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Articles 31 - 60 of 96

Full-Text Articles in Rhetoric and Composition

'Let Me Lock It Up': A Rhetorical Exploration Of Identity And An Emergent Counterpublic Within The Youtube Beauty Community, Rachel Street Jan 2019

'Let Me Lock It Up': A Rhetorical Exploration Of Identity And An Emergent Counterpublic Within The Youtube Beauty Community, Rachel Street

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In light of calls to study digital composition outside of school-based domains (e.g. Yancey), this project specifically explores a counterpublic in the YouTube beauty community that has arisen in response to the encroachment of and attempts to institutionalize the space. Utilizing iconographic tracking and rhetorical analysis, this study illuminates a network of discourse geared toward a more responsible and educated consumption of makeup and participation within the beauty community. This study found that within the beauty community, a counterpublic has formed in response to a more commodified, product-centered public sphere that has dominated the space and is most associated with …


The Resonance And Residue Of The First African American Newspaper: How Freedom's Journal Created Space In The Early 19th Century, Valerie Kasper Jan 2018

The Resonance And Residue Of The First African American Newspaper: How Freedom's Journal Created Space In The Early 19th Century, Valerie Kasper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, has a historical, rhetorical, and spatial purpose. It not only showed the impact made by African Americans in the fight for their civil rights in the early 19th century, but as an artifact it illustrated and preserved that history allowing it to be studied centuries after the newspaper ceased printing. The purpose of The Resonance and Residue of the First African American Newspaper: How Freedom's Journal Created Space in the Early 19th Century is to provide an interdisciplinary approach to historical newspapers that illustrates an alternative history in this country — a history …


Emergent Narrative: Stories Of Play, Playing With Stories, Eric Murnane Jan 2018

Emergent Narrative: Stories Of Play, Playing With Stories, Eric Murnane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emergent narrative, a phenomenon of unexpected contextual stories arising through play, has been researched in the field of game studies since 1999. However, that discussion largely lies in the realm of theoretical stories which are generated by either the system or the player. The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen our understanding of emergent narrative by examining real-world examples of the phenomenon. Four hundred player posts were gathered from forums relating to the video game Skyrim (a large, open world fantasy roleplaying game) and analyzed using a mixed-method framework which is informed by digital ethnography, fan studies, and game …


Neither Teacher Nor Scholar: Identity And Agency In A Graduate Teacher's Life, Caitlin Pierson Jan 2018

Neither Teacher Nor Scholar: Identity And Agency In A Graduate Teacher's Life, Caitlin Pierson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how graduate student teachers (GTA's) employ agency in order to establish and perform professional identities. Understanding agency as interactional, performative, and acting in a way "unintended by power" (Butler, 1997, p. 15), this thesis examines the spatial practices and performances of a graduate student teacher through a mixed methods approach combining video recordings with autoethnography. This project begins by using Lefebvre's (1991) social imaginary to examine the potent arguments being made to and about GTA's from their shared office, using visual rhetorical analysis to examine how this space communicates ideas of identity and place that work at …


E.A.I. Anxiety: Technopanic And Post-Human Potential, Zachary Mandell Jan 2018

E.A.I. Anxiety: Technopanic And Post-Human Potential, Zachary Mandell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Robots have been a part of the imagination of Western culture for centuries. The possibility for automation and artificial life has inspired the curiosity of thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci who once designed a mechanical knight. It wasn't until the 19th century that automated machinery has become realized. The confrontation between human and automation has inspired a fear, referred to as "technopanic", that has been exacerbated in tandem with the evolution of technology. This thesis seeks to discover the historical precedence for these fears. I explore three modes of knowledge (Philosophy, Economics, and Film Theory) to examine the agendas behind …


Exploring A Three-Dimensional Narrative Medium: The Theme Park As "De Sprookjessprokkelaar," The Gatherer And Teller Of Stories, Carissa Baker Jan 2018

Exploring A Three-Dimensional Narrative Medium: The Theme Park As "De Sprookjessprokkelaar," The Gatherer And Teller Of Stories, Carissa Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the pervasiveness of storytelling in theme parks and establishes the theme park as a distinct narrative medium. It traces the characteristics of theme park storytelling, how it has changed over time, and what makes the medium unique. This was accomplished using a mixed methods approach drawing data from interviews with creative professionals, archival research, fieldwork, and an analysis of more than eight hundred narrative attractions. The survey of narrative attractions revealed the most common narrative expressions to be dark rides and stage shows. Source material tends to be cultural tales (legends, fairy tales) or intellectual properties (generally …


Rewriting Patriarchal Norms In Academia: Invitational Rhetoric In A Crowdsourced Survey, Rachel Molko Jan 2018

Rewriting Patriarchal Norms In Academia: Invitational Rhetoric In A Crowdsourced Survey, Rachel Molko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to understand the how texts are constructed to forward feminist communicative objectives through a case study of Dr. Karen Kelsky’s "A Crowdsourced Survey of Sexual Harassment in the Academy." In this research, sexual harassment is understood as an act of power, sexual in nature, enacted by faculty or staff (employed or contracted in different capacities) in their relations with other faculty or staff, who are often lower ranking. By adopting invitational rhetoric as a theoretical framework, this thesis examines the way Dr. Karen Kelsky's crowdsourced survey creates the space to articulate and elevate often suppressed personal testimony …


Bursting The Filter Bubble: Information Literacy And Questions Of Valuation, Navigation, And Control In A Digital Landscape, Komysha Hassan Jan 2018

Bursting The Filter Bubble: Information Literacy And Questions Of Valuation, Navigation, And Control In A Digital Landscape, Komysha Hassan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The evolution of social media platforms and other public forums in the digital realm has created an explosion of user-generated content and data as a component of the already content-saturated digital landscape. The distributed, horizontal nature of the internet as a platform makes it difficult to ascertain value and differentiate between texts of varying validity, bias, and purpose. In addition, the internet is not an inanimate interface. As Pariser (2011) argues, content aggregators, such as Google, actively filter, personalize, and therefore limit each individual's access to information, in both range and type. This has created a crisis of information valuation …


Constituting Rhetorical Agency In A Feminist Discursive Space, Ella Raynor Jan 2018

Constituting Rhetorical Agency In A Feminist Discursive Space, Ella Raynor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details an analysis of a project called Exposing the Silence in order to learn about agency and discursive space. This gallery for traumatic birth stories serves as a relevant site for better understanding how women are constituting their experiences with embodied autonomy and rhetorical dis/empowerment and how they come together to visually and discursively form a feminist space online. I completed a rhetorical analysis of the birth narratives and of an interview with Lindsay Askins, one of the creators of Exposing the Silence. My study finds that a dyadic relationship between embodied autonomy and rhetorical agency exists while …


Touching The Unreal: The Definition, Narrative Strategies, And Aesthetics Of 3d Cartoon Narratives., Nathan Snow Jan 2018

Touching The Unreal: The Definition, Narrative Strategies, And Aesthetics Of 3d Cartoon Narratives., Nathan Snow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Touching the Unreal" follows the structure set out by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics to argue that understanding cartoons is serious business and requires that we define the art form, outline its basic tenets, and theorize how the mind understands it. The dissertation argues for a new definition of 3D computer generated cartoons, beginning with the most basic definition applicable to all forms of animation and taking into account new technological developments before arriving at the 3D cartoon narratives of today. The dissertation outlines the basic facets of 3D cartoon narratives in terms of narrative and aesthetics, arguing that, in …


Celebrities, Fans, And Queering Gender Norms: A Critical Examination Of Lady Gaga's, Nicki Minaj's, And Fans' Use Of Instagram, Brandy Dieterle Jan 2018

Celebrities, Fans, And Queering Gender Norms: A Critical Examination Of Lady Gaga's, Nicki Minaj's, And Fans' Use Of Instagram, Brandy Dieterle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation used queer rhetoric as a lens for studying queering gender norms on Instagram by using Lady Gaga's, Nicki Minaj's, and fan posts as case studies. The research considers how celebrities may use social media, like Instagram, for queering gender norms, and what this might look like. This research also aimed to better understand if and how fans may take up celebrities' efforts at queering gender norms and, in turn, queer gender norms in their own Instagram posts where they tag Gaga or Minaj. To conduct this research, I took a multimodal methodological approach and collected and coded 1,000 …


Understanding The Dynamics Of Peer Review And Its Impact On Revision, Julie Kopp Jan 2017

Understanding The Dynamics Of Peer Review And Its Impact On Revision, Julie Kopp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in writing studies has focused on what happens as students, and often their teachers, talk about student writing. This line of inquiry has identified several strategies for productive peer interactions, including spontaneous talk (Danis; Dipardo and Freedman; Johnson, The New Frontier; Bruffee; Lam), a flexible environment (Dipardo & Freedman; Johnson, "Friendly Persuasion"), positive rapport (Rish; Thompson; Wolfe), feedback and support (Barron; Covill; Flynn; Grimm; Lam; Yucel, Bird, Young, and Blanksby; Zhu), and reflection (Yucel, Bird, Young, and Blanksby). However, research invested in understanding the extent to which such interactions result in better revisions or make students better writers has …


On Digital Doctrine: The Mediatization Of Religious Culture, Celina Yebba Jan 2017

On Digital Doctrine: The Mediatization Of Religious Culture, Celina Yebba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Media is a constant feature in our modern lives, transforming and influencing society and culture. This study examined how increased participation in digital media has changed the nature of religious representation, culture, and practice. Data was collected from both secular websites and religious media spaces where people post information about religion. This discussion is a necessary step in determining how media has not only become embedded in religious culture but has influenced the transformation of American religious culture. The first part of this analysis concentrated on uncovering rhetorical strategies in religious digital spaces. I assumed that organizational identification would be …


The Communicative Value Of Emr Education: Medical Students' Perceptions Of Introductions To Emrs, Justiss Burry Jan 2017

The Communicative Value Of Emr Education: Medical Students' Perceptions Of Introductions To Emrs, Justiss Burry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in medical education includes a number of studies that describe the complexities (Tierney et al., 2013; Gagon et al., 2009; Pippitt, Stevenson, & Samuelson, 2013), benefits (Milano et al., 2014; Hammoud et al., 2012; Silverman et al., 2014), and limitations (Peled, Sagher, Morrow, & Dobbie, 2009; Wald, George, Reis, & Taylor, 2014; Pelletier, 2016) of helping medical students understand and achieve fluency with electronic medical records (EMRs). In addition, studies in the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM) have been calling to attention the effectiveness of rhetorical studies within medical contexts (Scott, Segal, & Keranen, 2013; Segal, 2005; Rausch, …


Connecting Theory And Evidence: A Closer Look At Learning In The Writing Center, Alexandra M. Valerio Jan 2017

Connecting Theory And Evidence: A Closer Look At Learning In The Writing Center, Alexandra M. Valerio

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study seeks to explore ideas about learning and how it happens in writing center tutorials. The questions posed for this research are the following: 1) What does learning look like in writing center consultations? and 2) What moves do tutors make to prompt learning moments? The study was created by video recording nine writing center consultations over the course of a single semester. The researcher conducted the sessions herself and worked with the same writer each time. Segments of sessions were transcribed to reveal patterns of learning at work. Reflective memos were also collected, as well as a final …


The Rhetoric Of Inmates: Identification Processes In The San Quentin News, Alexandra Stepanov Jan 2017

The Rhetoric Of Inmates: Identification Processes In The San Quentin News, Alexandra Stepanov

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to create a new heuristic for processes of identification. Currently, Burke's identification theory only accounts for his definition of successful identification. This thesis explores how Burke's initial identification theory interacts with other theories that contribute to identity formation. Specifically, Fernheimer's identification half-steps, Reynold's ethos as location theory, and Kerschbaum's commodification of difference will be used to build on Burke's theory and develop a new heuristic. The new heuristic will be applied to the San Quentin State Prison's inmate-run newspaper, the San Quentin News, to explore how inmates are utilizing rhetorical identification strategies to change …


Analysis Of Dialog Surrounding Animal Testing In Vaccine Research, Natalie Johnson Jan 2017

Analysis Of Dialog Surrounding Animal Testing In Vaccine Research, Natalie Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the scholarly discussions surrounding the topic of animal testing for vaccine potency and safety in humans. The primary stakeholders in this discussion are the scientists, medical professionals, and researchers who are involved in animal models and alternative testing methods, specifically related to vaccine development. The debate among these professionals regarding alternative methods, which encompasses any testing approach that does not involve animals, has been analyzed. This project looks at the argument from a historical perspective, which provides background context for the current debate and an understanding of how the current arguments originated. The changing mindset over time …


Consequences Of Skipping First Year Composition: Mapping Student Writing From High School To The Academic Disciplines, Craig Bell Jan 2017

Consequences Of Skipping First Year Composition: Mapping Student Writing From High School To The Academic Disciplines, Craig Bell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in writing studies has focused on students who make the traditional transition from high school to first year composition, to the entry level discipline specific courses in their chosen majors (Wardle, 2007, 2009; Sommers and Saltz, 2004; Beaufort, 2007; Carroll, 2002). Very little scholarship addresses those students who "skip" first year composition and find themselves in entry level discipline specific courses classrooms. With three former students, I conduct a case study over the course of eight months via a series of face to face, facetime, skype and email interviews. Each of these students, through earning high test scores in …


Meeting Student, Instructor, And Institutional Expectations In Online Writing Courses, Emily Proulx Jan 2017

Meeting Student, Instructor, And Institutional Expectations In Online Writing Courses, Emily Proulx

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in online writing instruction often focuses on student perceptions of learning and best practices of online pedagogy (Boyd, 2008; Dziuban, Moska, Kramer, & Thompson, 2013; Hewett & Warnock, 2015; Pigg & Morrison, 2016; Roby, Ashe, Singh, & Clark, 2013; Warnock, 2009). At the University of Central Florida, online learning research is especially important due to the increasing volume of both online and hybrid courses across the university (which is itself in response to increasing numbers of students enrolling but limited classroom space with which to teach). The current push from many university administrators for increased enrollment in online classes …


Ok, Ladies, Now Let's Get Information: Recognizing Moments Of Rhetorical Identification In Beyonce's Digital Activism, Garrett Arban Jan 2017

Ok, Ladies, Now Let's Get Information: Recognizing Moments Of Rhetorical Identification In Beyonce's Digital Activism, Garrett Arban

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research seeks to understand how activists are encouraging audiences to identify with their work in digital spaces through a case study of Beyonce Knowles-Carter's activism. The current scholarship surrounding digital activism is extensive and has offered a detailed look at individual tools used in activist movements, but there is a lack of research that recognizes the complex network of tools that are often used by an activist or activist group. To address this gap in the research, this thesis offers an analysis of three specific activist tools used by Beyonce to encourage her fans and other audiences to identify …


Tracing Literacy Practices Of Multilingual Writing Tutors, Somaily Nieves Jan 2017

Tracing Literacy Practices Of Multilingual Writing Tutors, Somaily Nieves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in writing studies has focused on multilingual writers and the rhetorical affinity they gain from shuttling between multiple languages (Lorimer Leonard, 2014; Guerra, 2004) Writing center studies have focused on multilingual writing tutors and have argued the need to use more tutors who are literate in more than one language because they possess skills that can be useful in writing centers (Lape, 2013; Thonus, 2014). However, not much research has been conducted to better understand what literacy practices these multilingual writing tutors develop that make them better equipped in writing center tutoring sessions. This thesis focuses on a case …


Dining With The Cyborgs: Disembodied Consumption And The Rhetoric Of Food Media In The Digital Age, Maggie Cotto Jan 2016

Dining With The Cyborgs: Disembodied Consumption And The Rhetoric Of Food Media In The Digital Age, Maggie Cotto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores digital media productions based specifically on food and cooking in order to demonstrate that new communication technologies are increasingly incorporating all five of the bodily senses. In doing so, they contribute significantly to the emergence of new ideological apparatuses appropriate for a global community. These apparatuses – including the formation of a posthumanist subject, the use of technology to support embodied cognition, and the establishment of entertainment as an ideological institution – have become the harbingers of a rhetorical evolution. Based on the work of Gregory Ulmer, along with Jacques Derrida, N. Katherine Hayles, Donna Haraway, and …


At The Intersection Of Feminism And Fast Capitalism: A Study Of Women's Literacies During A Time Of Change, Melanie Gauss Jan 2016

At The Intersection Of Feminism And Fast Capitalism: A Study Of Women's Literacies During A Time Of Change, Melanie Gauss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in socio-historical studies of literacy have focused on the social and historical aspects of literacy. While these prior studies have illuminated how we think about the social and historical context surrounding literacy, we have not studied women's literacies in relation to the economy as much. In response, this study focuses particularly on women's literacies during a specific time period, that of the 1960s to the 1990s, which ushered in second wave feminism's fight for equality in the workplace and the change from traditional capitalism to "fast" or "new" capitalism. To develop this inquiry, and find out about women's literacies …


Can Best Practices In Writing Instruction And Standardized Testing Coexist?, Karen Cannavino Jan 2016

Can Best Practices In Writing Instruction And Standardized Testing Coexist?, Karen Cannavino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the high school level, teachers are tasked with a twofold agenda: they must prepare their students for college level and other post-secondary writing, and they must also make sure they perform well on the standardized writing tests that are required by the state. The stakes in standardized testing continue to rise, especially in Florida. Since the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 (NCLB) and the implementation of the Race to the Top Assessment Program (RTTT) in 2009, teachers across the nation have experienced intense pressures related to standardized testing. Many schools' efforts to conform to …


Investigating Place In The Writing Classroom: Designing A Place-Based Course With A Local Service-Learning Component, Melissa Pompos Jan 2015

Investigating Place In The Writing Classroom: Designing A Place-Based Course With A Local Service-Learning Component, Melissa Pompos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on literature about place-based education and service-learning, as well as three groups* perspectives about their service-learning experiences, this research describes how place (understood simultaneously as a material agent, a setting for human activity, and a factor in an individual*s situatedness) and identity (understood in terms of one*s social position) are socially- constructed concepts that impact students* writing and learning experiences. More specifically, this project presents place-based education as a teaching method that can focus and reinvigorate service-learning in a writing course. Including place-based content and service-learning projects in a writing course requires careful design and reflection. However, course design …


Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis Of Performance Enhancement Technologies In Sports, John Lamothe Jan 2015

Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis Of Performance Enhancement Technologies In Sports, John Lamothe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In sports discourse, the relationship between athletics and technology is often paradoxical. On the one hand, modern sports rely on technology at every level, from training and tracking of players to the equipment and apparel used by athletes to the game strategies and playing fields themselves. Nearly all of these technologies are intended to increase athletic performance on some level. And yet, certain performance enhancement technologies can be criticized for being antithetical to the spirit of sports, which is framed as being a strictly natural and pure human endeavor. Using a rhetorical-cultural methodological approach, popular sports discourse is analyzed to …


Expansive Learning In Fyc: Using Linguistic Discourse Analysis To Measure The Effects Of Threshold Concepts In Facilitating Generalization, Allison Morrow Jan 2015

Expansive Learning In Fyc: Using Linguistic Discourse Analysis To Measure The Effects Of Threshold Concepts In Facilitating Generalization, Allison Morrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how and if threshold concepts enable expansive learning and generalization. Expansive learning and generalization are part of the highly contested conceptions of transfer, and these specific conceptions offer a more complex conception of transfer that deals with knowledge transformation (Tuomi-Gr?hn and Engestr?m, Beach). One way that we can see expansive learning and generalization transform knowledge is through the teaching of threshold concepts. In the last decade, there has been a movement toward using threshold concepts in FYC*s that take up writing studies as their curricula (Wardle and Downs, Dew). Even though using threshold concepts seems to be …


"A Memorial And A Name": Construction Of Public Memory Through Chronotopic Arrangement Of Antecedent Genre At Yad Vashem, Emily Brennan Jan 2015

"A Memorial And A Name": Construction Of Public Memory Through Chronotopic Arrangement Of Antecedent Genre At Yad Vashem, Emily Brennan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This spring marked the 70th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis and the end of the Holocaust in Europe. Memory of this genocide has occupied a central place in Israeli identity since the establishment of the state. This thesis explores the history of Holocaust memory in Israel and examines how public memory is constructed in the present, as the era of the survivor draws to a close and commemorative efforts linked to survivors take on a sense of urgency. The contemporary memorial places examined in this study are part of Yad Vashem, Israel*s premier institution for Holocaust commemoration. The …


"I'M Not Talking To Myself, I'M Having A Parent-Teacher Conference!": A Study Of Literacy Practices And Mediation Within Homeschooling Families, Joshua Corlew Jan 2015

"I'M Not Talking To Myself, I'M Having A Parent-Teacher Conference!": A Study Of Literacy Practices And Mediation Within Homeschooling Families, Joshua Corlew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homeschooling is a dynamic learning and living community producing a growing percentage of our nation*s college-ready students. Serious academic studies of homeschooling remain scarce, and those that exist tend to come out of sociology and anthropology. Through an analysis of the literacy practices that constitute the work of homeschooling, this study offers findings and conclusions relevant to current discourses in the fields of literacy studies and rhetoric and composition. These include discussions on the ways technology is reshaping and individualizing traditional models of literacy learning and composing, as well as the growing research on the specific actions taken by literacy …


The Normalization Process Of Multimodal Composition: The "Unseeing" People Of Color, Yumani Davis Jan 2015

The Normalization Process Of Multimodal Composition: The "Unseeing" People Of Color, Yumani Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to identify normalization cues within multimodal scholarship to highlight moments of "un-seeing" multimodal composing practices and theoretical contributions from non-Western traditions. Advocates of this approach to teaching composition understand it as an effective way for incorporating other voices into the curricular structures of composition courses. However, the instructional resources do not include or cite research that does not lend itself easily to dominant views of composing within academia. I assert that academia must go further with how value is assessed. There is research that acknowledges the multiliteracies practices found within subcultures of America, and plenty of work …