English Language and Literature Commons^™

The Prevalence Of Grammar In Virginia Higher Education, Caroline Nicatie Stimpson

Masters Theses

This thesis describes why the prescriptive grammar model should be implemented in public education rather than the descriptive grammar model. For the purposes of this paper, prescriptive grammar refers to how words ought to be used, while descriptive grammar refers to how words are used by native speakers in natural settings. The central issue I address in this thesis is how prescriptive grammar enables students to read and write properly, heightens their linguistic knowledge, improves their ability to express themselves, and teaches them useful skills for future educational and employment opportunities. Additionally, it outlines the flaws inherent in the descriptive …

Covid Diary: Scholarship And Gardening, Jessica Munns

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Feminist Scholarly Communities Have Been A Lifeline During The Pandemic, Karen Griscom

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

I teach writing and literature at a community college, and I am a third-year Ph.D. candidate. Because I balance full-time teaching and graduate research, I am accustomed to the intensity of a heavy workload. Still, during this past year, my home and work responsibilities have multiplied and with that so has my anxiety. Stress and lack of time have made it challenging to write and research. However, two feminist organizations have helped me cope and remain hopeful about my scholarship.

Summary Remarks On Conversations About “Researching, Reading And Writing During The Pandemic”, Kate Ozment, Mona Narain

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Summary remarks on the Spring 2021 issue that includes Conversation essays by participants in the ABO summer 2020 writing camp #WriteWithAphra. The participants describe their experience of reading, researching, and writing during the pandemic.

Engl 152w Readings In American Literature, Weiheng Sun

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Transfer And Transitions: Exploring First Year Writing At Holy Cross, Elizabeth Casavant

English Honors Theses

This study explores how first year students transition to college writing, especially in a pandemic with an online format, and how students use transfer, if at all. It focuses on the following research questions: How do students transition to college writing, college norms, and online classes in a pandemic, and how can Holy Cross first-year writing courses support students in this transition? The methods used to investigate these questions included the administration of two surveys sent to first-year students in a first-year writing course, as well as 10 interviews with students. After transcribing, collating, and coding the data, the following …

Independence And Interdependence In The Writing Center, Candace Heki

Tutor's Column

The writing center should be a space where we, as tutors, promote both independence and interdependence. We should strive to help students improve their skills, so they have the confidence to move forward with their paper and future papers on their own. We should also encourage interdependence through collaboration with the writing center. Students can benefit from their tutor offering unique perspectives and a place where the writer can talk through their ideas. Tutors need to be available to meet students’ individual needs by offering a balance between our focuses on self-sufficiency and collaboration.

Amanda Baldwin's Master's Portfolio, Amanda Baldwin

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This is the final portfolio for my Master's of Arts in the field of English. It includes an analytical narrative along with four projects that I feel best illustrate my knowledge, skills, and growth. These four pieces are entitled "Putting a Feminist Twist on Classic Literature," "Teaching Antigone in the Modern Classroom," “Feminism and Racial Studies in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees,” and “Literacy Narrative Analysis.”

Rocky Waters: Exploring The Intersections Of Romance And Travel, Jessica Bragg

Honors Projects

The genres of romance and travel have been explored by several authors, but this 60,000-word novel provides a unique combination of the two by exploiting a younger demographic of characters and placing the setting of the story in a fascinating realm of this world: the Mediterranean islands. Despite possessing an extensive business background, this creative project has encouraged versatility, adaptability, and enhanced time management skills that will transfer into all other aspects of my life. Research regarding the history of the romance and travel genres took place during the Fall 2020 semester, and the weekly process of writing and revising …

20 Things, Reann Parker

Honors Theses

20 Things is a short young adult novel that explores a variety of topics and themes, from mental health, recovery, and self discovery to race, love, and friendship. Beginning with a high school girl named Halle waking up in a hospital after a suicide attempt, the novel is a coming of age story about the help Halle receives and what she goes through in trying to find reasons to keep living. The novel is divided into ten chapters: “Waking Up,” “Going Home,” “Arriving,” “Being Honest,” “Keeping the Faith,” “Soul Searching,” “Willingness,” “Maintaining,” “Checking In,” and “Living.” Each chapter represents the …

Constructive Criticism: Analyzing And Implementing Student Feedback As A Tutor, Gracie Jo Averett

Tutor's Column

Writing centers are subject to student feedback as they operate, collecting both negative and positive comments through exit surveys after appointments. This essay analyzes these types of feedback and how tutors and writing centers can use both types of feedback to their advantage when serving their students. Being able to analyze the feedback that they receive can allow a tutor to make adjustments, when needed, to their tutoring process.

The Enemy Of Writing: Standardized Testing, Catelynn Pasterchick

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

As the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act of 2001 enforced frequent standardized testing, the US Department of Education established a curriculum centered around drilling test material to meet nationwide requirements. Consequently, students are still offered a limited education, encouraging skills like memorization and quick thinking to be reflected in their scores. Particularly in writing, these tests and timed assignments stifle creativity, as they leave little room for students to be thoughtful and critical in their responses. Standardized tests lead both teachers and students to forget the purpose of writing as a tool for authentic expression and individuality. Furthermore, the …

Speed Dating Peer Review Activity, Gloria Gianoulis, Susan Rocco

Open Educational Resources

Peer Review of student writing in a fully online, synchronous learning environment can be challenging. By drawing on the principles of speed dating, this activity meets 3 goals for fostering student success: fosters student-student engagement, encourages student investment in peer review, and improves students' accountability for participation.

Et Cetera, 2019-2021, 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.

A Novel Moment For #Writewithaphra, Laura Runge, Tonya Howe

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Introduction to the Fall 2020 issue that describes our summer 2020 writing camp #WriteWithAphra.

Movement Upstream, Downstream: A Lyric Essay, Mong- Lan

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

Early on, without knowing I was part of a movement, I was part of the movement of the Asian American cultural and literary phenomenon.

Because it was necessary to bear witness, to tell my story, my stories, our stories, the collective story, my observations, which keeps on unravelling, I began to write.

The Storying Of Colombian Writing Centers, Jennifer Erin Pretzer

Masters Theses

Using the results from a study conducted on Colombian writing centers, this thesis applies principles from narrative theory to posit a grand narrative for Colombian writing center professionals. The study was modeled on one Jackie Grutsch McKinney used to examine US writing center professionals’ descriptions of their work, and the thesis includes a comparison with her results. Respondents were asked to answer seven questions, two of which were multiple choice and five of which were short answer. The questions asked respondents to describe their tutoring staff composition, their center’s operations, writing centers in general, and ways their center resembles and …

Low Textbook Cost Syllabus For Eng 2150 (Writing Ii), Maxine Krenzel

Open Educational Resources

Welcome to English 2150, a writing and reading intensive course that will introduce you to the practice and process of conducting original research. This class will walk you through the research process step-by-step, from drafting an initial research question, to reading and analyzing archival and secondary sources, and eventually mapping out your findings in a final research portfolio. You will learn over the course of the semester that the research process begins with simply asking a question that addresses a topic or issue that impacts you in some way; it is my hope that by the end of the semester, …

Writing For Engineers, Alexander J. Moser

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Connecting Our Pedagogical Questions And Goals: An Exercise For Writing Teacher Development, Jessica Rivera-Mueller

English Faculty Publications

In this article, the author argues writing teachers can more fully inquire into their questions about teaching writing by paying closer attention to the ways their goals for teacher development shape their engagement in pedagogical inquiry. To explain these connections and illustrate these possibilities, the author shares findings from a narrative-inquiry study that examined the development of pedagogical inquiry in the lives of four teachers of writing. Using the participating teachers' shared goals for teacher development, the author demonstrates how writing teachers can reflect upon the development of pedagogical inquiry, stretch themselves to practice other aspects of pedagogical inquiry, and …

Freshman Composition: Early College Initiative, Julianne Davidow

Open Educational Resources

The purpose of this course is to provide further practice with a variety of genres that you’ll use throughout your college career and in your professional life. These genres include reflection, analysis, reporting, arguing, and self-assessment. While you likely had experience with these genres in your primary and secondary education, this class will provide you with an opportunity to expand and develop your range. In addition to exploring these genres, we will also develop our research practices to make use of City College’s virtual library.

[Introduction To] Writing Centers At The Center Of Change, Joe Essid, Brian Mctague

Bookshelf

Writing Centers at the Center of Change looks at how eleven centers, internationally, adapted to change at their institutions, during a decade when their very success has become a valued commodity in a larger struggle for resources on many campuses.

Bringing together both US and international perspectives, this volume offers solutions for adapting to change in the world of writing centers, ranging from the logistical to the pedagogical, and even to the existential. Each author discusses the origins, appropriate responses, and partners to seek when change comes from within a school or outside it. Chapters document new programs being formed …

We Found Language In A Lonely Place: A Rumination Into Quieting The Fears Of El Students And Quieting Our Own Fears About Effectively Tutoring Them, Zoe Baldwin

Tutor's Column

This text shares the concern that many tutors face in effectively tutoring EL students by helping their confidence as writers, addressing their concerns, and helping them build long-term writing skills. The text will address what tutors can do in their tutoring sessions to help EL students with their writing concerns. There is discussion about some of the most common EL concerns such as grammar, or cohesion. These concerns are met with suggestions such as addressing grammar, talking about the ideas that the writer wants to convey, brainstorming ideas and getting them to write them down, and being mindful of how …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Eng 2150 (Writing Ii), Elizabeth Mannion

Open Educational Resources

In this class, the second of a two-course sequence in the Pathways Required Core, we’ll explore how language and other meaning-making symbols reflect the Gramercy neighborhood, home to Baruch College, particularly during the Gilded Age (1870s-1914). We’ll read literature of the period by authors with ties to this neighborhood, and study the 1913 Armory Show (which was held across the street at the 69th Regiment Armory), which blurred, challenged, and disrupted the social lines of Gilded Age New York.

Critical Introduction: Responsibility And Representation & Introduction To All My Mother’S Lovers, Ilana Masad

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This critical component of the creative thesis All My Mother’s Lovers explores the question of fiction writers’ responsibility to themselves, their work, and their readers in the age of social media and easy access of readers to writers and vice versa. Using two examples of recent online controversies, this piece explores the varying ways in which readers respond to writers and writers to readers and rhetorically analyzes the responses of those in positions of power (writers, publishers) as well as the cultural contexts from within which they respond. It then draws conclusions as to the trajectory of these two controversies, …

Identity: A Final Ma Portfolio, Lloyd Evans

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This is the portfolio submission for my Master's in English with a specialization in English Teaching.

Born Or Made: Problems Of Prose Style & Stylistic Improvability At The Sentence Level, An Interdisciplinary Approach, Hope Petrash Mccarthy

English Dissertations - Archive

In this interdisciplinary dissertation, I problematize the issue of style at the sentence level from a variety of perspectives, past and present, literary and compositional. My two-fold driving question throughout is, Can an adult significantly improve his/her sentence-level style, regardless of inborn linguistic talent, and if so, what methods will most effectively bring about such improvement? Put another way, to what extent is style learnable, a techne or craft, and to what extent is it simply a matter of gift? After its heyday fifty years ago, the study of style has all but disappeared from the academy in recent days. …

Wounds And Writing : Building Trauma-Informed Approaches To Writing Pedagogy., Michelle L. Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation builds a trauma-informed approach to writing pedagogy informed by writing studies scholarship about trauma and inclusive pedagogy, clinical social work literature on trauma-informed care, and interviews with nine current University of Louisville writing faculty about their experiences academically supporting distressed students. I identify three central touchstones—“students are coddled,” “teacher’s aren’t therapists,” and “institutions don’t support trauma-informed teaching”—in scholarly and public debates regarding what to do about student trauma/distress in higher education. After exploring the valid concerns and misconceptions underpinning these touchstones, I illustrate how clinical research offers a way forward to help writing instructors develop more complex understandings …

When Process Becomes Processing: Managing Instructor Response To Student Disclosure Of Trauma In The Composition Classroom, Kelci Barton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In first-year composition courses, there are three aspects of teaching that are researched well so far: disclosure of trauma in student writing, instructor feedback, and emotional labor. The disclosure of trauma is almost completely unavoidable in first-year composition. We encounter an issue with instructor feedback; how do we provide feedback to student writing, like grammar and mechanics, when the student has disclosed trauma in the writing? Additionally, we can build off this with emotional labor, which already occurs consistently in teaching but is heightened in this instance. When providing feedback to a student who has disclosed trauma, this can be …

Eng 302 Playwriting Workshop, Hillary Miller

Open Educational Resources

Pedagogical materials created during Spring 2019 OER/Digital Literacy fellowship at Queens College, revising English 302: Playwriting Workshop.