraiture, she captures moments of vulnerability, tension, and introspection, while also addressing the complexities of healing. Each image functions as a visual fragment of her journey, reflecting both the weight of past experiences and the effort required to move towards self-acceptance. …

Lost, Not Found, Lily K. Ostrovsky

Student Projects

Found, Not Lost is a documentation of a fictional cult in DeKalb that worships an unseen entity believed to live within the surrounding corn fields. It grew out of the isolation I felt when I first transferred to NIU, when making friends and interacting with people felt difficult, and it seemed like everyone around me already belonged to something I couldn’t access. That experience began to feel like being surrounded by an impenetrable cult.

Pests that plague corn crops, handmade corn husk dolls, teeth, and nails are present throughout this series. These elements, in conjunction with low-contrast light, are meant …

Catacombs In Context: Exploring Roman Architectural Influence In The Catacombs Of Rabat, Malta, Emily S.R Hodson

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

Previously, scholarship on the Mediterranean catacombs has focused on isolated sites or on the religious significance and iconography of regional groups. By contextualizing the archaeological data through comparison and recentering the discussion on architecture, this research offers a contextualized, non-apologetic picture of ancient Mediterranean catacombs. This architectural comparison between the Roman catacombs and those of St. Paul and Abbatija Tad-Dejr in Malta reveals both significant architectural change and the persistence of archaic features, suggesting a high degree of cultural continuity under Roman provincial governance on Malta (218 BCE - c. 5th - 6th centuries CE). This, paired with the emergence …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1910.

Learning Through Reading: Confronting Novel Linguistic Forms In Literature, Quinn Doyle

German Studies Honors Projects

How do readers learn to engage with novel forms of written language that fall outside of their established linguistic repertoire? And how do texts themselves facilitate this process? This thesis looks for answers to these questions in literary theory, multilingualism studies, applied linguistics, and a diverse corpus of literary works. I propose a comprehensive descriptive vocabulary of novel language use in literature, and then observe how these frameworks work in concert in an exemplary text by analyzing Christine Brooke-Rose’s multilingual novel Between. I conclude by discussing how the “exceptional” cases explored in this thesis can change our understanding of …

Influences Of Musical Experience On Absolute Pitch Memory, Mia A. Guzman

Music Honors Projects

Absolute pitch (AP), colloquially known as “perfect pitch,” is the ability to identify or recreate any musical note without an external reference tone. While many believe AP is an exceptional, innate musical talent, I argue that AP is a continuous ability influenced by experience. Using a mixed-methods approach that combined behavioral tasks with interviews, I examined AP memory in AP possessors and non-possessors with varying musical backgrounds to understand how experience-based factors, such as language, primary instrument, and the onset and style of musical training, might influence individual performance on established AP measures.

Anti-French Sentiment As A Factor In The Coup Belt, Foster P. Mcgrath

Politics Honors Papers

This thesis examines if anti-French sentiment is a significant factor influencing individuals' support for coups d'état in former French colonies in Africa, mostly in the sub-Saharan Sahel region which has earned the term "Coup Belt."

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal for Florence Normal College, October 1909.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Je Me Vois En Toi: La Construction D’Identité Nationale Française À Travers Les Représentations Filmiques De La Triangulation Franco-Américaine, De Demy À Godard, Molly E. Friedrichs

French Honors Projects

This project explores the role of cinema in the establishment and rupture of “Franco-American triangulation” through representations of the United States in French cinema. Through an analysis of films by Jacques Demy and Jean-Luc Godard, I apply theories of the definition of the nation, the image, and the spectacle to analyze the relationship between the French nation and the cinematic image of the United States in the Nouvelle Vague. Ultimately, this paper uses technical and visual analysis to understand the powers and limits of film both to facilitate Franco-American triangulation, and to represent and critique French national ideology.

It’S No Longer Greek To Me: A Gamified Parsing Study Tool, Josiah J. Lane

Senior Honors Theses

Learning Koine Greek presents significant challenges due to the language’s complex morphology, including multiple verbal forms encoding tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, and number. Traditional methods relying on rote memorization often fail to support long-term retention and rapid parsing ability. This project presents a web-based parsing study tool designed to address these challenges by integrating spaced repetition algorithms, active recall, and gamification principles. The system leverages a relational database of lexical forms and parsed words, enabling adaptive scheduling of practice items based on individual learner performance. Gamified elements, including scoring, progress tracking, and immediate feedback, sustain engagement and encourage consistent …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, January 1911.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, October 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, May 1910.

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1910.

*Press of The Florence Times*

Ameling Manor Drive, Dalia K. Al-Sagr

Art and Art History Honors Projects

This honors project has been an exploration of my relationship with time and memory. By studying old childhood photos, I translate them onto canvas, focusing on how my perception of specific memories affects my color composition and value structure. I explore the evolution of perspective by understanding how my adult self views these pictures. In turn, this captures time and impermanence. My paintings focus on specific details in the photos, while other sections appear faded. I use an oil glazing technique to represent how some moments are vivid, while others are fogged with emotion. This reflects how memory tends to …

Multicultural Marketing: Rebranding Chick-Fil-A For Chinese Audiences, Christina Pan

Senior Honors Theses

China is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and consumption is its main cause of growth. With a population of 1.4 billion people, many companies want to establish themselves in China. However, China and the United States markets are vastly different, and China’s post-COVID economy makes success increasingly difficult. Factors such as domestic competition, weakening US-China relations, and increased suspicion in foreign products calls for a new marketing and branding approach for United States companies. Fast-food giants such as McDonald’s and KFC have managed success in the past, but one company that also has potential is Chick-Fil-A. This …

Connected Pastors: The Importance Of Having Safe Support Systems In Ministry, Karin A. Hines

Senior Honors Theses

Pastors minister to broken people, but sometimes they need help themselves. Many pastors do not seek help or do not have anyone safe to go to, often for fear of losing their influence or job. This thesis argues that sharing one’s life with safe people is essential, especially for those who are in high-stress professions. It explores pastoral support systems, examines comparable stigmas against seeking help in other fields, analyzes the science of sharing and isolation and their effects on the brain and body, and considers the Bible’s instructions on living in community for one’s personal well-being. Pastors require intentional, …

Nietzsche And Socrates: Reflections Of Redefined Virtue In Greek Tragedy, Kyle M. Lowry

Senior Honors Theses

The works of Friedrich Nietzsche were used to study how Greek Tragedy was “born” and “died,” particularly in relation to the rise of Socratic philosophy in Ancient Greece. The intoxicated “Dionysian” and disciplinary, artistic “Apollinian,” are the elements Nietzsche claims encompass and catalyze human experience; the former containing the primal nature of the Being, and the latter containing the ordering through which identity is formed and art is created. Tragedy, the art form perfectly balancing these two elements was “born” within the conditions of a Dionysian Pessimism, by which the inevitable life of suffering was redeemed aesthetically. Socrates introduced rationality …

Florence Normal College Quarterly, Faculty Of Florence Normal College

Documents

Faculty Quarterly Journal of Florence Normal College, March 1911.

Fluid Belonging, Soft Boundary, Jingyi Liu

MFA in Visual Art

This thesis conceptualizes cultural identity as a fluid and dynamically generated process shaped through the experience of migration. Drawing on contemporary art practices and theoretical frameworks of diaspora and hybridity, the thesis is structured around four interrelated dimensions: fluid identity, memory fragmentation, material interaction, and spatial displacement.

Within the artist’s practice, traditional techniques are reactivated as both cultural signifiers and material approaches that adapt and transform across shifting contexts. Fragmentation is understood not as the loss of information but as a mode of reassembly. Materials such as ink, textile, and dye function as active agents that carry time and cultural …

Spinoza On Invidia: A Social Theory Of Anti-Migrant Affect, Kevin Scott Jobe

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This paper develops a Spinozist social theory of anti-migrant affect by interpreting contemporary hostility toward immigration through the concept of invidia (envy). Drawing on recent empirical research on ‘superiority-seeking’, whereby individuals derive status utility from excluding others, the paper interprets invidia as an affective hatred of equality. For Spinoza, envy is caused not by actual material loss but from the imagination that misconceives shared goods as exclusive possessions. This social theory of invidia inverts readings that locate envy in migrants themselves, instead arguing that, in Spinoza’s Political Treatise, the democratic multitude harbours invidia against migrants when they are perceived as …

Learning English Through Movies And Tv Series, Zilola Makhmadalieva

Language Study as a Gateway to the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Horses And The Negative Impact From Humans, Gabrielle Hayes

Student Projects

This reflection paper addresses my Capstone Project question of "How can I use the printmaking technique of carving woodblocks to create medium and large-scale poster-like pieces to address my theme about horses and the human caused issues they have encountered over time?". Through an exploration of technique and process of woodblock carving and reduction I create four pieces to by shown in the 2026 BFA Exhibition Show. An additional 30x40 inch print was achieved, but not on display. Using reductive and multiple 12x16 inch woodblocks I achieve colorful and impactful prints that show the underlying cruelty of horses through "corrective …

Soma: Exploring Touch As Performance And Performance As Therapy, Erica Pamson

Expressive Therapies Theses

This project investigated the role of touch within a performative context and its potential as a creative intervention within Expressive Arts Therapy. Grounded in phenomenology and intersubjectivity, the study draws on Expressive Arts Therapy (EXAT) and Performance Art frameworks that position meaning as emerging through embodied, co-created experience. Existing literature identifies touch as a primary mode of perception and communication, essential to both physical and emotional well-being, while also noting its increasing absence and regulation within contemporary Western culture. Performance art literature further highlights the body as both medium and site of relational exchange, often dissolving boundaries between performer and …