Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

True Injustice: Cultures Of Violence And Stories Of Resistance In The New True Crime, Marcos A. Hernandez

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

No abstract provided.

Hamlet: The Grim Reaper, J. L. Williams

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

Right versus wrong when battling grief under God can evoke in one a very strong argument, the pain at times can be too much to bear but we must go on. The soliloquy “To Be or Not to Be” is arguably the most famous from Shakespeare’s prominent play Hamlet; the piece displaying themes of logos and pathos throughout. The young prince’s speech reflects upon the tragedy of his father’s passing and logically debates the value of his own existence in comparison; accompanied by the presence of his true love Ophelia, and unknowingly to the eavesdropping ears of the new king …

Setting The Stage And Building Homes: Architecture Metaphors And Space In Donne's First Caroline Sermon, Alexander S. Laws

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Through his use of "foundation" and "house" metaphors in his "First Sermon Preached to King Charles at St. James, 3 April 1625," John Donne discreetly presents his ideologies and principles before the new king, while simultaneously criticizing his contemporaries' misguided bickering over religio-political factions. This essay seeks to unpack the history surrounding, as well as the casuistical logic found within Donne's first sermon preached during the Caroline period, which both explicitly and implicitly addresses the foremost anxieties of the people of the changing age.

Toward A Theory Of Procedural Rhetorical Systems: Demonstrations Of Player Agency In Uptake Of Rules In Video Games, Sydney A. Klem

Theses and Dissertations

This paper expands Ian Bogost’s (2007) procedural rhetoric by broadening the rhetorical view of games to encompass the arguments that they make not just about the material, but about themselves. The theory of procedural rhetorical systems (PRSes) views game systems as arguing toward how players should be following their rules, and like in any form of rhetoric, players possess agency in how they take up these arguments and how closely they follow rules. To demonstrate this, this paper analyzes a specific game, the 1996 platformer Super Mario 64, alongside various digital artifacts demonstrating how players have taken it up, including …

Gatekeeping Remix: Fandom Spaces And Identity Politics, Brittany Larsen

Theses and Dissertations

As people today spend more time online than ever, the question of how identities are constructed in different online spaces has become a critical question. One means of identity building is through remix, specifically when marginalized groups in particular insert themselves into exclusive spaces by reinterpreting existing work. One online space that engages in this work frequently is fandom, where fans excluded from larger narratives use fanfiction and fanart to create a space for themselves. Fandom provides an opportunity to see how an existing online culture navigates questions of conflicting identities through remix.

No One Wants To Read What You Write: A Contextualized Analysis Of Service Course Assignments, Tanya P. Zarlengo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes a systematic approach to answering the question of what services course assignment should accomplish in curricula by looking at the assignment from a contextual perspective that takes into consideration the programmatic factors in which the assignment circulates. The dissertation accomplishes this work by studying curricular artifacts, to include course syllabi and assignment descriptions, as well as textbooks. Additionally, interviews with program administrators and textbook authors are analyzed. The results of this analysis posit a programmatic network that visualizes connections between program, course, and staffing administrative factors with assignments as the nexus of the network. This dissertation illustrates …

The Role Of Refugee Women Narratives In The U.S. Resettlement Process, Alys Sink

VA Engage Journal

Within resettlement scholarship, there exists a distinct absence of direct narratives by refugee women about their resettlement experiences within the United States. This study delves into this absence of voice, investigating the ways in which refugee women’s narratives are received and utilized within a refugee resettlement agency. This ethnographic study includes independent interviews with refugee women and resettlement staff. Utilizing Ernest Stringer’s method of action research and Cheryl Glenn’s Rhetoric of Silence, I argue that refugee women’s narratives are not wholly absent or silent, but rather that they are rarely acknowledged, often devalued, or inadvertently made a non-priority within larger …

Crafting A Pedagogical Identity: A Multiple-Method Examination Of An English Department’S Writing Pedagogy, Nathan Alan Serfling

English Theses & Dissertations

This study developed after a program review of my current English department. The review pointed to a lack of coherence within our required writing curriculum. To learn more about my colleagues’ practices and values in writing instruction and to discover similarities and strengths that might guide our curricular revisions, I devised a multiple method, descriptive study of my colleagues’ pedagogies. I initially distributed surveys and used four key pedagogical taxonomies from writing studies scholarship (current-traditional rhetoric, expressivism, cultural studies and critical pedagogy, and rhetoric and argumentation) to analyze the survey data. Finding these taxonomies to be inadequate frameworks for understanding …

Rhetorical Agency In Algorithm-Centered Digital Activity: Methods For Tracing Agency In Online Research, Daniel L. Hocutt

English Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary scholars in rhetoric studies and technical communication have theorized rhetorical agency as engaging human and nonhuman actors in online spaces. One such space, where the work of scholarship, teaching, and technical communication practice intersect, is online research. In online research interfaces, scholars and students alike conduct research; scholars teach and students learn the online research process toward contributing knowledge; and technical communicators design and test meaningful user experiences in these interfaces.

However, the field offers few comprehensive methodologies for studying the emergence of rhetorical agency in online search environments, where the activities of technologies, humans, corporations, and environments coalesce. …

Understanding "A Common Word Between Us And You" Through I.A. Richards' New Rhetoric, Jonathan Gamble

Augsburg Honors Review

I.A. Richards defines rhetoric as the study of misunderstandings and their remedies. I argue in this paper that "A Common Word Between Us and You" (ACW) - a rhetorical letter coauthored by H.R.H Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad and 38 Muslim scholars - shares Richards' definition as its end and anchors his theory in practice. ACW is an attempt to avoid misunderstandings and to allow for understandings between Christians and Muslims about two of their common Scriptural commandments: love of God and love of neighbor. In Richards' call for a new rhetoric, he asserts that the core of rhetoric must be …

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's handwritten class notes, rhetoric and rhetoric of Aristotle. No date given.

Handwritten Note: Class Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Notes pertaining to student assignments. No date given.

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's notes for classes held Monday and Wednesday 7:30, August 27-September 24. No year given.

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's notes for classes held Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9:00, August 27-September 25. No year given.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Handwritten notes "The Prospect of Rhetoric". No date given.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Handwritten class notes, including outline on how to organize a speech. No Date.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's brief handwritten note for a class. No date given.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's handwritten notes, finished times. No date given.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's handwritten notes referring to certain book pages. Includes a typed list on names. No date given.

Unspoken Rules: Using The Game Of Mao To Teach Sensemaking And Cultural Approaches To Communication, Nina O'Brien, Cynthia Wang

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This interactive classroom activity invites students to interrogate their common sense and taken-for-granted communication practices and assumptions. In the course of playing a “concealed rules” game, students enact the ritual view of communication and the process of sensemaking. The activity provides an experiential model for clarifying complex themes as well as for actively constructing student understanding of the theories. The activity directly challenges norms of classroom communication and interaction and promotes thoughtful and engaged classroom discussion and reflection. Instructors are provided clear instructions, recommended student readings and sample discussion questions. The activity and debrief usually require about one hour of …

Immigration Encounter: Relevance Of Emotions In Communication, Chrystal Helmcke, Renee Bourdeaux, William Mari

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Students desire meaningful ways to dissect and explore confusing and challenging concepts. Chief among these in our world today are the multifaceted issues and exceptionally complex discourses involved in immigration. The guided visualization in this G.I.F.T. may be used to demonstrate emotions, the five cannons of rhetoric, intercultural communication, proofs of persuasion, or theories within the critical or phenomenological traditions. This guided visualization also adapts well to a blended classroom (with students onsite and offsite) since the instructor leads students through the visualization. Through this activity, students will describe the emotions that underpin communication about immigration, interpret how emotions influence …

Travel Analysis Portfolio: Applying Theories Of Cross-Cultural Communication To The Task Of Personal Travel Planning, Kelly L. Mckay-Semmler

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Intercultural encounters are increasingly common occurrences in our professional and personal lives, thus an awareness and working knowledge of cultural differences is important to competent communication. In this semester-long activity, students learn and apply theories and concepts about cross-cultural variation to an in-depth case analysis of a specific culture of their choosing. Individual components of the assignment progressively parallel course content, providing students multiple opportunities to actively apply their growing knowledge base to a specific cultural context. This lesson plan provides instructors with an overview of the semester-long activity from beginning to end, sample project components, reference information for up-to-date …

Exploring Expectancy Violations Theory And Proxemics With The Impractical Jokers, Andie Malterud, Ashley Phillips, Kaitlyn Voges

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Proxemics and expectancy violations theory (EVT) are the groundwork for understanding interpersonal and nonverbal communication. Previous research has indicated students retain information long-term when humor and videos that form memorable messages are incorporated into the classroom. The activity discussed in this GIFT uses the popular comedy show, Impractical Jokers, to help students apply abstract concepts to real-life examples. Several discussion questions are suggested to help students critically analyze the videos and recognize proxemics and EVT. The second set of discussion questions asks students to consider their expectations, how their expectations are formed, why some individuals have different expectations, and why …

An Analysis Of Unvaccinated College Students’ Hpv And Hpv Vaccine Knowledge And Preferred Information Source, Keith Richards, Hannah Priest Catalano, Katherine Hyatt Hawkins

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Receiving accurate human papillomavirus (HPV)/HPV vaccination information from a trusted source coupled with adequate HPV/HPV vaccination knowledge may increase college students’ likelihood to be vaccinated. This elicitation study, grounded in the information construct of the information–motivation–behavioral skills model, used a nonexperimental design with a convenience sample of 114 unvaccinated college students to assess HPV and HPV vaccine knowledge, desire for more information, and preferred source of HPV vaccine information. The sample answered slightly over half (58%) of questions related to knowledge of HPV correctly, 63% of the questions related to HPV vaccine knowledge correctly, and one-third (36%) wanted more information …

Adorno In The Digital Age: Consumerism, Ideology, And Participation In The Beatles: Rock Band, Scott Haden Church

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This essay presents an analysis of the ideologies in the online trailer to the virtual musical performance video game The Beatles: Rock Band. This analysis presents a contribution to the scholarly conversation by using Theodor W. Adorno’s theories, a novel and underutilized heuristic for analyzing video games. The trailer to The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix, 2009) promotes the ideology of consumerism through its mythologized depiction of the Beatles. The interactivity of video games may combat Adorno’s condemnation of the culture industry, allowing resistance to its hegemony via the performed de(con)struction of the text.

Camoface: Performances Of Ruralism In Duck Dynasty, Jason Jordan

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

In recent years, portrayals of the supposedly “real” exploits of rural persons in the United States have proliferated across the mediasphere. This paper examines the first season of the television show Duck Dynasty as an exemplar of this genre of entertainment. Using the concepts of ruralism, rurality, and rusticity the particular performances of rural life evidenced within the show are traced out. Ultimately, I argue that these performances of the rural constitute a strategic rhetoric that seeks to control what counts as authentic rurality. I term these sorts of strategic performances of rural authenticity as “camoface.”

Event Planning As A Means Of Applying Transferable Skills: The Planning Of The 2019 Communication Studies Banquet, Kylie E. Clark

Communication Studies

Though an annual event, The Communication Studies Banquet has had low attendance in the past and was seen as formal and expensive. This year’s event was revamped in order to make the banquet more fun, accessible, and affordable. The planning and enhancement of this event required several transferable skills which can be applied not only to event planning, but also to many other careers. These skills include organization, communication, negotiation, creativity, financial management, and resourcefulness. This paper examines the utility of transferable skills, including how they are acquired and why they are valuable, and explains how these skills were applied …

Dmt And “The Man Box:” Provoking Change And Encouraging Authentic Living, An Arts-Based Project, Steven Reynolds

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the mind-body experience through an arts-based research approach to examine, and redefine the emotional capacity and usefulness of males through societal determinants that limits and hinders men from living their authentic selves. Through the lens of a metaphoric “Man Box” 112 men participated in a workshop recreating their personal narratives of socialization through, style of dress, coping mechanisms, belief systems and who they should be as men through society's standards. In the “Man Box,” male bonding, and emotional feelings are discouraged, while the objectification of women, material property and physical/emotional strength are encouraged. This research investigates the …

Typed Document: Course Description, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Graduate Speech course description and brief biography for Dr. Saffy, Ph.D. No date given.

Typed Document: Introduction Outline, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Introduction to Dr. Saffy and the course including outline, defined terms and a brief history of early rhetoric. No date given.