English Language and Literature Commons^™

Mother's Bed: Gender Representation In Children's Literature, Karin Hanni

Senior Theses

This children's book and accompanying research paper both address gender inequity in children's literature. There is a significant imbalance of gender representation in children's literature, with the number of central male characters almost doubling that of central female characters. Additionally, the roles of males and females still tend to be stereotypical: boys are action-oriented and heroic, while girls are nurturing and passive. Further, it is believed that boys will only enjoy books about boys, while girls will enjoy books about both boys and girls. This imbalance in children's literature hurts both genders. Children not only learn to read from books, …

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

Composing A Literary Adoption Memoir And Self Through Creative Nonfiction Memoir Writing, Jamie K. Nagy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adoption writings span across various forms, such as fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, theatre, and scholarly fields of study. While many of these adoption writings speak to the complexities of adoption, the general public still tends to see adoption “such a beautiful thing” to do—as the best plan for the child, a noble act, a selfless decision, and a solution to a long-standing social issue. This thesis explores the “literary adoption memoir”—artful writings about real life happenings; my contribution to this genre addresses the complexities of the closed adoption era, transnational/transracial adoption, and parenting an adoptee as an adult adoptee. For …

After Macdiarmid: Creative Writers, The Canon, And The Academy, Alan Riach

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the changed situation of writers within Scottish universities since the 1960s, the role of creative writers in introducing American poets into the Scottish teaching canon, and the value of creative writing in stimulating critical reading.

Doing And Teaching, Roderick Watson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the decision at the University of Stirling, Scotland, in the late 1960s, to appoint a Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, to the permanent faculty, and to include creative writing options within the English studies degree program. Assesses subsequent developments and argues for the value of such integration for all literature undergraduates.

On Loss, Abigail E. Ferguson

The Mercury

No abstract provided.

Free Schools And Self-Efficacy Beliefs : Research For An Alternative, Vanessa Phillips

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this study, I interviewed 3 graduates from Kino School, a small, private, alternative school, about their experiences with writing before, during, and after graduation in order to determine how alternative education impacted their writing self-efficacy beliefs. Kino School embraces many of the tenets of free school philosophy, which is centered on democratic learning, self-sufficiency, and student choice. This study explores how free school philosophy impacted these graduates' writing and attitudes toward writing. All three graduates described an overall experience at Kino that left them confident in their writing, expressing high writing self-efficacy beliefs. Kino School's use of creative writing, …

Shelterbelt: Land That Speaks, Ryan Oberhelman

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis is a collection of short stories drafted in between 2012 and 2014. The stories in this collection have been selected for their common themes of masculinity, work, fractured families, and rural decline. Many stories offer fragmented, non-linear approaches to narrative.

Note: This thesis deposited as hard copy only. There is no digital document associated with this record. beyond the title page and abstract.

Sehnsucht, Dena Ten Pas

Theses & Honors Papers

Sehnsucht is German, referring to a longing or yearning, sometimes further qualified as the longing for something unknown or something that will never be possible.

The May Queen: A Historical Novel, Kimber Albrechtsen, Dr. Leonard Tourney

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The objectives of my project were to identify and implement theoretical aspects of writing historical fiction, and to write the first four chapters of a historical novel. My creative text examined themes of the emergence of communism, the development of modern terrorism, and the complexity of family relationships.

The Circuit: An Original Television Series, Grace T. Ding

CMC Senior Theses

Between good and evil there's a whole lot of gray: Welcome to The Circuit.

A shady private security firm recruits criminals straight out of prison and sells its services to the highest bidder, saint and sinner alike (mostly sinners). Through the trials and tribulations of a diverse ensemble cast, the show explores some of my absolute favorite themes in storytelling: gray morality, found families, and unlikely heroes. Follow our gritty and guarded lead Shaye as she struggles to tame a group of talented and contentious ex-cons under the shadow of her ambitious and manipulative father, all the while struggling to …

The View From The Front, Kathryn M. Gittings

Student Publications

A creative piece detailing the personal and public history of a small Pennsylvania town, specifically dealing with its crimes and their effect on the collective memory and atmosphere of the area.

Shieldmaiden, Allison A. Taylor

Student Publications

"Shieldmaiden" is a poem that examines J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series from a feminist perspective, focusing on the character of Éowyn and her influence on female readers of Tolkien's novels.

Dialogue In Fiction, Tracy A. Townsend

The Short Story

This close-reading and discussion-oriented lesson, which takes between sixty and seventy minutes, uses Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” as a model of how dialogue advances plot and develops character in fiction. It is useful in literature classrooms for its emphasis on drawing inferences from text and in creative writing contexts for teaching effective dialogue writing. This lesson is suitable for grades 9-12.

What’S The Point? Five Writers Offer Lifelines For Post-Mfa Despair, Bryan M. Furuness

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract available

Red Rose, Sara Lauren Purifoy

Student Publications

Red Rose follows the narrator’s innermost thoughts and feelings of abruptly being immersed into a culture very different from her own. While hiking with her brother, a second year environmental Peace Corps volunteer, to visit the home and garden of a Nicaraguan native, she reflects on the changes she sees in her brother and her inability to communicate in a foreign country. She struggles to overcome her feelings of linguistic isolation while still being fascinated by the culture around her. The piece ends on a lovely image of universal understanding.

Just Another Girl, Julia D. Marshella

Student Publications

A non-fiction piece that explores the causes of the author’s depression while in college. While she is able to pinpoint specific events that have led to her unhappiness, she realizes that accepting her life in spite of these obstacles will allow her to move forward.

Play From The Heart: Five Notes On Creativity, Bryan M. Furuness

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract available

The First Time I Figured Out What My Novel Was About, Bryan M. Furuness

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract available

Being [T]Here, Dustin B. Smith

English Faculty Publications

When you awoke from the dream, in your early thirties, you knew, as you’ve never known anything else in all your seventy-plus years, that what you’d found was real. The dream began with you sitting in a church, head bowed in prayer. Your eyes opened slowly, and you noticed that you were wearing brilliantly colored, beaded moccasins. You stood abruptly, pushed open the mahogany gate that separated the pew from the center aisle of the church, and began to run. The dream then proposed a seemingly endless and entirely quotidian set of difficulties in The City, and led eventually to …

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

The 15-Minute Short Story, Margaret T. Cain

The Short Story

This assignment requires students to write an introduction to a “pretend” anthology of short stories. Given at the beginning of the short story unit so as to focus their reading, the prompt directs them to examine several introductions to anthologies in the library in order to see what it is that anthologizers talk about; to determine the principle on which to choose stories; to find the right voice; and to critique three stories from the faux anthology to demonstrate their aptness for the collection as well as the students’ own understanding of the characteristics of good short story writing.

Foreclosure And Other Essays, Derick Brandon Strode

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I first knew something was wrong with him in 1995. He was 49 then, and I was just about to start the eighth grade. That’s the summer his company backed him into a corner and told him to quit or be fired. He had worked there 14 years. They said his behavior was changing, and they thought he was doing it on purpose. It took seven years to get an actual diagnosis. The doctors looked for everything. They just thought he was too young.

I’ve relied on materials found in my parents’ house …

On Deadlifting, Bryan M. Furuness

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The first time I picked up four hundred pounds, I thought my eyeballs were going to explode.

Evolution, Bryan M. Furuness

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract available

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

Strike Out Across The Shoreless Ocean, Julia Claire Paajanen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

What happens between a reader and a poem is none of my business. The world has always been yours; find your own way.

(1) Every choice is correct.

(2) Everything is true.

(3) What is anything, unless so far as it is enjoyed?

All you have to do is see the course, and when you see it, go.

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Student Writers As Problem Solvers In Literature Classrooms, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema, Dawn Reed, Katie Greene

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article reports on the role of student writers in the U.S. to enhance the study of literature in the classroom. High school teacher Dawn Reed shares how students' professional writing served as a starting point for deeper study and advocacy of American literature. It provides an overview of Katie Greene's assessment system that creates flexibility while providing a model of evaluation which can be adapted for other professional writing experiences.

Youth And Legends: A Short Story Collection, Jennifer Kiefer

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

While young narrators or protagonists have been included in many famous works, such as J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, or Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms, typically the main character of a work of fiction is mature. The pieces in this collection of stories, however, are centered around children. Adolescents act as the protagonists of the stories, exploring an adult world. The goal of this collect is not to contribute to young adult fiction or child fiction, but to appeal in style and form to adult readers in a mature, adult writing style. …

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.