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A Pre-Structural Center: Deconstructing Classical Social Theory, Darius F. Irani Jan 2020

A Pre-Structural Center: Deconstructing Classical Social Theory, Darius F. Irani

Honors Undergraduate Theses

For theory and literature to evolve parallel to the subject matter which it associates, it recurrently progresses through admittance of variably incremental, yet critical, entries. This is the nature of modernism. This thesis reflects on one important point in the life of modernism, the advent at which society is first formalized and assimilated into theory: the origin of social theory, a point indisputably influential to twentieth century philosophy, but just eclipsed by one of that century's most noticeable theoretical features. The past century saw the rise and fall of a universalizing framework called structuralism. Informing the disciplines, especially the social …

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La Mano E Il Braccio: Comparing Italian Immigrant Communities In Louisiana And Florida, 1880-1914, Keith Richards Jan 2020

La Mano E Il Braccio: Comparing Italian Immigrant Communities In Louisiana And Florida, 1880-1914, Keith Richards

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Italian immigration patterns to Louisiana and Tampa, FL have received a good deal of scholarly attention as two separate phenomena, but they are better understood as informing one another in the evolution of southern thought in regard to Italian immigrants. Italians were the second largest non-black minority group behind Mexicans to be lynched, and in understanding the circumstances surrounding those acts of extrajudicial violence, a pattern is apparent. Lynchings of Italians in Louisiana emerged out of fear of the Black Hand (La Mano Nera), and the Mafia, whereas the sole incident of an Italian being lynched in Tampa occurred as …

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A Transnational Look At The Modern Women, Isabella Hardesty Jan 2020

A Transnational Look At The Modern Women, Isabella Hardesty

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Spanning forty years apart, the short story “Miss Sophia’s Diary” (1926) by Ding Ling and The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath can speak to one another in revealing the position of women in a revolutionary new era. The two stories may be generationally and geographically distant, yet both hold a collective female consciousness in the context of the emerging modernist epoch. By examining these two pieces of literature in relation to one another, similar attitudes and stylistic trends emerge regarding the treatment of women. The common archetypes, for each respective time and country, imprinted onto women are at some …

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Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Echoes: Digital Political Discourse And Vectors Of Ideological Propagation, Devon Razey Jan 2020

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Echoes: Digital Political Discourse And Vectors Of Ideological Propagation, Devon Razey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study analyzes the discursive strategies used by participants in online non-political spaces to negotiate and propagate political ideologies. Through the use of Critical Discourse Analysis in rhetorical studies (Huckin et. al.), this study produced a theory of political ideological vectors in digitally connective social network platforms. The analysis uses discussions taken from Twitter and Reddit surrounding the introduction of an Asian female character, Nagini, in the Fantastic Beats: Crimes of Grindelwald trailer immediately following its release in September 2018. Ultimately, this study found that participants are less likely to isolate themselves within politically congenial echo chambers than previously theorized …

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Color And Color Placement Effects On Purchase Intent Of Loot Boxes In Video Games, Mackenzie Bland Jan 2020

Color And Color Placement Effects On Purchase Intent Of Loot Boxes In Video Games, Mackenzie Bland

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Research on the effects of color associations in gambling situations has especially come to the forefront in recent times with the rise of casinos and other sales techniques in which consumers do not know the outcome of their purchases. Loot boxes are a unique form of micro-transactions in video games where players are uncertain about the objects they will receive with their monetary purchase. The aim of this study is to explore the effects of color and color placement in ads on loot box purchase intent. It will contribute to research about color perception in marketing and will, more specifically, …

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"It’S Just A Bad Period" And Other Ways Of Dismissing Women's Pain: An Ethnographic Look Into The Experience Of Endometriosis, Selina Hays Jan 2020

"It’S Just A Bad Period" And Other Ways Of Dismissing Women's Pain: An Ethnographic Look Into The Experience Of Endometriosis, Selina Hays

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis uses online ethnographic methods to analyze the impact of patriarchal values on the illness experiences of women with endometriosis. Current literature suggests that negative impact on patients with endometriosis with regard to cultural discourse surrounding menstruation and chronic illness. Utilizing a combination of critical discourse analysis and constructivist grounded theory, the results of this research demonstrate that patients engage in a form of performance that is reactive to normalization and dismissal of pain by doctors and wider social support due in part to cultural stigmas of menstruation and chronic pain, as well as the inherent power imbalance in …

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Social Change And Games Of Chance At The Site Of Gallon Jug, Nicholas C. Kopp Jan 2020

Social Change And Games Of Chance At The Site Of Gallon Jug, Nicholas C. Kopp

Honors Undergraduate Theses

During the 2019 field season of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project (CCAP)/Belize Estates Archaeological Survey Team's (BEAST) work in northwestern Belize, excavations commenced at an elite household at the site of Gallon Jug, named Courtyard B-1. Excavations revealed intriguing details about the lives of the inhabitants through the presence of burials, ceramics, architecture, and – as is central to this research – Patolli boards. Patolli, a prehistoric game of chance played throughout Mesoamerican, is a relatively under researched topic within the field of archaeology. In this thesis I argue that the patolli boards at Gallon Jug portray evidence of elite …

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Necessary And Convenient: The Effect Of Commerce And Necessary And Proper Clause Jurisprudence, Janis Olkowicz Jan 2020

Necessary And Convenient: The Effect Of Commerce And Necessary And Proper Clause Jurisprudence, Janis Olkowicz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

While reading a news article about the upcoming presidential election one day, I noticed a trend. The vast majority of political articles discuss what the federal government should do, but almost never cover what it could do. In elementary school, American children are taught that the Constitution, a 4,543-word document, is the place from which all federal power is derived; but the Constitution says nothing about the regulation of travel, narcotics, or the vast majority of other areas that affect the way we live our daily lives, so where does that power come from? After some preliminary research, I discovered …

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Separating Content Selection From Surface Realization In Neural Text Summarization, Logan Lebanoff Jan 2020

Separating Content Selection From Surface Realization In Neural Text Summarization, Logan Lebanoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Text summarization is a rapidly growing field with many new innovations. End-to-end models using the sequence-to-sequence architecture achieve high scores according to automatic metrics on standard datasets. However, they frequently generate summaries that are factually inconsistent with the original article -- a vital problem to be solved before the summaries can be used in real-world applications. In addition, they are not generalizable to new domains, especially those with few training examples. In this dissertation, we propose to explicitly separate the two steps of content selection and surface realization in summarization. Content selection is the process of choosing important words/phrases/sentences from …

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Reading Between The Lines: Language Ideologies And Tutor Education Readings, Michele Cintron Toney Jan 2020

Reading Between The Lines: Language Ideologies And Tutor Education Readings, Michele Cintron Toney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Language difference and socially-just writing center praxis have long been points of discussion within writing center scholarship. Writing center administrators and tutors recognize that the praxis within their writing centers does not always correspond to their beliefs about working with student writers or the role of the writing center within the academy—particularly in the areas of language equality and social and racial justice—and they acknowledge the impact that course readings have in tutor education. While tutor education readings may not specifically state a particular ideological viewpoint regarding language difference, their discussions of language and rhetorical practices, multilingual writers, and tutoring …

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Naming More Of What We Know: Critical Memoirs & The Ecological Metaphor As A Threshold Concept In Writing, Loren Cooper Jan 2020

Naming More Of What We Know: Critical Memoirs & The Ecological Metaphor As A Threshold Concept In Writing, Loren Cooper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

"Naming More of What We Know: Critical Memoirs & the Ecological Metaphor as a Threshold Concept in Writing" contributes to the work begun by Adler-Kassner and Wardle to gather and name Writing Studies' body of disciplinary knowledge as "threshold concepts." This thesis answers their call to engage in the ongoing development of threshold concepts by offering an additional critical construct: Writing as ecological. To explicitly acknowledge that writing is ecological is an essential addition to the content of our knowledge because it (1) meets the threshold-concept criteria adapted from Meyer and Land (2003), (2) establishes a codified, embodied, 3-dimensional system …

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Speech Communication At Iowa State University: A Departmental History And Aftermath, Luke Lefebvre Jan 2020

Speech Communication At Iowa State University: A Departmental History And Aftermath, Luke Lefebvre

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In 1903 at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, a Public Speaking department emerged. This transition occurred over a decade prior to public speaking teachers seceding from English. Members of the department played foundational roles in establishing the national association and moving the discipline toward research-driven initiatives in order to secure legitimacy across academic landscapes. Surviving two World Wars, the Great Depression and title merger with English, the department again emerged as an independent academic unit prior to the 1970s. The department included faculty from areas of speech, drama, telecommunicative arts, and speech disorders, which progressed until its …

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Metatheatre And Critical Race Theory: A Combination For Compelling Storytelling And Effective Changemaking, Andrew Coleburn Jan 2020

Metatheatre And Critical Race Theory: A Combination For Compelling Storytelling And Effective Changemaking, Andrew Coleburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Vaclav Havel once said that "[t]heatre is always a sensitive seismograph of an era, perhaps the most sensitive one there is; it's a sponge that quickly soaks up important ingredients in the atmosphere around it." One of the more important "ingredients" in our cultural atmosphere in modern America is the issue of identity. In his book on metatheatre, Richard Hornby posits that theatre is "a kind of identity laboratory, in which social roles can be examined vicariously." In this thesis, I examine Hornby's theory of the five different modes of metatheatre, critique each, and argue for the addition of a …

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Complete Issue, Volume 39, Issue 2 Jan 2020

Complete Issue, Volume 39, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 39, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

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Exploring Arts Integration In Language Arts Instruction For Elementary Education, Mary A. Dehner Jan 2020

Exploring Arts Integration In Language Arts Instruction For Elementary Education, Mary A. Dehner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide insight on how arts integration in English language arts education increases engagement and achievement in students and teachers alike. Throughout my analysis of literature, local field research in two Central Florida public elementary schools, and my creation of a five-day arts-integrated writing unit, I found that arts integration, especially when utilizing Leonard Bernstein’s Artful Learning Method was observed to show a positive impact on students. Arts integration allowed for a child’s natural curiosity and instinct to create to take over, which created authentic learning experiences for the students. The research also demonstrated …

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Creating A Sentence Frame Toolkit Based On Third Grade Writing Standards To Support The Writing Instruction Of Spanish-Speaking English Learners, Tanisha J. Rosa Le Bron Jan 2020

Creating A Sentence Frame Toolkit Based On Third Grade Writing Standards To Support The Writing Instruction Of Spanish-Speaking English Learners, Tanisha J. Rosa Le Bron

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Third grade general education teachers, particularly in Florida, will teach English learners (ELs) in their classroom who must participate in their English Language Arts writing classes at roughly the same pace as native English speakers in order to perform grade-level, standards-based writing tasks. For this reason, general education teachers must be equipped with helpful, research-based resources to support the ELs to become equally successful in writing instruction as their native-speaking peers. This thesis explored the use of sentence frames for improving the English skills of ELs as they start to understand and use the syntax of Standard English. As a …

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"Yo, Indocumentadx:" Latinx Undocumented Immigrant Identity, Freedom, And Anti-Immigrant Discourses In The United States, Guadalupe Rivas Navarro Jan 2020

"Yo, Indocumentadx:" Latinx Undocumented Immigrant Identity, Freedom, And Anti-Immigrant Discourses In The United States, Guadalupe Rivas Navarro

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The thesis explores how some undocumented Latinx immigrants thrive and understand their personhood and security in the current “immigration crisis” in the U.S. Using ethnographic tools such as interviews and participant observation, I gathered undocumented Latinx immigrants’ narratives about living in Orlando, Florida. I concluded that American immigration policies use lack-of-freedom strategies to limit their experiences and rights as human beings, also as a means to deter future immigrants. Through the lens of undocumented Latinx immigrants’ stories, I analyze the relationship between freedom, power, and identity in the social hierarchy of privileges in the United States to understand how their …

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Viral Stories In Spanish And English: A Qualitative Analysis Of Narrative Perceptions Regarding Infant Immunizations Across Major Ethno-Linguistic Communities, Zeynep H. Elshaer Jan 2020

Viral Stories In Spanish And English: A Qualitative Analysis Of Narrative Perceptions Regarding Infant Immunizations Across Major Ethno-Linguistic Communities, Zeynep H. Elshaer

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to analyze the varying perceptions among Hispanic (Spanish-speaking) and Anglophone communities regarding vaccines and more specifically infant immunization practices, in order to identify common or diverging patterns of communication, information dissemination, and narrative discourse. Currently, medical messaging and health policy is largely formulated without thorough attention to the different ways diverse or minority ethno-linguistic communities may interpret the information, thereby leading to deficiencies in effective communication practices between individuals and healthcare providers or policymakers, and outright opposition between informal and formal public health messaging. This evaluation was conducted in order to broaden the current …

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An Investigation Of Factors Predicting Academic Writing Difficulties Among First-Year Doctoral Students, Iman Ibrahim Khudhair Jan 2020

An Investigation Of Factors Predicting Academic Writing Difficulties Among First-Year Doctoral Students, Iman Ibrahim Khudhair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This exploratory study investigated the variables that predict academic writing difficulties (AWDs) among first-year doctoral students, international and domestic, at a large, publicly funded research university in Southeastern United States. Data were collected through an online survey. The final sample size contained 111 first - year students, domestic and international from various doctoral programs. The first analysis examined factors predicting first-year doctoral students' self-assessed writing difficulties, using Multiple Linear Regression. Five factors were statistically significant predictors of AWDs: Asian race, Colleges of Business, Engineering, and Science, and the age between fifty-five to sixty-four. The remaining factors associated with age, Race, …

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Proud Deaf! An Ethnographic Study Of Deaf Culture In A High School, Carrie Woods Jan 2020

Proud Deaf! An Ethnographic Study Of Deaf Culture In A High School, Carrie Woods

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine the culture of students who are deaf and hard of hearing within the broader context of an inclusive high school, specifically as demonstrated though their learning experiences, socialization, and identity. The researcher gathered qualitative data in the form of observations, in-depth interviews, and participant video diary entries to gain insight into the shared cultural model of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. The data provided a holistic picture of cultural phenomena through the points of view of the subjects of the study. The description of the culture of this …

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Reconsidering Student Attitudes Towards School Achievement: A Mixed Method Approach To Explore Gifted Middle School Underachievers' Attitudes About School, Allison Berner Jan 2020

Reconsidering Student Attitudes Towards School Achievement: A Mixed Method Approach To Explore Gifted Middle School Underachievers' Attitudes About School, Allison Berner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study aimed to examine the attitudes and lived experiences of individuals identified as 'gifted underachievers'. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate the concept 'gifted underachievement' using a survey regarding student attitudes towards school and individual interviews. This study used a sequential explanatory design: the first phase compared gifted achievers and gifted underachievers to determine school-related attitude differences; the second phase used a transcendental phenomenological design to describe the lived experiences of those identified as gifted underachievers. A mixed methods approach allowed for the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research methods to be utilized with evidence from survey …

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Resource Teachers And Multi-Tier Systems Of Supports: Black Males' Special Education Identification, Fredrick Brooks Jan 2020

Resource Teachers And Multi-Tier Systems Of Supports: Black Males' Special Education Identification, Fredrick Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The disproportionality of students placed in special education programs continues to plague the education community, particularly Black male students. "For too many Black male students, learning difficulties or challenging behaviors come to be equated with disability, often without consideration of the way in which the environment of schools and classrooms contribute to student difficulties" (Jordan, 2016, p. 33). This study examined the lived experiences of resource teachers who lead Multi-tier Systems of Supports (MTSS) implementation in their schools. The study reviewed the extent to which their perceptions, perspectives, understandings, and feelings drive their problem solving and decision-making regarding referrals to …

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Social Justice, Inclusive Education, And Teacher Agency, Jennifer Sanguiliano Lonski Jan 2020

Social Justice, Inclusive Education, And Teacher Agency, Jennifer Sanguiliano Lonski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Public school education in the United States has a long history of supporting societal norms within the curriculum and classroom. Through the use of social justice and inclusive education (SJIE), teachers have the unique ability to disrupt the social reproduction of inequity within their content and curriculum. In order to do this, teachers must first understand social justice and inclusive education (knowledge) and feel comfortable and confident implementing it within their classroom (agency). This study focuses on 13 public school teachers who attended a weeklong professional development program which focused on social justice, privilege, trauma-informed education, mindfulness, and inclusive education …

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The Implementation Of An Interdisciplinary Literacy Approach To Examine Effects On Writing Self-Efficacy In A Fourth Grade Classroom, Chelsea Wharin Jan 2020

The Implementation Of An Interdisciplinary Literacy Approach To Examine Effects On Writing Self-Efficacy In A Fourth Grade Classroom, Chelsea Wharin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This qualitative action research examines the effects, if any at all, the implementation of an interdisciplinary literacy unit in a fourth-grade classroom had on students' perceived writing self-efficacy. This study aims to inform the teacher-researcher to make actionable changes to current teaching. Additionally, this study continues the research and discussion surrounding how educators and stakeholders approach instruction. This research required participants to complete a pre-writing self-efficacy survey, participate in an interdisciplinary literacy unit and then complete a post writing self-efficacy survey. The interdisciplinary literacy unit took place during the distance learning environment that was a result of the global pandemic, …

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Exploring Our World: Biological And Archaeological Principles Of General Anthropology (Version 2.0), Lana Williams, Michael Callaghan Jan 2020

Exploring Our World: Biological And Archaeological Principles Of General Anthropology (Version 2.0), Lana Williams, Michael Callaghan

UCF Created OER Works

General Anthropology is an introduction to the discipline of anthropology that covers the four main sub-fields of biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. While classified under a different name at schools outside of Florida, it is a common course in many university curricula. We were both excited and anxious to take on the challenge of creating an OER text, but once we decided on our goals, the mission became clearer. We had three goals in creating our OER content: namely, 1) to create a free and accessible text for students, 2) to supplement existing gaps in OER content that …

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The Good Ol' Days: How Sociopolitical Climate Influences Motivations To Seek Historical Nostalgic Media Experiences Versus Non-Nostalgic Media Experiences And The Outcomes Of Those Experiences, Samantha Rosenthal Jan 2020

The Good Ol' Days: How Sociopolitical Climate Influences Motivations To Seek Historical Nostalgic Media Experiences Versus Non-Nostalgic Media Experiences And The Outcomes Of Those Experiences, Samantha Rosenthal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Nostalgia is a complex cognitive and affective experience and has been described by some as a "social emotion" (Goulding, 2002; Merchant & Rose, 2013; Wildschut et al., 2006). Through nostalgic media experiences, people can develop connections to prior eras or periods in society which are accompanied by a range of emotions and feelings. Perceptions of the past are influenced by experiences in the present. Because of this, it is possible that people's perceptions of their current political climates and society play a role in how they seek and react to media experiences, including nostalgic media experiences. Considering how the political …

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Food For Thought: Food Insecurity And Academic Performance, Justen Rosenberg Jan 2020

Food For Thought: Food Insecurity And Academic Performance, Justen Rosenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Objective: In 2018, 11.1% of American households were food insecure at least once. Annual reports on food insecurity conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture study the prevalence of household food insecurity; however, they fail to conceptualize the consequences that are associated with being food insecure. The objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of food insecurity on academic performance of children currently enrolled in an Orange County, Florida, K-12 public school. Methods: One focus group and 10 one-on-one interviews were conducted with parents who have at least one child currently enrolled in a K-12 public school …

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Compulsory: Art, Memory, And The Stigma Of Mass Incarceration, Jason Fronczek Jan 2020

Compulsory: Art, Memory, And The Stigma Of Mass Incarceration, Jason Fronczek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis combines photography, mixed media, and installation to explore the interrelation between art, memory, and culture; specifically, as they relate to (in)visibility and the stigma surrounding mass incarceration. Things that are compulsory are obligatory; they require that we follow a rule or law, but they also may be coercive or compelling. Compulsory, therefore, is defined alternately as something that is required and something that is irresistible. These definitions imply both desire and regulation, and these forces are often internalized and self-imposed. Following these definitions and their connotations, this thesis, titled Compulsory, combines photography and mixed media installation to explore …

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Narrowing English Leaner (El) Achievement Gaps: A Multilevel Analysis Of An El-Infused Teacher Preparation Model, Nirmal Ghimire Jan 2020

Narrowing English Leaner (El) Achievement Gaps: A Multilevel Analysis Of An El-Infused Teacher Preparation Model, Nirmal Ghimire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This non-experimental correlational study assessed the effectiveness of a model of teacher preparation that infuses a focus on teaching English learners, the One-Plus model, by examining pre-service teachers' (PST) effectiveness in narrowing English learner achievement gaps during their final student teaching experience. The study spanned five semesters of internship data, exploring how each semester's PST effectiveness changed over time. This study utilized teacher work sample data that interns collected and submitted to the institutional effectiveness division of the college, with an n of 20,809 K-12 students who attended the 768 One-Plus PSTs' classes during their semester-long internship. The results showed …

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Natural Language Processing For Modeling Domains In Higher Education, Rebecca Leis Jan 2020

Natural Language Processing For Modeling Domains In Higher Education, Rebecca Leis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The present dissertation investigates elements of domain formalization, resource allocation, and student success in higher education to conceptually design a university-wide system to assist in strategic planning efforts. The proposed system is a program-level tool with a modular design to allow scalability and generalizability across the entire university. Higher education strategic planning decisions are under investigation by stakeholders and transparency is needed. University resources allocation models are often outdated lack to adequately support program-level decisions. Further, with the dynamic nature of technology, domain knowledge components are evolving rapidly. This complicates the situation as updating curriculum takes additional time and resources. …

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