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California State University, San Bernardino

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Articles 31 - 60 of 228

Full-Text Articles in Rhetoric and Composition

The Cultural Self: The Novel As Griot In African American Fiction, Eric Christian Atkinson Jan 2011

The Cultural Self: The Novel As Griot In African American Fiction, Eric Christian Atkinson

Theses Digitization Project

This paper addresses the Western African oral concept of griot, as it utilizes nommo, the Bantu term which denotes the magical power of words to cause change, as a critical African American lexical lens. It will foreground the fiction of Octavia E. Butler and John Edgar Wideman through the critical lens of griot as a means to construct African American community and culture through narrative by utilizing nommo. Nommo is an "African concept in which the word is a life force; the word is creator rather than created" even after it has been spoken or written. Traditionally the griot is …


International Graffiti And The Israeli Separation Barrier, Veronica Evangelina Miranda Jan 2011

International Graffiti And The Israeli Separation Barrier, Veronica Evangelina Miranda

Theses Digitization Project

This purpose of this study is to show that graffiti can be more than mere vandalism and can be a powerful way of communicating resistance to injustice when used as protest. Graffiti on the Israeli Separation Barrier is one way people can speak against an oppressive force that alters their physical environment, which can be a site of continuous argument.


Cyborg Rhetoric And Revelation Of Self: Identity, Writing, And The Instantiation Of The Cyborg In Digital Texts, Thomas Keywon Cho Jan 2011

Cyborg Rhetoric And Revelation Of Self: Identity, Writing, And The Instantiation Of The Cyborg In Digital Texts, Thomas Keywon Cho

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines three "digital texts" and explores the ways writing, technology, and narratives embedded in popular culture reveal cyborg language.


A Burkean Analysis Of Anti-Immigration Websites: Recurring Scapegoating Rhetorical Moves, Aldo Quiroz Lewis Jan 2011

A Burkean Analysis Of Anti-Immigration Websites: Recurring Scapegoating Rhetorical Moves, Aldo Quiroz Lewis

Theses Digitization Project

There are numerous websites emphasizing the idea that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants from Latin American countries, are to blame for the decline of the United States. What allows these sites to be so persuasive is that they created a united U.S. front by erasing the differences between different groups, thereby construcing a united "American" identity. At the same time, in opposition to this identity, the sites created an 'illegal' that groups Hispanics. This author argues that attempts to discuss immigration have more to do with enacting a scapegoat that may be blamed for America's ills.


Politics, Power, Agency And The End Comment Genre, Cynthia Ann Ruthford Jan 2011

Politics, Power, Agency And The End Comment Genre, Cynthia Ann Ruthford

Theses Digitization Project

The author examines a corpus of teacher end commentary written to first-year writing students' essays. It is looked at as a genre-the end comment genre-in order to perform a rhetorical genre analyis.


Access Denied: The Rhetorical Construction Of Undocumented Students In Postsecondary Education, Yanira Estrada Figueroa Jan 2011

Access Denied: The Rhetorical Construction Of Undocumented Students In Postsecondary Education, Yanira Estrada Figueroa

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis analyzes rhetorically the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe, sections of the Welfare Reform Act and the Illegal Immigratiom Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and the 2011 version of the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Minors (Dream Act) in order to trace the underlying beliefs and assumptions that justify refusing undocumented students support for and thus access to postsecondary institutions.


Liberation Is Not Always So Liberating: Rethinking Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy For The Writing Classroom, Joshua Daniel Shinn Jan 2011

Liberation Is Not Always So Liberating: Rethinking Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy For The Writing Classroom, Joshua Daniel Shinn

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of this project is to reconsider the ways in which liberatory and/or critical pedagogy, and its desire to combat the "banking" method of education, can unintentionally create some of the same institutional and ideologically oppressive classroom conditions that more traditional methods of instruction have been charged with creating. This thesis first discusses the origins of liberatory pedagogy and its effect upon education, the writing classroom, and critical pedagogues.


Transmission Overhaul: Negotiating The Shift In Information And Knowledge Construction Among Generation M, Thomas Timothy Hite Jan 2011

Transmission Overhaul: Negotiating The Shift In Information And Knowledge Construction Among Generation M, Thomas Timothy Hite

Theses Digitization Project

This research draws upon recent research in the area of digital semiotics and offers a framework of remediation in the attempt to encourage the acceptance of digital composition as a valid space of rhetorical production.


Composition, Meditative Thinking, And The Writing Classroom: A Historical Analysis And Empirical Study, Gregory Todd Baran Jan 2010

Composition, Meditative Thinking, And The Writing Classroom: A Historical Analysis And Empirical Study, Gregory Todd Baran

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to explore whether meditation is a beneficial practice in the composition classroom and to validate theoretical claims to its efficacy. Core questions centered on whether or not meditation could help lessen writing blocks, get the writer into the "flow" of writing, spark creativity, and ease the overall writing process.


Rewriting Christians: A Rhetoric Analysis Of Emergent Church Texts, Frances Marie Suderman Jan 2010

Rewriting Christians: A Rhetoric Analysis Of Emergent Church Texts, Frances Marie Suderman

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis defines the Emergent Church movement and discusses how it is situated among American Evangelical Christendom (A.E.C.). Furthermore, this thesis explores how Emergent Church texts use the rhetoric of conversation to question established biblical foundations. Through conversations the Emergent Church uses discourse that differs from traditional A.E. Christian language. Within these differences postmodern threads emerge. The theoretical framework for this study is Jean-Francois Lyotard's "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge". Two key authors considered are Rob Bell and Brian McLaren.


The (Re)Invention Of Feedback, Jason Wayne Loan Jan 2010

The (Re)Invention Of Feedback, Jason Wayne Loan

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis argues that, far from being obstacles to teacher response, the new media and avant-garde practices of appropriation, the readymade, and nonlinearity can actually work to orient feedback toward textual pratices that both conceptually and technologically embrace networks. The aim is to construct pedagogy (generally) and teacher response (specifically) as creative acts composed in response to the creative act that is student work.


Bridging The Gap: Composition Studies And Applied Linguistics/Teaching English As A Second Language In The Writing Center, Chloe Anne De Los Reyes Jan 2010

Bridging The Gap: Composition Studies And Applied Linguistics/Teaching English As A Second Language In The Writing Center, Chloe Anne De Los Reyes

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis offers a critical comparison of how the fields of Composition Studies and Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language inform the tutoring of second language writers in writing centers. It examines where the two fields diverge and intersect in order to identify what knowledge can be useful from each working with the other. The thesis discusses implications of the findings as well as offers reccommendations for a richer tutoring of second language writers (L2 writers) in the writing centers.


Welcome To The World Of Tomorrow Today: Matt Groening's Futurama As Posthuman Mediator, Amanda Jill Taylor Jan 2009

Welcome To The World Of Tomorrow Today: Matt Groening's Futurama As Posthuman Mediator, Amanda Jill Taylor

Theses Digitization Project

In this thesis an explanation of posthuman theory along with a close analysis of both Fry and the robot Bender. These analyses respectively show how we are already posthuman as well as the material limitations of posthuman subjectivity.


Ballads As "Poetic" Rhetoric In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Norma Jeanne Peterson Jan 2009

Ballads As "Poetic" Rhetoric In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Norma Jeanne Peterson

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis explores the rhetorical effect ballads have had as a medium of argument for those who were "free of literary influences and fairly homogeneous in character." The ballad, speaks to us poetically and by tradition reveals human interests emerging from distress and frustration. Three men (John Lomax, Alan Lomax and Harry Smith) were instrumental in collecting and recording early ballads before they were lost; this effect has lingered from an early period in time to the 1960s, and beyond when the value of ballads was rediscovered.


A Critical Analysis And Comparison Of Writing Pedagogy For English Language Learners In Second Grade, Cristina Quezada Jan 2008

A Critical Analysis And Comparison Of Writing Pedagogy For English Language Learners In Second Grade, Cristina Quezada

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to find an effective form of writing pedagogy for second grade ELL's. The two "writing programs" under study are the Writing Blueprint for Houghton Mifflin and teaching the writing process with the use of Thinking Maps.


Pipe Dream: Eugene O'Neill's Rhetoric Of Tragedy, Ryan Francis Murphy Jan 2008

Pipe Dream: Eugene O'Neill's Rhetoric Of Tragedy, Ryan Francis Murphy

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis applies a rhetorical lens to the work of Eugene O'Neill, specifically, those plays written between the years 1939 and 1942-the height of his dramatic genius. This thesis works to reimagine Eugene O'Neill, often looked upon as "lacking rhetorical exuberance," as a distinctive and successful rhetor, in addition to installing the "pipe dream" as his foremost rhetorical device.


The Materiality Of The Female In Shirley Jackson's Short Fiction, Lydia Marie Pearson Jan 2008

The Materiality Of The Female In Shirley Jackson's Short Fiction, Lydia Marie Pearson

Theses Digitization Project

Shirley Jackson's fiction continues to be placed within the gothic horror genre because of its supernatural and horror images. I contend the major focus of her work is her critique of the social norms constructed for women by an archaic and inauthentic patriarchial system of rules and domestic expectation for women that result in madness for the resisting female.


George Orwell And The Rhetoric Of Tyranny, Charlene Ann Stark Jan 2008

George Orwell And The Rhetoric Of Tyranny, Charlene Ann Stark

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines Orwell's language theories and how rhetoric affects our civil liberities, specifically since 9/11. Rights are often taken for granted, but in fact our civil liberties are constantly reinterpreted and are affected by political rhetoric.


Is There A Male Victim?: Discursive Subjection In Representations Of Female-On-Male Childhood Sexual Abuse, James Ireland Ducat Jan 2008

Is There A Male Victim?: Discursive Subjection In Representations Of Female-On-Male Childhood Sexual Abuse, James Ireland Ducat

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis investigates established theoretical and embodied accounts of identities excluded within Western heteronormative society in order to seek out how those embodiments and theories may parallel what is contended that another impossible subject position -- the child male victim of adult female sexual violence.


The Rhetoric Of Dean Koontz's Intensity, Krista Michelle Wagner Jan 2008

The Rhetoric Of Dean Koontz's Intensity, Krista Michelle Wagner

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the revision of eighteenth century gothic fiction by Dean Koontz's twentieth century horror novel, Intensity. In particular, the novel invites Aristotelian rhetorical analysis through the competing appeals staged by its antagonist, Vess, and its protagonist, Chyna.


The Sound Bites Of George W. Bush During The 2004 Presidential Election Examined And Unpacked, Jack Mckelvey Jan 2008

The Sound Bites Of George W. Bush During The 2004 Presidential Election Examined And Unpacked, Jack Mckelvey

Theses Digitization Project

Three sound bites, Whatever it takes (55 seconds), Safer, Stronger (30 seconds), and War on Terror (30 seconds), of President George W. Bush during the presidential election of 2004 will be explored and unpacked.


United States Media Portrayals Of The Developing World: A Semiotic Analysis Of The One Campaign's Internet Web Site, Lindsey Marie Haussamen Jan 2008

United States Media Portrayals Of The Developing World: A Semiotic Analysis Of The One Campaign's Internet Web Site, Lindsey Marie Haussamen

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of this research was to examine how the One organization's web site either supports or rejects established literature that concludes that U.S. media contains negative representations of the developing world.


The Rhetoric Of Nonfiction: An Examination Of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, Lashawn Jon Janice Cole Jan 2008

The Rhetoric Of Nonfiction: An Examination Of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, Lashawn Jon Janice Cole

Theses Digitization Project

The thesis begins with a brief description and analysis of various genres Junger blends in his text. What follows is a look at the challenges of interpretation in historical writing and theoretical framing of the genre distinctions regarding new journalism and nonfiction narrative.


Charles Brockden Brown's Place Within The Gothic And The Influence Of Early America's Social Issues On Brown's Writing, Shirley Ann Regis Jan 2007

Charles Brockden Brown's Place Within The Gothic And The Influence Of Early America's Social Issues On Brown's Writing, Shirley Ann Regis

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis is to show that Charles Brockden Brown was influenced by the American Revolution and the incidents that come after it. It is suggested that Brown created a gothic fiction that was intended to be a critique on the American Revolution by using murder narrratives present during the time to create his characters. Gothic fiction consists of many elements such as setting arechetypal characters, terror, emotion, psychological turmoil and language use.


Focus In The Structure Of Concepts In Analytic Discourse, Julia Carlson Merrill Jan 2007

Focus In The Structure Of Concepts In Analytic Discourse, Julia Carlson Merrill

Theses Digitization Project

The primary focus of this thesis was to find out what makes workable topic sentences different from inadequate ones. A group of topic sentences was collected from the author's eight grade students and reviewed.


A Liminal Examination Of Always Already Meaning Within Language, James Richard Starr Jan 2007

A Liminal Examination Of Always Already Meaning Within Language, James Richard Starr

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis juxtaposes Plato's allegory of the cave with Jacques Derrida's concept of the always already aspect of meaning, a concept derived from Ferdinand de Saussure's work. This theoretical investigation examines the implications of universal Signified forms of word meanings for postmodern composition theory.


An Integrated Approach To Writing: Using Writer's Workshop, Step Up To Writing And Six Traits Of Writing To Teach The California State Standards, Daisy Marie Tawney Jan 2007

An Integrated Approach To Writing: Using Writer's Workshop, Step Up To Writing And Six Traits Of Writing To Teach The California State Standards, Daisy Marie Tawney

Theses Digitization Project

This project researcher designed, implemented and collected data on an integrated approach to writing instruction for her third grade students in the Etiwanda School District. The literature review showed the importance of teaching students the purpose for writing, the traits of writing and the process of writing. Research showed the effectiveness of teaching students the six traits of writing and the writing process as indicated by student writing achievement scores.


The Habermas/Foucault Debate: Implications For Rhetoric And Composition, Fiona Jane Harris-Ramsby Jan 2007

The Habermas/Foucault Debate: Implications For Rhetoric And Composition, Fiona Jane Harris-Ramsby

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis sheds light on (1) the extent to which composition has fallen short in its efforts to examine Habermasian discourse in the public sphere/politicized classroom; and (2) whether, through a careful and explicit exploration of the Habermas/Foucault debate and the competing concepts of discourse contained therein, we might make use of those concepts in the politicized classroom to inform student writing in the public sphere.


Composition Heuristics And Theories And A Proposed Heuristic For Business Writing, Katharine Louise Peake Jan 2007

Composition Heuristics And Theories And A Proposed Heuristic For Business Writing, Katharine Louise Peake

Theses Digitization Project

This work questions the usefulness of heuristic procedures, within composition in general writing in business in particular, as an effective aid to the generation of written, non-fiction discourse.


Error Feedback In Second Language Writing, Carol Ann Miller-Cornell Jan 2007

Error Feedback In Second Language Writing, Carol Ann Miller-Cornell

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis follows five second language (L2) students in an introductory composition class at California State University, San Bernardino. The study investigates their perceptions and responses to grammatical coded feedback provided by their writing instructor. The results showed that students wanted, expected, appreciated and understood the coded feedback that was given to them.