Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Liberal Education For A Time Of Uncertainty: Reflections On Mark Van Doren's Liberal Education, Bill Koch

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

For several months now I have been reading up on composition theory, and I’ve noticed that scholars like Anne Berthoff and Patricia Bizzell quote some of the seminal thinkers and philosophers of the early 20th century. These scholars (such as Cassirer, Richards, Whitehead) wrote their most influential texts during the 1930s, as if the awful gathering military storm had pressured these thinkers into formulating crystalline expressions of what the human mind must do to—as Richards puts it—“remedy our misunderstandings.”

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Miscellaneous class notes August 28- September 27, 2007.

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's notes for classes held 8:00 Tuesday and Thursday, August 30-September 25, 2007.

What Is College-Level Writing? - The Common Ground From Which A New Secondary Post Secondary Composition Partnership Can Be Formed, Nancy Jane Berger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the Introduction to What is "College-Level" Writing?, editors Patrick Sullivan and Howard Tinberg state that the title asks "one of the most important questions in our profession" (xiii). However, even after 418 pages of essays written from the perspectives of high school teachers, college instructors, students, and administrators, the answer remains elusive because college-level writing does not, in fact, start in college - it starts in high school - where high school teachers believe they are instilling in their college-bound students the writing skills required by post-secondary institutions. The students, meanwhile, show up in first-year composition classes to find …

Motivation And Identification: A Burkean Rhetorical Analysis Of The Mission Statements Of A Class Of Higher Education Organizations, Mark Razor

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand higher education organizations as if they were texts and from that perspective to determine how motive was expressed and community was created through the mission statements of a class of higher education organizations. The mission statements of Carnegie comprehensive doctoral institutions of higher education with a medical and/or veterinary school were rhetorically analyzed and the results organized into groups much as chemists organized elements into the periodic table. In addition to rhetorical studies, organizational studies were employed, especially those that employed Identification Theory. This study provides a model for understanding complex institutions, …

Preliminary Report To The Purdue Writing Lab: Assessing Usability Of The "New" Online Writing Lab (Owl) Design And Contents, Michael Salvo, H. Allen Brizee, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Morgan Sousa

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Research Reports

This report is submitted June 16, 2006 to the Purdue University Writing Lab, specifically to Linda Bergmann, Director; Tammy Conard-Salvo, Associate Director; and Karl Stolley, Lead Web Designer. Intended to inform the ongoing redesign of the Online Writing Lab (OWL), it is written to maintain the highest level of usability and user-centered design of a unique, globally-utilized information resource. This document is a preliminary report limited to initial findings from a five-step usability testing protocol conducted February 25 through March 3, 2006. This testing plan was submitted to Purdue’s Institutional Review Board’s Committee on the Use of Human Subjects (IRB) …

Owl Usability Report: Appendices, Michael Salvo, H. Allen Brizee, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Morgan Sousa

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Research Reports

This document includes appendices to the OWL Usability Report and contains survey and testing instruments, testing scripts, and testing data. It also includes information about the Creative Commons licensing associated with the OWL Usability documents produced in 2006.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (Owl) Research Report, Michael Salvo, H. Allen Brizee, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Morgan Sousa

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Research Reports

This report outlines the history of the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) and details the OWL Usability Project through the summer of 2006. The paper also discusses test methodologies, describes test methods, provides participant demographics, and presents findings and recommendations of the tests. The purpose of this report is to provide researchers, administrators, and pedagogues interested in usability and Writing Labs access to information on the Purdue OWL Usability Project. We hope our findings—and this open source approach to our research—will contribute positively to the corpus on usability and Writing Lab studies.

Examining The Skills, Attitudes, And Perceptions Of Developmental Writing Students At A Midwestern Private College, William P. Elgersma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Postsecondary degree-granting institutions recognize that students lack necessary academic skills, but the characteristics of this at-risk population have not been as clearly identified. As well, the value of remedial programs that serve this at-risk population need to be investigated.

The survey instruments for this study were developed by the researcher. The purpose of the study was to examine the skills, attitudes, and perceptions of basic writers of a remedial writing course Academic Skills Center (ASK 060) at a private Midwestern college. Specifically, this study identified the value of the remedial writing program related to perceived level of competence and academic …

A Comparison Of Anonymous E-Peer Review Versus Identifiable E-Peer Review On College Student Writing Performance And Learning Satisfaction, Ruiling Lu

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of anonymous e-peer review with identifiable e-peer review on student writing performance and learning satisfaction. It also investigated whether anonymous e-peer review facilitated a greater amount of critical peer feedback.

Quasi-experimental design was used to test group differences on the dependent variables. Participants were 48 freshmen enrolled in two English Composition classes at Old Dominion University in the fall semester of 2003. The two intact classes taught by the same instructor were randomly assigned to the anonymous e-peer review group and the identifiable e-peer review group.

The results showed that …

Schooling Expectations, James Boyd White

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

An Essay On The Work Of Composition : Composing English Against The Order Of Fast Capitalism., Min-Zhan Lu

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This is an attempt to define what being a responsible and responsive user of English might mean in a world ordered by global capital, a world where all forms of intra- and international exchanges in all areas of life are increasingly under pressure to involve English. Turning to recent work in linguistics and education, I pose a set of alternative assumptions that might help us develop more responsible and responsive approaches to the relation between English and its users (both those labeled Native-Speaking, White or Middle Class, and those Othered by these labels), the language needs and purposes of individual …

An Examination Of Relationships Of Reading And Writing Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Standardized Placement Test Scores, And Diverse Community College Students' Perceptions Of Those Relationships, Ann Woolford-Singh

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Social cognitive theory explains the role that one's level of confidence plays in the accomplishment of a specific task. According to Bandura (1982, 1995), self-efficacy beliefs should align with performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing standardized placement test scores of diverse community college freshmen. Additionally, this study sought to understand the sources of these students' reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs through the descriptions of experiences they feel have influenced those beliefs.

There were three major research questions: (1) What is the strength of the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing …

The Knowledge And Skills Of Freshman Writers, Aram Paul Sarkisian

Theses Digitization Project

This research identifies what proficient writers know and do by the end of their freshman year in college and raises the kind of questions that improve the articulation of English instruction.

Test Suites: A Tool For Improving Student Articles, Eugene Volokh

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Let's Space Out: Rethinking The Design Of Law School Texts, Janeen Kerper

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Seeing The One-To-One Writing Conference Through Owl Eyes: Reimagining The Voice Of Tutor, Madeline Yonker

English Theses & Dissertations

The one-to-one, face-to-face writing conference has long been hailed a godsend for struggling writers. The traditional IRL ("in real life") tutorial takes many shapes: (professor and student in office, tutor and student in library, tutor and student in writing center, etc.). When this writing conference moves into the MOO (Multi-User Domain, Object-Oriented), how does the environment affect student-tutor interaction? More specifically, what sorts of adjustments from the "normal" writing conference must be made in order for an effective conversation to occur in the synchronous OWL?

This project brings the one-to-one writing tutorial to distance learning students at Old Dominion University …

Syllabus: Partial Syllabus For Edu 502, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Partial syllabus for Rhetorical Theory EDU 502, a graduate course through Jacksonville University. 1992.

Typed Document: Second Class Meeting Assignments, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Outline for the second class meeting with assignments. 1999.

Spring 1997 Sabbatical Leave Report, Sally Wallace

Sabbaticals

I propose to investigate the ways that basic English composition is taught at various colleges throughout the country and to use my findings to design a Parkland-specific English 101 instructional model that integrates composition into some of our transfer and career programs, so that students would write about topics relevant to their goals while enhancing their understanding of the academic discipline they're writing about. My research would involve the League for Innovation community colleges, Alverno College, Macomb Community College, the University of Illinois at Urbana, and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Integrating Student Expectations Into Writing Center Theory And Practice, Mary J. Bonevelle

Masters Theses

When students go to a writing center to be tutored, they expect a certain type of instruction based on their prior experiences. Many students are perplexed to find that the parameters of writing center instruction are quite different than they anticipated. The resulting conflict between student expectations and actual center methods often induces tensions which can impede the effectiveness tutorial instruction. This thesis explores the basis of student expectations, strategies for addressing student expectations in practice, and the importance of acknowledging these expectations in writing center theory.

Chapter 1 discusses the incongruous relationship between writing center theory and practice and …

Professing Multiculturalism : The Politics Of Style In The Contact Zone., Min-Zhan Lu

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conflict And Struggle : The Enemies Of Preconditions Of Basic Writing?, Min-Zhan Lu

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Typed Document: Lecture, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Credibility, homophily and power lecture notes , January 25, 1988. Several pages redacted due to copyright.

Typed Document: Class Meeting Mcc 5935, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Class notes for MCC 5935, January 13, 1988.

Typed Document: Course Requirements, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A description of the requirement for completion of of course EDU 502.

Typed Document: Fall Term Calendar, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

General Fall Term calendar, August 18 -December 19, 1988.

Tutoring German Esl Students, Sabina Mussgnug

Masters Theses

Tutors of American university writing centers can be invaluable advisors for German ESL students who come to study in the United States. The tutors can directly assist German students in coping with their particular academic and cultural difficulties.

German students must adapt to the American academic conventions to become successful students at their U.S. universities. The tutors can point out to them the features of the American academic standard and show them effective methods for learning and studying in the American environment.

The American academic standard includes the students' almost perfect reading comprehension. Students must be prepared for heavy reading …

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's handwritten notes on three volumes discussing teaching communication and rhetoric. 1987. Box 8 Folder 4

"'Minds That Move At Large': A Scottish Perspective On Collegiate Literary Societies, Past And Present", Patrick G. Scott

Faculty Publications

This paper contrasts two kinds of literary society, based on examples from eighteenth-century Edinburgh: the "ludic" or playful use of rhetoric in the early 18th century Easy Club, centred on the Scottish poet Allan Ramsay (1686-1758), and the "agonistic" or forensic rhetoric of the later 18th century Speculative Society, especially as seen in the Scottish lawyer and reviewer Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850) and in the influential Edinburgh Review for which he wrote. The paper originated as the keynote address to Rhetor '86: the Convention of the National Association of Collegiate Literary Societies, held in Columbia, SC, October 10, 1986.