Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool (Ila 2026 Presentation), Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

This presentation introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a hybrid system for sentence-level propaganda detection that combines offline transformer-based classification with selective large language model (LLM) explainability. The system employs a two-stage pipeline in which a local BERT-based classifier evaluates all input text and filters non-propagandistic content, while only high-confidence candidates are forwarded to an LLM for rhetorical technique labeling and explanation. This design enables cost-aware, privacy-conscious, and scalable analysis by reducing unnecessary reliance on external models.

Propasafe-Hybrid identifies propagandistic techniques such as loaded language, obfuscation, and appeal to fear, and generates concise natural language rationales that make these techniques interpretable to users. By …

Silent Persuasion In The Classroom: Rethinking Student Silence As Rhetorical Agency, Deepa Silwal

Frontera Retórica Symposium

In most educational settings, rhetorical participation refers to the recognized ways people communicate and persuade. It is measured almost exclusively through verbal contribution, a norm that frames silence as disengagement or deficit. This assumption overlooks the communicative work performed through the body itself, particularly among students navigating linguistic, cultural, or institutional constraints. I ask: how might embodied silence be theorized as a form of rhetorical agency among students positioned at the margins of institutional power? I propose the concept of silent persuasion, which refers to rhetoric enacted not through speech but through the body's presence, posture, stillness, and restraint. Drawing …

Cultivating Home: Nepali Migrants And Gardening As Everyday Rhetoric, Menuka Gurung Lama

Frontera Retórica Symposium

Rhetorical knowledge is often discussed through formal institutions and textual traditions, leaving everyday community practices underexamined. This paper engages the theme “Rhetoric from the Margins” by examining how Nepali migrants’ gardening practices in Hooksett, New Hampshire produce knowledge outside dominant academic and institutional frameworks. I ask: How do Nepali migrants use gardening as a way of making meaning, sustaining memory, and cultivating belonging in unfamiliar environments? In what ways does gardening function as a rhetorical and epistemic practice through which migrants carry and transform land-based knowledge across borders? Rather than treating gardening simply as leisure or subsistence activity, I examine …

Patriotism, Philia, And Stereotyping During World War Ii: Correspondence Between Black Composers, Selise Phillips, Joi Carr

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The 20th century was a monumental time for Black composers, especially for those in the UK. Rudolph Dunbar was the first black musician to perform at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. During this time, correspondence between him and William Grant Still, a famous black composer based in America, exists. Still’s rhetorical choices in these letters demonstrate the attitudes of these composers, specifically Still, and how these choices reflect the success of Dunbar’s career. Still, whose compositions started gaining traction in the 1930s, often praised Dunbar for his achievements. These letters all take place during World War II and during …

Learning To Be Heard, Hannah Stroh

Research Days

I am one of 8957 people globally born in 2006 with the condition Microtia Atresia which is a deformity of the ear. My research inspiration stems from reading the different stories of other microtians on social media who have very different experiences than me. I dug deep into how the self-esteem and social experiences of individuals with my condition are affected. I related to a lot of my findings, making connections to my own life. I will discuss how social media and parental influence have impacted my life; and the challenges I've faced with my balance and hearing in dance …

Bridging Libraries And Classrooms: Co-Teaching For Student Success, Joy Urbina, Isabel Baca

Librarian Conference Presentations

An instructional librarian and writing professor describe their collaborative approach to co-teaching. Learn how integrating information literacy with writing instruction strengthens students' critical thinking and research skills and discover practical strategies from this successful cross-disciplinary partnership.

"Transgender Insanity" And Scapegoating: President Donald Trump's Political Rhetoric Regarding Transgender Americans, Savannah Torres

Presentations - 2026

The political rhetoric used by President Donald Trump to refer to transgender Americans results in their scapegoating.

The Disinformation Vaccine: A Case For Integrating Comprehensive Disinformation Education Into First Year Writing Classes, Benjamin F. Jackson

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Students’ exposure to disinformation and misinformation is far greater than it has ever been. As the ability of generative AI to produce image, video, and audio deepfakes grows more sophisticated, disinformation will become even easier to spread and harder to detect. The rapid spread of social, political, scientific, and medical disinformation has been deadly and its potential is disastrous. Security experts now warn that dis/misinformation is the greatest threat to national security. Americans at large and students in particular have a demonstrated lack of information literacy when it comes to detecting false information, and bad actors nationally and globally are …

Weeding Out Dishonesty: Rhetoric And Information Literacy For The Age Of Disinformation, Victoria M. Tischio

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

We live in what some call a post-fact world where what is presented as true becomes true and circulates widely. Politicians lie because they have calculated that they gain more than they lose, and media outlets repeat those lies because they profit from them (Adair 2024). Fear and suspicion make individuals vulnerable to these lies (Young 2017). Like an invasive species, it is nearly impossible to eradicate these lies once released into the media ecosystem. While fake news is not new (think P.T. Barnum and 17th-century canards), its virulence has reached epidemic proportions, infiltrating all aspects of society. This constitutes …

Threading The Needle: Teaching Critical Reading And Writing In The Age Of Ai, Emily A. Durham, Andrea A. Berta

Humanities

All instructors--but particularly instructors who must teach students specific disciplinary ways of reading and writing--face a difficult position with AI. Students will need to use AI in collegiate and professional writing, but using AI for assignments can hinder critical thinking skills crucial to analyzing and correcting AI output. This presentation demonstrates three practices from our developmental English classrooms: a critical reading and writing summary assignment, AI-resistant rubrics, and an exercise to help students evaluate AI-generated suggestions on how to review their work. These activities are designed to help students develop crucial AI-literacy skills to help them succeed in an increasingly …

Oer Presentation To Kcc English Department, Rachel Ihara

Publications and Research

This was for a short presentation to the KCC English Department intended as an overview of the various open access resources in use currently.

Refreshing The Research Process, John Venecek, Rachel Edford

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This presentation was given at the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning Summer 2022 Conference. It was a discovery session designed to share fresh, innovative ideas for teaching research in an informal, personal setting. The hosts presented on their recent collaborations with instructors before inviting attendees to share their “fresh” approaches to teaching research, ideas for collaborations, best practices, and more.

The Matter And (Mostly) Manner Of Mere Christianity, Gary L. Tandy

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Presented to a meeting of the Inkling Folk Fellowship (IFF), July 23rd, 2021.

Zoom Session Link: https://youtu.be/F2ZKEPD0YFg

Research Question•Why does Lewis’s work of popular apologetics continue to find a wide readership while other excellent books in the same genre—e.g., Sayers’s Creed or Chaos—do not?

Christianity Today Survey (2000): Most influential Christian books

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1942-44; 1952) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (1937) Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (1932-67) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (1968) G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908) Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948) Richard Foster, …

Redesign Your Writing & Research Assignments, Melissa Forbes, Kerri Odess-Harnish, Meggan D. Smith

All Musselman Library Staff Works

With so many variables to account for in the fall, the writing and research assignments we designed for a 14-week semester with regular in-person access to campus resources may no longer be realistic or effective. Join Melissa Forbes, Director of the Writing Center and First-Year Writing, and Research & Instruction Librarians Kerri Odess-Harnish and Meggan Smith for tips on redesigning writing and research assignments to help students succeed whatever the semester looks like. A short 10-minute presentation will be followed by Q&A and open discussion.

Locked Up And Locked Out: True Stories Of Individuals Who Experienced The Intersection Between Homelessness And The Criminal Justice System, Jean Johnson

Senior Honors Projects

JEAN JOHNSON (Criminology & Criminal Justice)

Locked Up and Locked Out: True Stories of the Interlocking Cycle of

Homelessness and the Criminal Justice System

Sponsor: Jill Doerner (Criminology & Criminal Justice, Sociology & Anthropology), Heather Johnson (Writing & Rhetoric)

Key locks work when a key made with teeth is placed into a cylinder with a series of pins and tumblers. If you don’t insert the right key one or more of the pins will remain in the way, preventing the key from turning and the lock will remain closed. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, tens of …

Rhetoric And International Human Rights: The Case Of The Senegalese Talibés, Christopher Parisella

Senior Honors Projects

CHRISTOPHER PARISELLA

(Political Science, Writing & Rhetoric, French)

Rhetoric and International Human Rights: The Case of the Senegalese Talibés

Sponsor: Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies, Honors Program)

While in Senegal, I witnessed the hurdles faced by proponents of international human rights standards. Thousands of Muslim boys, called talibés, undertake their Koranic education in Senegal. Many are forced to beg in the streets by their educators, and abuse in the schools is common. Still, this education is considered a valuable part of the boys’ spiritual development. Despite the multitude of countries that have openly supported and ratified international human rights compacts, many …

The Prince -- Brief Synopsis -- Powerpoint, Zach Davidson

Open Educational Resources

This is a very brief PowerPoint covering some key ideas in Machiavelli's THE PRINCE.

“Paying” The Way For A Better Bart Future: A Call For Better Enforcement Of Fare Evasion Policies And Strategic Planning At Bart, Ethan S. Tan

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system has undoubtedly shaped the way the San Francisco Bay Area operates today. BART has molded itself to becoming a popular form of transportation for citizens of the area. However, numerous problems have arisen in recent years in regard to the overall “healthiness” of the BART system with its ex-aging fleet of trains, undertrained staff, lack of BART Police presence, rampant illegal drug use, etc. which has made BART unpopular with riders. The root cause of these problems through, is the lost revenue through “stolen” rides. At any one of BART’s 48 stations in …

Connecting The Clas Reads Text To First-Year Writing Course Themes And Objectives, Sara Clark, Leah Van Vaerenewyck, Robert Wauhkonen, Alison Pasinella

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Research suggests that successful Common Read Programs (CRPs) often integrate the Common Read (CR) text into classroom syllabi across multiple disciplines (Maloy, Counihan, Dupre, Madera & Beckford, 2017). This panel aims to explore how the Lesley Community can best integrate the CLAS reads text into first year courses by sharing strategies from four Fall 2018 first-year writing courses. Given that some faculty view mandated adoption and use of a CR text as infringement on academic freedom (Benz, Comer, Juergensmeyer, & Lowry, 2013) and others struggle to make effective use of the texts in their courses, the panelists will share ideas …

Using From The Heartland In The First-Year Writing Classroom: Measuring Instructor Reception Of The Customized Textbook, Sarah Cohen

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The aim of the first-year writing program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is to equip students with critical reading and writing tools and strategies to advance effective written communication well into their future. This study examines and measures attitudes of UNO composition instructors – who come from a variety of pedagogical and theoretical backgrounds – toward the efficacy of UNO’s self-published Composition I textbook, From the Heartland: Critical Reading and Writing at UNO. In many ways, From the Heartland embraces what Richard Fulkerson refers to as “a critical cultural pedagogy” which encourages students to consider personal …

Rhetoric At The University Of Chicago, James Beasley

Showcase of Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity

From the early 1940's through the 1960's, some of the most important articles in rhetoric and composition were written by University of Chicago faculty, and it was these articles that became the touchstones of rhetorical education in the institutional return to rhetoric in the latter half of the twentieth century. By organizing these articles according to their institutional context, my book, Rhetoric at the University of Chicago, sheds new light on the beginnings of rhetoric and composition and demonstrates the significance of historical context in avoiding the misuse of these articles as foundationalist rhetorical theory.

Building Paragraphs And Using Evidence, Talia Argondezzi

Writing and Speaking Pedagogy Resources

This PowerPoint presentation covers the following topics: What to include in an analytical body paragraph (the MEAL plan), which types of evidence to include, how to incorporate quotations and paraphrases smoothly and correctly, and how to choose meaningful quotations.

A 15 minute video (60 minutes with worksheet pauses) accompanies this presentation.

The worksheet is available to download as a supplemental file.

Integrating And Analyzing Quotations, Talia Argondezzi

Writing and Speaking Pedagogy Resources

This PowerPoint presentation covers how to integrate quotations smoothly and correctly and how to analyze and interpret quotations, rather than just merely restating their content.

A 12 minute video (45 minutes with worksheet pauses) accompanies this presentation.

The worksheet is available to download as a supplemental file.

Generating A Thesis Statement, Talia Argondezzi

Writing and Speaking Pedagogy Resources

This PowerPoint presentation provides a basic explanation of what to include in an introduction, a definition of a thesis statement, a step-by-step process for brainstorming for a thesis statement, and a list of syntax patterns for good thesis statements.

A 13 minute video (45 minutes with worksheet pauses) accompanies this presentation.

The worksheet is available to download as a supplemental file.

Perfecting Your Thesis Statement, Talia Argondezzi

Writing and Speaking Pedagogy Resources

This PowerPoint presentation provides a review of what to include in an introduction, a comparison of sample thesis statements, a checklist of good thesis statement qualities, and a list of strategies for making thesis statements more insightful.

A 12 minute video (45 minutes with worksheet pauses) accompanies this presentation.

The worksheet is available to download as a supplemental file.

Toxic Treasure Island: Finding Radium Instead Of Gold, Nicole Rejer

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This presentation explores the Navy’s controversial use of radioactive materials in former decades on Treasure Island. It highlights the incomplete cleanup of contaminated soil and radioactive materials, and how current radiation measures are damaging to present-day residents’ health. Finally, it explains the city’s current plans for redeveloping the island, and how many public officials are ignoring the entire radiation problem, as long as other environmental issues Treasure Island residents face on a daily basis.

When The Virtual Meets The Real: An Assessment Of The Benefits And "Costs" Of Open Access Texts For First Year Writing Courses At Cuny, Johannah Rodgers

Publications and Research

An assessment of the advantages, drawbacks, and costs of Open Access / OER texts for First Year Writing courses at CUNY.

Land Rehabilitation Awareness, Travis Christensen, Cam Dufty

Service-Learning Program

Service Project Purpose: Create a kiosk (sign) to help educate the public on rangeland health and foothills restoration strategies. Learning Goals: To apply course principles to a workplace project, to meet a need in the community, to gain valuable workplace experience, and to better understand how writing skills can be used in the community.