Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Cultural Commentary: The Art Of Persuasion, Barbara Apstein

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Refiguring Milton In Virginia Woolf's A Room Of One's Own, Rebecca Kirk Marsh

Theses Digitization Project

Since 1979 feminist scholars have misread key images in Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own'. They delineated the extended essay as a groundbreaking feminist polemic that advocates abolishing the literary patriarchy, expressing distain for John Milton as chief offender. Through rhetorical analysis and close readings of passages, there seems advocacy for change in patriarchial education and for opening of the literary canon to women.

The Other Within The Other: Chicana/O Literature, Composition Theory, And The New Mestizaje, Charles Ray Murillo

Theses Digitization Project

In this thesis the author explores the notion that American Chicana/o literature serves as an interactive pedagogical site that nurtures a blend of academic and street discourse, proposing the writing of those who exist on the "downside" of the border of non-standard English and academic discourse-basic writers be acknowledged.

Language As A Tool For Self-Inquiry, Alice Elizabeth Griffin

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines he areas of consciousness and language that are implemented within the oral teaching tradition of the spiritual lineage of Ramana Maharshi. It examines how language is used by the teacher's consciousness to assist their student's development towards their own enlightened state of consciousness.

Shakespeare's Bolingbroke: Rhetoric And Stylistics From Richard Ii To Henry Iv, Part 2, Deanna Faye Jenson

Theses Digitization Project

In order to contribute to the body of work on Bolingbroke and on Shakespeare's development of character, this thesis examines various rhetorical and stylistic methods used by Shakespeare in his creation of the character of Henry Bolingbroke.

A Contrastive Approach To The Thematic Analysis Of Text And Genre: An Examination Of Lead News Articles In Le Monde, Al-Ittihad, And The New York Times, Christine Marie Burlaga

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines thematization and patterns of thematic progression (TP) in French, Arabic, and English lead news articles. Similarities between French, Arabic, and English themic lead news stories at the clausal and textual levels suggest that there may be a fundamental principle underlying how the mind organizes language. The results may be applied to the creation of translation software that is faithful to source texts at the sentential and global levels or used in teaching in a second language classroom.

Causes Of Unease: Horror Rhetoric In Fiction And Film, Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Theses Digitization Project

How do artists scare us? Horror filmmakers and novelists alike can accomplish fear, revulsion, and disturbance in their respective audiences. The rhetorical and stylistic strategies employed to evoke these feelings are unique to the genre. Divulging these strategies will be the major focus of this thesis, yet there will also be discussion on the social and cultural background of the Horror genre.

Zapatistas: The Shifting Rhetoric Of A Modern Revolution, Ofelia Morales Bejar

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis studies the rhetoric of the Zapatista Revolution and social movement through the analysis of Zapatista messages using the method of cluster criticism. It explores changes in the rhetoric of confrontation and the rhetoric of peace used by the Zapatistas to further their cause during the last ten years of the revolution.

Rhetorical And Narrative Structures In John Hersey's Hiroshima: How They Breathe Life Into The Tale Of A Doomed City, James Richard Smart

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis will explore rhetorical and narrative devices author John Hersey used to create Hiroshima, one of the foremost non-fictional works of the twentieth century.

The Rhetoric Of State Assessment: Educational Politics In The Public School System, Renee Michelle Longshore

Theses Digitization Project

In this thesis I explore the rhetoric behind the assessment push nation-wide and, particularly, in California. I take a close look at what politicians, educators, and citizens say about public education and their views of the current educational reform: whether they are speaking in support of or opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. I look specifically at the finances of public education in California, the impact and current outcome of NCLB, and propose new reforms as suggested by those intimately involved in education.

Stephen Gosson's Rhetorical Strategies In The School Of Abuse, Timothy Paul Johnson

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis shows how Stephen Gosson's The School of Abuse (1579) functions as a rhetorical composition. The elements of writer, readership, and text are each examined in order to elucidate the rhetorical decisions made by Gosson during the composition of The School.

Illusions Of Idle Prattle: Disney, Voice And The Little Mermaid, Veronica Diaz-Cox

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the social and economic impact of Disney's gender roles, and the recurring motif of singing in both Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid and Walt Disney's film adaptation.

Story-List-Sanction: A Cross-Cultural Strategy Of Ancient Persuasion, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

Persuasion motivated the creation of many ancient Near Eastern texts. Persuasion was not limited to particular genres of discourse and literature but was frequently a stimulus leading authors to combine gemes to create more persuasive forms. In this process, the rhetorical capacities of many different kinds of liiterature were harnessed for overtly persuasive purposes. One such rhetorical strategy combined three kinds of materials-stories, lists and sanctions-to influence its audience's ideas and behaviors. It shaped the form and content of texts from a wide variety of periods and cultures in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, including the foundational scriptures …

Wisdom To Know The Difference: The Rhetoric Of Pat Nixon, Linda B. Hobgood

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Henriette Wyeth Hurd painted the official portrait of Patricia Nixon. The woman depicted is serene, almost sad. She appears fragile, yet brave. Above all, the face that gazes from the canvas understands--the wisdom in her eyes reflects that sense of tribulation bequeathed by experience. Both the painting and the subject reflect "calm at the center." It is an insightful portrayal of the American first lady known to the world as "Pat."

“’National Apostasy,’ Tracts For The Times, And Plain Sermons: John Keble's Tractarian Prose.”, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

John Keble is perhaps best known for The Christian Year and his work as Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1831 to 1841. In this essay, I argue that his prose is worthy of study as well. I focus on "National Apostasy," the sermon that John Henry Newman saw as the inauguration of the Oxford Movement; the 8 pieces he contributed to the Tracts for the Times; and his many contributions to the Plain Sermons, by Contributors to the "Tracts for the Times."

A Certain Comfort: Betty Ford As First Lady, Nichola D. Gutgold, Linda B. Hobgood

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Her White House stay was short-lived, but the lessons of Betty Ford's experience remain vividly instructive. By accident of a national political crisis which catapulted her to the rank of the first lady in 1974, Mrs. Ford's tenure lasted a brief two years until her husband, Gerald R. Ford lost his bid for reelection. During that time, she developed a relationship of candor with the press and public. She spoke her mind on social and moral issues that were at the forefront of public debate. The positions she took were not always popular with the majority of Americans, many of …

Subsemy: Using Subversion To Create Multiple Meanings In Rhetorical Texts, Kane Madison Click

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the use of subversion to create multiple meanings in rhetorical texts. Subversion, an element focused on by Fiske (1986, 1987) and McKerrow (1988) in their early contributions to the rhetorical study of multiple meaning texts, has been an ongoing lacunae in the study of polysemic texts. I wish to provide a correction to this problem by offering the concept of subsemy. By examining the role of strategic ambiguity and irony in the functioning of subversion, the concept of subsemy provides a missing picture of how popular cultural texts, film in particular, can function subversively.

Implicature And Argumentation, Jon Nelsen Preacher

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis explores the role, if any, that implicature plays as a strategy in informal debate. Transcripts of spontaneous debates from television and radio public affairs talk shows were analyzed with a focus on the use of implicature as a strategic rhetorical tool employed to gain advantage in an argument.

Internal Dialogues: Construction Of The Self In The Woman Warrior, Ann Shirley Modzelewski

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis considers past autobiographical theory and questions whether it addresses the autobiography of the female writer. Autobiographies of Harriet Jacobs, Margaret Sanger, and Maxine Hong Kingston are examined to reveal their polyvocality, use of the autobiographical "I", and rhetorical strategies maintained in order to create a close relationship with the reader. Particular attention is paid to Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogism and Sidonie Smith's autobiographical "I."

Home And Who: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Rudyard Kipling's "Tiger! Tiger!' And "Letting In The Jungle", Steven Clark Estus

Theses Digitization Project

These stories are representative of an idea that is repeatedly expressed both in the concrete details of Kipling's stories and in the way he uses language. It is possible to see that Kipling, the archetypical man of the empire, may not always have been the empire's man in his work; and causes for that may be found in the alluring, very non-English place he lived in for several years of his youth: India.

The Working Hour: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Lyrics Of Tears For Fears, Jennifer Anne Gross-Mejía

Theses Digitization Project

Childhood friends Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal founded the band Tears for Fears, and were the two primary members from 1982-1990. Their songs describe the struggle of coping with childhood abuse. This thesis analyzes the rhetorical aspects of their lyrics, emphasizing how the words of their songs express the fundamental human response to abuse, and the painful process of recovery. It explores how the songwriters use the psychological theories of Arthur Janov and Carl Jung to scaffold their experience of working through emotional trauma; and how they combine those theories with astrological symbolism to explore the idea of destiny. This …

Not Mere Rhetoric: On Wasting Or Claiming Your Legacy, Justice Scalia, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

The thesis of the article is that the Court’s enterprise is centered on preserving community through an ethics of warranted trust, and that Scalia’s rhetoric often rejects such an ethic. A modern democratic citizen, along with his whole community, instead finds himself in the situation of necessary trust in democratic institutions like the Supreme Court. The willingness of a political community ultimately to place its trust in authority is partially dependent on that authority’s commitment to, and skill at, creating a convincing argument. The practice of rhetoric recognizes the dynamics of a relation of trust: the rhetor must put his …

Prophecy And Anti-Popery In Victorian London: John Cumming Reconsidered, Robert Ellison, Carol Herringer

English Faculty Research

John Cumming (1807-1881) was the popular minister of the Crown Court Church of Scotland in London's Covent Garden. This article examines his views on the end times and the Roman Catholic Church, two of the favorite subjects of his preaching.

Rogerian Rhetoric As Negotiation: Does Its Dependence On Game Theory Pose Ethical Problems?, Stacy Fussell Thorne

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In the war game Diplomacy, players win by gaining control of Europe. In order to win, however, players must successfully negotiate with other players, make alliances with them, and sometimes gain the support of their ally's military resources, their armies or fleets. In the rules of the game, Diplomacy is described as

a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept, and promises broken. In order to survive, a player needs help from others. In order to win the game, a player must eventually stand alone. Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when …

It's All In The Rhetoric: Using Affective Design To Change Users' Perceptions Of Online Help, Robert C. Stultz

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the role of affective design in online help systems. The thesis begins with a discussion of the current research related to online help systems and the rhetorical nature of technical communication. The thesis then provides a heuristic evaluation of two versions of procedural discourse for Microsoft Word 2000. Based on an analysis of the heuristic evaluation, five recommendations are given for improving the affective design of online help systems. The thesis concludes with a proposed usability test and consideration of a related area of study.

Shadow Of Death: A Fantasy Theme Analysis Of The Floyd Collins Tragedy, Leslie Witty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Floyd Collins, a Kentucky caver who suffered a lengthy entrapment and eventual death inside Sand Cave in 1925, has had his story told repeatedly and in numerous forms. Although the countless genres (and their historical accuracy) vary, they are basically retellings of the same story—a story filled with drama, suspense, and heroics. Because of these characteristics, the rhetoric of the Floyd Collins ordeal lent itself to examination using Bormann's (1972) fantasy theme method. By using a fantasy theme analysis to explore the saga, I advanced beyond the retellings and gained a greater understanding of why seventy-seven years after he died …

Conspiracy Rhetoric In Cyberspace: Jim Condit And The 9/11 Attacks On America, An Analysis Of The Voice And Appeals Used In Condit's Rhetoric, Kreg Allan Kinney

English Theses & Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the voices and appeals used in conspiracy rhetoric which is distributed via the internet. The voices, one measure of the argument's authority, are analyzed and described in depth, with eleven voices identified. These voices and their significance to Condit's text as a whole are discussed. Following the voice analysis, an Aristotelian analysis of the text's appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos is performed to examine the persuasive force of Condit's argument. Finally, the correlation between the voices and the appeals is examined to determine the strength of the correlation between the two constructs and to determine whether …

The Old Man And The Sea: Hemingway, Heteroglossia, And The Hero's Voice, Carole Sue Spitler

Theses Digitization Project

In this subjective hero concept lies an intriguing aspect of Bakhtin's paradigm: A hero is not necessarily a living entity; a hero can be ideas, objects and locations. When viewed through the lens of traditional western rhetorical theory, Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea appears as a monologue wherein Santiago seemingly speaks for the author about the subject of doom and man's relationship to the world.

A Stylistic Analysis Of 2pac Shakur's Rap Lyrics: In The Perpspective Of Paul Grice's Theory Of Implicature, Christopher Darnell Campbell

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Voice: Cultural Silencing And The Supernatural In Women's Stories: Allende's The House Of The Spirits, Kingston's The Woman Warrior, And Morrison's Beloved, Katie Suzanne Skrove

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis focuses on a study of the female voice and silencing as well as on the use of the supernatural in selected works of literature from three different cultures: Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, and Toni Morrison's Beloved.